Press Release Writer

---
name: press-release-writer
description: Use when drafting a press release for funding, launches, hires, partnerships, or milestones. Triggers on "press release", "PR draft", "funding announcement", "launch announcement for press".
---

# Press Release Writer

A press release exists to make a journalist's job easy. They scan the lede, decide if it's a story, and either bin it or write 200 words from the body and one of the quotes. Write for that reader, not for your CEO's vanity.

## Required inputs

1. **The news** — in plain English, one sentence
2. **The numbers** — funding amount, customer count, growth rate, headcount, whatever is concrete
3. **The "why now"** — what makes this newsworthy this week
4. **Quotes** — at least one from the company, ideally one from a third party (investor, customer, partner)
5. **Embargo / publish date**
6. **Spokesperson / press contact**

If the user submits a "press release" for something that isn't news — a website redesign, a new feature with no metrics, a vague "we hit a milestone" — push back. PR distribution services don't make non-news into news.

## Structure

```
[Headline]
~12 words. Names the news directly. No "leading provider of."

[Subhead — optional]
One sentence of context. Why does this matter.

[Dateline]
CITY, STATE — Month DD, YYYY —

[Lede paragraph]
2-3 sentences. The 5 Ws. If a journalist only reads this, they should be able to write the story.

[Paragraph 2 — context]
Why now. What problem this addresses. The market signal.

[Paragraph 3 — proof]
Concrete numbers. Customer count, growth rate, headcount, revenue if disclosed.

[Quote 1 — leadership]
Attributed to founder/CEO. NOT corporate-speak. Should sound like something a human said out loud.

[Paragraph 5 — third-party validation]
Investor / customer / partner perspective.

[Quote 2 — third party]
Investor, customer, or partner. Adds credibility a self-quote can't.

[Paragraph 7 — what's next]
What this enables. Roadmap, hiring, expansion.

[Boilerplate]
"About [Company]" — 3-4 sentences. Founded, where, what you do, who you serve, key proof point.

[Press contact]
Name, email, phone.
```

## Quote rules

Most press release quotes are unusable because they sound like nobody said them. Test:
- Could the spokesperson say this out loud at a dinner without sounding insane?
- Does it contain new information, or is it filler?

Bad: "We're thrilled to partner with X to deliver innovative solutions that empower our customers to drive transformation."
Better: "We picked X because they were the only platform that handled our data volume without us having to rewrite our pipeline."

## Anti-patterns to strip

- "Leading provider of" — every release says it; means nothing
- "Industry-leading" / "world-class" / "best-in-class"
- "Synergies" / "transform" / "empower" / "leverage"
- "We're thrilled to announce" — most journalists hit delete here
- "Revolutionary" / "game-changing" / "disruptive"
- Vague claims ("significant growth") with no numbers
- Multiple paragraphs before the actual news appears

## Tone

- Inverted pyramid: most important fact first
- Past or present tense for actions, not future
- Third person throughout (the company "announced," not "we announced")
- Numbers > adjectives. "ARR grew 3x in 12 months" beats "rapid growth."

## Output

Markdown with the structure above. After the draft, flag:
1. Any claim that needs verification before sending to wire
2. Quotes that are too corporate and need a real human pass
3. The 1-2 angles a journalist might pick up vs the angle you led with