Who are you?

Georgia Hanias, Founder, Ecology Media

Who are your key clients?

Paymentology, BPC, Hedera.

Describe your PR firm in one sentence. What makes it different?

A social impact agency that focuses on supporting the best innovators of web3, fintech and renewable technologies.

Who is your typical client?

Scale-up and established companies that are getting ready to IPO, exit or get acquired.

Fintech is a crowded and noisy sector. How can founders cut through when everyone claims to be "revolutionising" something?

Look at who is leading and who is investing. Also, see if they are actually solving a real-world problem – and how they are solving it. Ask to see their product in action and ask yourself if you'd use it yourself.

What's the single biggest misconception founders have about what PR actually does?

We go out and party all the time.

Which types of founder personalities are easiest/hardest to work with?

The best founder partnerships are built on trust, accessibility and mutual respect. The easiest founders to work with are those who genuinely believe in the value of communications – not as an afterthought, but as a strategic function that drives their business forward. They are responsive, flexible and willing to make themselves available for media opportunities, briefings and content development. They give you autonomy to do your job, trusting your expertise to shape narratives, identify the right angles and place stories where they'll have the most impact. These founders understand that great PR is a collaboration - they bring the vision and subject matter expertise, while you bring the craft, relationships and strategic thinking. They respect the process, value the work behind the coverage, and recognise that a strong media presence is the result of sustained, skilled effort – not luck.

The most difficult founders are those who treat PR like medicine – something they feel obligated to do but don't truly believe in or respect. They are slow to respond to messages, miss briefing windows and treat media engagement as a low priority until they suddenly need it. They over-correct everything you write – not to improve accuracy, but because they struggle to trust anyone else with their narrative. They dismiss communications as fluffy, lacking intellectual rigour, and fail to see the strategic thinking behind media positioning, messaging and stakeholder engagement. Perhaps most frustrating are the founders who, when coverage lands, attribute it entirely to their own brilliance and profile – overlooking the months of relationship-building, pitching and editorial negotiation that made it happen. This dynamic erodes trust and makes it nearly impossible to build the kind of partnership that delivers sustained results.

How do you measure success in your work? Does this differ from the metrics that founders often rely upon?

Success in PR is rarely a single metric – it builds over time. The most meaningful measure is steady, consistent coverage that keeps a founder and their company visible in the right conversations. It's also about sustained presence that creates genuine brand awareness.

You know it's working when a founder walks into a room and their peers, investors and potential partners already know who they are and what they're building – before a single word is exchanged. That kind of recognition doesn't happen by accident. It's the result of months of strategic positioning, media relationships and carefully placed stories.

Perhaps the ultimate measure of success is when journalists start going directly to your client for expert commentary – bypassing you entirely. On the surface, that might look like it undermines your role. In reality, it's the strongest proof that the work has landed. You've positioned that founder as a credible, go-to voice in their space, and the media now treats them as such.

This often differs from how founders measure PR. Many default to vanity metrics – the number of articles, the size of the publication logo, or a single high-profile feature. But a front-page story that leads nowhere is less valuable than a steady drumbeat of relevant coverage that builds authority, attracts inbound opportunities and shifts how the market perceives the brand. The real metric is influence – and that's built through consistency

Pitching to journalists can be tough. What should founders know when trying to get coverage?

Journalists don't care about your product – they care about the story. Your funding round isn't news unless there's a compelling angle: a shift in the market, a contrarian bet, or a founder journey worth telling. Read what the journalist actually writes before pitching them. A scattergun approach gets you ignored. Timing matters – don't pitch on a Friday afternoon or during a major news cycle. Be concise, be relevant, and make it easy for them to say yes. And if they say no, don't take it personally – they're saying no to a hundred pitches a day.

What's the most common mistake a founder makes in their first media interview? And how do you fix it?

They ramble and try to fill spaces. Just answer the question if you can, and don't if you can't. Also be prepared. Know who you are being interviewed by – read the briefing notes that the PRs produce for you.

Media is changing. How is your budget allocation shifting?

[We] Need to do more paid partnerships with media outlets to keep them alive and attend more events to meet and stay close to journalists.

What's been your biggest win in PR?

Supporting the PR launch of Circle's USDC stablecoin.

Which campaign, stunt, or piece of comms work from another PR team made you think 'I wish I'd done that'?

I really don't have any time to keep track of other people's comms work - but I respect everyone who tries to make a living in this space. It's very hard work!

What advice would you give to a fintech founder who's about to hire their first PR firm?

Hire for good chemistry because this is a close relationship that requires teamwork. Also place importance on strategic thinking, not just media contacts. A good PR firm understands your market, challenges your assumptions, and helps you figure out what story you're actually telling – not just who to tell it to. Look for a team that asks hard questions upfront: Who are you trying to reach? What behaviour are you trying to change? What does success look like in 12 months?

Avoid firms that promise coverage in specific outlets without understanding your positioning first – that's a red flag. And remember: PR is a long game. If you're expecting front-page coverage in month one, you're going to be disappointed. Invest in the relationship, trust the process, and give it time to compound.

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