Thanks for your support of Upstarts Media, the new tech media publication founded by veteran reporter Alex Konrad in February 2025.

We are excited to work with you in the upcoming months. For ease of sharing some key facts and information, please consider this a handy FAQ that should answer some of what we are looking for in our stories and programming.

Upstarts is building in public, so our editorial priorities may shift over time. But our mission to provide in-depth, high-quality original reporting and storytelling about the startup ecosystem won’t change.

As a small but mighty publication, we won’t be able to cover every startup story. But through our curation and thoughtful reporting, we want every startup story we do cover to matter.

• For event and brand partnership info and opportunities, please contact [email protected]
• For story tips and ideas, please contact [email protected], or message Alex directly. We appreciate your understanding if we cannot respond to every inquiry.

Upstarts newsletter

• Publishes twice weekly, one free edition and one premium
• Free issue: running on Tuesdays
  • Oriented toward early-stage startups and competitive news where reaching the wider community is strategic.
  • Launch stories and exclusive funding news to mostly live here.
  • We will also be looking for more service-oriented reporting, such as data/tips on employee compensation, hiring trends etc.
  • Targeting only one funding round and new fund launch each per month
    • Pitch early, and mindful of our publication schedule
• Premium issue: running on Thursdays
  • Oriented toward growth-stage and unicorn startups, venture capital and CEOs/startup leaders who can pay to subscribe to support our work.
  • Profiles and interviews, analysis and trend stories that connect the dots on key issues affecting the startup ecosystem to mostly live here.
  • We will also look to do off-cycle interviews with tech leaders in this issue, who might not otherwise be speaking to press.
  • More venture capital-specific coverage would likely go here.
  • Breaking news and scoops will go in special premium editions published on an opportunistic basis.

Upstarts multimedia

• Upstarts Live: monthly live CEO interviews
  • First Wednesday of every month
  • Video series began in April with an interview with Runway CEO Cris Valenzuela
  • Interviews air in the Substack app and are reshared in subsequent newsletters. I
  • Ideal interviewee is an established unicorn or up-and-coming startup CEO, as well as possible VCs or other ecosystem leaders.
• Upstarts Podcast: weekly interview podcast centered upon key topics
  • To begin taping and shipping later in 2025.
  • Each week, Alex will pick a topic he feels deserves more discussion, or a commute-length catch-up for folks not terminally online. He will then break it down and invite an expert startup ecosystem leader to discuss it.

Upstarts events

• Industry events: Upstarts speaks at your conference
  • Alex is available to moderate and co-host events related to the startup ecosystem.
  • Upstarts already spoke at the VC Platform Summit in April 2025.
  • Upstarts will be appearing at Startup Grind, the NYSE Tech Summit and more later this spring.
    • Looking for partners and co-hosts for smaller meetups around these tentpoles, such as breakfasts, office hours or happy hours.
• Upstarts events: Join an Upstarts event!
  • Upstarts’ first event brought the Stanford HAI team to meet with AI founders and investors at Union Square Ventures in New York in April 2025.
  • Upstarts will be looking to host its own invite-only, high-touch events around a topic, theme or community in New York, San Francisco and other cities throughout 2025.
    • Looking for brand partners, high-quality speakers, and founder attendees.