Mike's absolutely right. Unless you're attached to an old-school news organization, there's no real journalistic standards in tech, and everyone writes favorabl

Mike's absolutely right. Unless you're attached to an old-school news organization, there's no real journalistic standards in tech, and everyone writes favorably about their buddies. Since venture capitalists all read the industry blogs, this favorable coverage can be very, very useful at key points in your startup's life. Personal relationships are also great for getting a more moderate viewpoint out there when you've cocked up and the industry blogs are doing the usual rush to pile-on. (Internally, I referred to this as a 'combo breaker'.) I was terrible at this game when I first became aware of it - probably because I'm a pretty private guy with only a few close friends. But after seeing others do it well, I'm convinced that it's important. Should I ever run a VC-backed startup again, I will employ a head of marketing who knows how to make nice and buy drinks.