What if I told you the worst thing a Series A climate tech CEO can do after raising $10M is hire a PR agency?

It sounds counterintuitive. You just closed a monster round. You’ve got momentum, budget, and a board breathing down your neck about visibility. So, you do what most founders do: you bring in a PR firm to build your personal brand. Big mistake.

Here’s the thing: PR might get your name in a few headlines. But it will completely destroy your ability to build lasting thought leadership on LinkedIn. And that’s where your actual customers, partners, and talent are spending their time.

So today, I’m breaking down the 3 reasons PR is the worst way to build your executive voice and what to do instead.

1. PR content doesn’t build long-term trust. Educational LinkedIn content does.

PR wins you attention. LinkedIn wins you trust. That difference matters when you’re trying to attract senior hires who want to follow a mission, convincing policymakers or local partners to trust your tech, or educating buyers who aren’t ready yet but will be in 6 to 12 months.

The press is a one-off. LinkedIn is a compounding ecosystem. Posting regularly lets people see how you think, what you believe, and how you make decisions. It builds a parasocial relationship with the people who matter most.

PR content is written in passive voice, signed off by a legal team, and optimized for media channels you don’t own. Yes, you need more exposure. But what you need even more is credibility with the right people.

2. PR agencies don’t get your customer or your category.

Most climate tech PR firms have no idea what makes founders like you special. They lump you in with clean energy or ESG. They pitch you like a green-flavored SaaS startup.

And when they ghostwrite for you on LinkedIn? You end up sounding like a generic climate spokesperson. You waste attention saying what 100 other founders are already saying. And you miss the opportunity to define your category and shape the conversation.

Series A is the moment to educate the market on what makes you different. You have a 12 to 18 month window to frame the category, name the problem, and become the go-to voice in your space.

That doesn’t happen through “I’m delighted to attend COP27” ghostwritten by a junior PR associate. It happens by showing up weekly with stories, insights, and unpopular truths from your lived experience.

3. PR doesn’t scale. Thought leadership does.

A PR win gives you a dopamine hit. A strong LinkedIn strategy gives you compounding returns. One good post brings in multiple speaking invites. One strong opinion leads to dozens of DMs from senior talent. One story of traction gets hundreds of silent lurkers to finally follow your company.

Your voice becomes a magnet for deals, talent, policy doors, and fundraising momentum.

Best part? You don’t need to post every day. 2 to 3 high-quality posts per week, with the right positioning and a strong POV, is enough to build momentum.

Most Series A CEOs don’t need 1,000 likes. They need the right 10 people to read, trust, and reach out.

So what should you do instead?

Simple.

Understand the strengths and weaknesses of who you hire. PR agencies can be great at what they do, just not on LinkedIn.

Work with someone who spends time to understand your product, your customer, and your vision. Someone who knows how climate tech founders think and how your buyers think, too.

Treat LinkedIn content as an enablement library. If you’re posting online but none of it can be used by your recruitment, sales, or partnerships teams, what’s the point?

You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get into the top 1% of your climate category by doing this. The competition on LinkedIn right now is very low. But it won’t stay that way forever.

Start building.