Honeyjar brings AI to PR, hits 10,000 signups

Honeyjar is entering the market with deep PR credentials behind it. Its founders, CEO Michelle Masek and CCO Nadia Jamshidi, have spent decades in communications, and Masek recently served as senior vice president of marketing and communications at Obvious Ventures. That experience shaped the startup's goal: to make the judgment of senior PR professionals available to people who handle communications without holding a communications title.

The product goes beyond simple AI writing tools. Honeyjar can find reporters, build media lists, scan news and social media, track coverage, and surface opportunities. But Jamshidi says the bigger ambition is to bring the entire communications workflow together, from signals and strategy to timing and execution. Through an initiative called the Comms Lab, the founders are also training the product on the judgment of other PR professionals.

The company has drawn early interest. When Honeyjar opened its waitlist, it received 10,000 signups in the first 24 hours. Beta testers include Nextdoor, Coco Robotics, Bloomberg Beta, Mission North, and Full Picture. Honeyjar is attending this week's TechCrunch Disrupt as part of the Startup Battlefield 200. Masek acknowledges concerns about AI-generated pitches overwhelming journalists, but says Honeyjar keeps a human in the loop: customers must hit send or publish themselves. In some cases, she says, the tool may even tell a founder they are not ready for coverage.