Today I’m excited to announce the launch of First Principles Communications, a startup and executive communications agency. First Principles partners with startups, scale-ups, founders, executives, VCs, and entrepreneurs to tell their story to investors, employees, and the public.
First Principles builds on two key insights I’ve learned crafting communications and content strategies in-house at Palantir, Epic Games, and The White House and consulting for companies like Google, Uber, and Jackpocket.
Insight 1: Comms needs to solve business problems, not comms problems.
At First Principles, we start with real business problems (e.g. not reaching enough users or a crisis that impacts employee retention), then work backward to comms solutions (how do we reach those audiences and make them believe you?). We don’t believe in wasted motion like landing stories that don’t actually make an impact.
Insight 2: Comms should take a platform-agnostic approach to storytelling.
As layoffs proliferate across the journalism industry, pure media relations is no longer enough to get your message out. The best comms strategies take into account the ever-blurrier lines between internal and external comms, individual and corporate brands, and all kinds of storytelling—from media relations to content marketing to internal comms.
We’re Especially Great At
Executive and thought leadership communications. Whether you’re running a tech company or a foundation, your brand is your organization’s brand. We’ve drafted content for President Obama, CEOs, and entrepreneurs and love partnering with big thinkers to figure out their stories and how to get them into the world.
Startup communications and message development. When you’re just starting out, your story is your business. We work with founders to develop their core narrative, then partner with them to get that story in front of key audiences like potential investors, regulators, and top technical talent.
People and culture communications. With the lines between internal and external communications dissolving, leaders need to understand how everything they say inside their company walls might echo outside—and vice versa. Whether you need help messaging a new compensation system or addressing a metastasizing crisis, we can help you strategize and execute on smart people and culture comms.
Writing. We’ve had bylines in outlets ranging from Sports Illustrated to Nature and attended the Sewanee Writers’ Conference for our fiction. Whether you’re writing a long-form blog post, a tweet, a keynote, or a book, we can help you draft compelling content that captures your unique voice and point of view. (Yes, this is technically a subset of thought leadership, but we think our writing chops deserve their own callout :).)
Hire Us If You’re
Building. When you’re in the zero-to-one stage where you’re just starting to build your business, foundation, or second act and need to figure out your story.
Rebuilding. When you’ve outgrown your V1 comms strategy because you’re scaling, pivoting, or responding to an unexpected issue.
Preparing. When you need help preparing for a one-off event like a keynote presentation, an All Hands, or a crisis.
Learn more at cameron-langford.com/consulting.