How to Pitch Robin Wauters

1) What’s the best way to pitch you?

I like what has become generally known as the 'folly floater'. It was developed by Steven Absher Hamilton in the second half of his MLB career, and it's essentially a high eephus pitch, a very low speed junk pitch of which the invention in turn is attributed to Rip Sewell of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1940s. Lob pitches are rather difficult; in fact they can be quite tricky because of their slow velocity, but I find that if you're prepared for the trajectory of the ball you can easily hit one out of the park.

And just in case you weren't inquiring about baseball, the way I like entrepreneurs or PR folks to pitch me is any way, but with great stories. It doesn't really matter how - though I would advise against Facebook or LinkedIn messages and the like - as long as they're relevant in one way or another. Two things I will add is that I find emails and other means of asynchronous communication more manageable than, say, phone calls, and that it's always good to build a relationship with me before the pitch. 

2) What’s the best time to pitch you?

A few years ago, I would have said during the evenings or weekends as the rat race slows down a little then, but now that we've got two young kids running around the house there's really never any downtime anymore. So any time, but again, preferably with great relevant stories.

3) Other than your own, which is your favorite publication to read?

I read tons of publications - I monitor close to 100 sources on an hourly basis for Tech.eu alone - and it's very difficult to single out just one. Sometimes, I enjoy reading stuff on Medium without necessarily knowing the author's name or credentials. Other times, I'll read or save articles for later just because they were written by a particular journalist or entrepreneur or investor. 

I've grown a bit tired of the constant tech news chasing and unstoppable copy-pasting and lack of attribution in recent years though, so my favourite publications have shifted towards those who offer longer reads and deep dives, or at least articles that I can truly learn something from.

4) Who’s your favorite journalist?

Tough one as well, but I truly admire the knowledge and writing style of David Meyer, a Berlin-based tech journo who worked for GigaOm until very recently (fine, until the moment GigaOm's sudden death). He's since written a few articles for Tech.eu and hopefully we'll see more in the future.

 There are quite a few other journalists out there that I really enjoy reading and following, though, far too many to mention. Shout-out to the startup bloggers from all over Europe who cover their local hubs - sharing knowledge, stories, insights and data is crucial to create healthier ecosystems across the region.

5) What kind of stories interest you?

I like to hear from entrepreneurs who've faced challenges outside of the typical startup business issues and overcame them to build impactful companies. I like to hear from people who've built something truly innovative but only feel the need to make noise about it as soon as it has a meaningful impact on a sector, an industry or - why not - the entire world. I like to hear from founders who aren't in it for the money, the accelerator or VC funding game, or how big they can get as fast as possible with other people's cash - but instead build something because they wouldn't know how to function in a world without it.

6) What tips would you give someone pitching you?

Plenty of those to share, but in general: build a relationship before pitching, perfect the messaging (which means research your competitors, work on your positioning and care about timing and delivery) and, once you do pitch, stick to the facts and use some story-telling techniques - which are rather easy to pick up - to make it interesting for the both of us and ultimately, our readers. 

7) What will you never write about?

Things that should remain in the private sphere of people's personal lives if they have nothing to do with business (one downside of the celebrity entrepreneur culture, which has advantages as well). That, and baseball.

8) Star Wars or Star Trek?

What's Star Trek?