From what I've seen of PR, it's not very effective, especially not for the $/results ratio. The point of Andrew Chen's article is indeed good -- viral growth, i

From what I've seen of PR, it's not very effective, especially not for the $/results ratio. The point of Andrew Chen's article is indeed good -- viral growth, if you can achieve it, is awesome. But press is far from useless. I have no idea what the product did at the last startup you worked at. A lot of times companies think pounding the press will bring them success, which is, again, not true (a shitty product that gets press won't go anywhere). However, a good product that receives press should settle down at more signups/day than before the coverage. Enough exposure, and a good product should eventually take off: people keep telling people about products they recommend, slowly, over time. You eventually build up a base of enough people that are recommending you that you really start to grow. If it doesn't, I'd take a hard look at the product.