Hey everyone, if you’re reading this you’re likely wondering whether and how to pitch a story to The Recursive. With this short guide, we aim to bring clarity to the topics we cover.
First of all, our goal is to ensure constructive and quality reporting on the happening in the innovation ecosystems in Southeast Europe (SEE). We focus on the milestones in the development of the local startup and tech community, the trends and people that shape the future economy of the region, the perspectives of entrepreneurs who have succeeded or failed and want to share the lessons learned with the community. Тo make sure that the stories of local innovators reach global audiences, we report exclusively in English.
At The Recursive, we strive to develop independent journalism that fosters the development of innovation ecosystems by covering, reporting, and elaborating on the diverse processes and stakeholders within the community.
For us substance is important. We go beyond traditional business or traditional tech. We are about the ones who are actually using innovation as a tool for a better life, business, and society. About the environment that enables positive and sustainable change.
The types of stories we cover
Features: These are long-form articles (700-1000 words) that we dedicate to in-depth analysis of the ongoing ecosystem trends, the background behind recent big news, the communities bringing positive impact for the ecosystem as a whole, or the startups with potential for international success.
Interviews: These are video or written conversations with tech community leaders, with significant insight or unique perspective into a given topic or development in the SEE innovation world. Usually, the focus is on the people’s background as well as their vision, motivation, and concrete approach to doing things.
News: We aim to maintain a focus on the really newsworthy events in the ecosystem, so you’re not going to see us publish tons of random news stories. That said, funding rounds and announcements of meaningful milestones are a great way to measure the progress of the ecosystem. Normally, we’d write a 250-ish word piece on investments over €100k, multinational tech corporates opening R&D hubs in SEE, or local companies expanding to new markets.
Listicles, city mappings, and data: The format here can vary – sometimes, we’d do our own list of startups and trends people should know about, others, we will elaborate and reflect on market research and data from other ecosystem organizations and associations.
Guest articles: The Recursive media platform is also open to external content creators who want to share their expert tips with startup and tech audiences in SEE. Topic-wise, we are looking for the educational element here – insight into areas surrounding innovators – on the one hand, things like mental health, leadership and soft skills, workplace culture, but on the other more practical advice when it comes to fundraising, go-to-market, building scalable businesses, tech recruiting, innovation and product development methodologies, new tech trends.
Feel free to pitch us your ideas for potential guest pieces at [email protected]. Be sure to send us a short bio and keep in mind that that the focus on the material should be on knowledge-sharing, rather than a promotion of your business.
Deep dives: Finally, there are sections on The Recursive website where we will collect series of materials focused on a single topic, we find important to cover on a regular basis. For example, we will pay special attention to the entrepreneurial diaspora of the region – successful founders, scientists, or investors living overseas but looking to connect and contribute to the development of the SEE innovation community.
The topics we cover
For the most part, the topics listed below will have a regional angle and focused on the happening in SEE. Sometimes, we may report on global events that have a local impact. The list is not exhaustive and should serve only as an indication. For instance, we will be happy to cover food tech innovation emerging in The Balkans.
- Startups and everything related
- Venture and innovation funding
- Corporate innovation and R&D
- Future of work and education
- Tech Legislation & policymaking
- Scientific advances
- Supporting entrepreneurial environment: associations, events, incubators, accelerators, co-working spaces, and NGOs.
- Smart cities & mobility
- Fintech
- Biotech and health
- AI & Automation
- Social innovation
How to grab our attention
This section is intended for startups and corporate innovators pitching us their stories. We tend to receive many suggestions from companies hoping to get featured in The Recursive. To some, we will say – yes, to others we will be open to exploring different forms of collaboration. A general rule of thumb when presenting your business in front of us, do it the same way, as you’d present it to investors. What does this mean in practice?
With very few exceptions (e.g. deep tech), we are going to focus on startups and innovation projects with at least some initial traction and validation – product in the market with a few customers or first investment. In general, we want to see ambitious founders and product builders who are solving a problem that impacts a good amount of people or businesses. If members of your team know a given industry or field very well, we will be happy to hear their insights on the topic.
Intros do work with us as well – if someone we know and trust introduces your company to us, this gives us further validation that you’re doing something cool. Short and clear elevator pitches are also appreciated, feel free to attach pitch decks or business presentations.
Contact information
-
- Featured story pitches and general editorial inquiries: Zorntisa Stoilova, [email protected]
- Ecosystem news announcements and press releases: [email protected],
- Business partnerships: Irina Obushtarova – [email protected]
