Now the ‘perfect time’ to launch a start-up, says Publicist CEO Lara Vandenberg

Tech executive Lara Vandenberg says now is as good a time as any to launch her new PR and communications marketplace.

Lara Vandenberg, photographed in Centennial Park in Sydney's inner East. Britta Campion / The Australian

A new online marketplace for the world’s top communications and marketing talent has launched this week, with Lara Vandenberg defying the COVID-19 pandemic to launch what she describes as the go-to platform for freelance media and marketing professionals.

Speaking to The Australian, Ms Vandenberg – who is based in New York and was born in Sydney – said that Publicist launched in the US earlier this year and was now ready to take on the Australian market.

She said despite what you may assume, now is the perfect time to launch a start-up.

“The future of work was always going to happen, but it‘s here now,” Ms Vandenberg said. ”Project-based work has now really picked up, particularly in the marketing industry where brands are downsizing their marketing teams and their retainers.”

According to the executive, about 2000 freelancers currently use Publicist and it‘s being used by all sizes of companies, from large enterprises to small start-ups. Freelancers on the platform have over 300 skills including content creation, PR and media relations, internal relations, crisis communications and digital marketing.

She said more companies now are better served by flexible support than retainer-based models and more brands are continuing to rethink their internal PR and communications services.

“Typically, recruiters or agencies outsource projects to talent and often upcharge on the project. For talent, it’s also difficult to focus on current work, in addition to pitching on new business, while managing administration like invoicing,” she said. “With Publicist, all of this can happen on our secure and flexible platform.

“The way the industry is going, brands now are educated to understand there are so many diverse services out there available that you don‘t need to spend on everything and everyone all the time; PR and marketing professionals are getting smarter around how to spend their budgets.

“I would point anyone in this direction, because I strongly believe in project-based communications and marketing work, and many industries are going in this direction.”

Ms Vandenberg, who was previously named in the US Forbes 30 Under 30 List and has been accepted to Stanford’s tech accelerator program, has received venture capital funding for her start-up and is next eyeing the UK as a third launch market.

“We can see the demand is there, and from the get go in the US we’ve had great numbers both on the supply and the demand side,” she said. “We’re really excited to see how this goes in 2021 and beyond, and we’re launching an enterprise solution for much bigger brands next year as well.

“We want to be the platform where people hire for communications and marketing, and manage their workflow in which they do so.”