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Gregory Galant on Muck Rack

Gregory Galant

  • Co-Founder and CEO, Muck Rack
New York
As seen in: C-Suite Market Update, LinkedIn, CNN, Medium, Business Insider, Forbes, CNET, TechCrunch, Fortune, Poynter Online and
Covers:  business, entrepreneurship, gif making, vine, digital humanism, gif, startups, marketing, social media, art
Cofounder/CEO of @MuckRack & @ShortyAwards. Podcasting bit.ly/venturevoice. Member of X's and IG's first name club. Angel investor.
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Gregory Galant’s Journalist Portfolio

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We Forced Our Company To Communicate Only Through Snapchat

We Forced Our Company To Communicate Only Through Snapchat

TechCrunch — Snapchat was the first social network I was too old to understand. I joined Facebook as it first rolled out on campuses when I was in my junior year of college. I joined Twitter and Instagram in the very early days and even snagged my first name @gregory as my username on both. I scoffed at people who didn't "get" these services. Then Snapchat came around. I downloaded it, but none of my friends were on it so I found it impossible to understand the appeal.
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Are social shares a good metric to judge journalism?

Are social shares a good metric to judge journalism?

Fortune Magazine — Sharing metrics have their share of flaws but offer unprecedented insights. In my last column I pointed out that social shares (the number of times an article is shared on social media services like Facebook and Twitter) is the universal and publicly accessible metric for judging an article, simply because it's the only universal and publicly accessible metric for judging an article. Not exactly a controversial stance, but I suspected many would take offense at this fact. I acknowledged "Any new metric invites a vigorous debate on how healthy it is the value of the pageview has been hotly debated for over a decade and the social share has its pros and cons.
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How we're spending $55,930.08 a year on SaaS products

How we're spending $55,930.08 a year on SaaS products

blog.sawhorsemedia.com — I'm always fascinated by how companies spend money on software, especially since we sell a SaaS product ourselves, Muck Rack. Software-as-a-service makes it immeasurably easier to run a startup today compared to just a few years ago, where many functions would have to be done with custom solutions, or with purchased software hosted on our servers. It occurred to me there's one company whose SaaS spending we could analyze - our own. We're sharing our spending here in hopes it'll be useful for other startups that use and or sell online software.
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2013: A year in Twitter journalism

2013: A year in Twitter journalism

Muck Rack Daily — From Edward Snowden's big reveal to the Boston bombings, social media has become an established part of how news spreads and increasingly how it is sourced. In Twitter's S-1 filing prior to its IPO, the company listed a risk factor that "influential users, such as world leaders, government officials, celebrities, athletes, journalists, sports teams, media outlets and brands or certain age demographics conclude that an alternative product or service is more relevant" (emphasis added). We've seen no sign of that happening. Muck Rack's community of journalists has grown to nearly 20,000 spread over the world.
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Like it or not, here's the universal scoring system for journalism

Like it or not, here's the universal scoring system for journalism

Fortune Magazine — Social shares are replacing uniques and pageviews. By Gregory Galant @gregory, contributor FORTUNE -- Imagine an Olympic sport without any universal quantitative metrics. Thousands of hyper-competitive athletes competing furiously with each other, but only able to keep score by chatter at cocktail parties and complements from their colleagues. Welcome to the world of journalism for the past several centuries. In the age of print, circulation numbers were dubious at best and there was of course no way for anyone to tell how much a given article in a newspaper or magazine was read relative to another.
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"It's better if you don't ask"

"It's better if you don't ask"

Medium — We had a contract with our liquor sponsor The Macallan stating that we'd lead a scotch toast at the 3rd annual Shorty Awards taking place in early 2011. Of any line item in any contract I've ever signed, being a huge scotch fan, this was the one I was most excited about fulfilling. We planned on holding the toast during the cocktail hour preceding the ceremony, yet in the mayhem that's show business, unexpected issues arose, time flew by and I forgot to make the toast. At the after party, Amanda Palmer who performed during the ceremony, was getting ready to jump on the bar to play and sing Radiohead's Creep on her Ukulele.
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Why public relations gets no respect

Why public relations gets no respect

Fortune — There's no Mad Men for PR. But social media may change that... Public relations is not taken seriously as a function of business or as a profession. US companies spend $150 billion annually on advertising and only $5 billion on public relations, according to eMarketer and PRSA respectively. Advertising professionals make up to 75% more than their PR counterparts, as calculated from PayScale data. While virtually all MBA programs offer courses in advertising, the Associated Press reported only 20% offer a course in public relations.
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7 Goals To Help Your Startup Craft A More Targeted PR Strategy - Forbes

7 Goals To Help Your Startup Craft A More Targeted PR Strategy - Forbes

Forbes — It feels great to be covered by the media, but unless there's a business goal for getting press, it often doesn't lead to any useful outcome - aside from allaying your parents' fears that you don't have a real job. Often, the goal of PR for startups is not for the obvious reasons. Here are the 7 objectives I've seen startups reach using PR - and how you can apply them to your strategy.
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What companies need to know about "slow" PR

What companies need to know about "slow" PR

Fortune — Technology allows companies to bombard people more efficiently than ever. But that's bad strategy... It must have been a proud moment for McDonald's when they sold their millionth hamburger -- proving the success of Richard and Maurice McDonald's system of making meals quickly that milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc recognized and ultimately scaled.
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Comic-Con: The latest must-attend event for businesspeople

Comic-Con: The latest must-attend event for businesspeople

LinkedIn — I've never been a big comic book fan, so for years I'd dismissed Comic-Con as one of those conferences I was happy it existed but never thought I'd attend. Over the past few years though, I heard its grown into one of the top gatherings for the entertainment industry at large. I decided that it was finally time to attend. Without fail, everyone I told my plans to asked "What are you dressing up as?"
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How The Magazine Industry Can Save Itself (Hint: Not iPad Apps)

How The Magazine Industry Can Save Itself (Hint: Not iPad Apps)

PaidContent — The top priority for most magazine executives today seems to be building iPad apps. Yet the user experience of a print magazine is unmatchable: they're cheap, never out of battery charge, not a target for thieves and they have twice the screen space when spread as an iPad screen. Magazines might have a place in our connected future, but they risk losing a generation if they don't modernize their subscription systems instead of trying to compete with Angry Birds.
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How I got quoted in CNET by tweeting at a journalist

How I got quoted in CNET by tweeting at a journalist

Motivatr — A few months ago I was quoted in CNET's article Twenty thousand reasons to go to SXSW: "More than anything, it's about turning a [virtual] follower into an in real life connection," said Gregory Galant, the CEO of Sawhorse Media, of why he attends SXSW. "We get to know [virtual connections] as well as we can, but there's nothing that beats meeting somebody in real life, and sharing a beer, and getting people's thoughts off the record when they're out of their element." You might be wondering why of the twenty thousand SXSW attendees, I was quoted.
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The 1st Annual ONA Whiskey Tasting at #ONA12

The 1st Annual ONA Whiskey Tasting at #ONA12

storify.com — ONA's Midway needed a little love (and foot traffic) so we organized a Whiskey Tasting in 3 hours by asking our follow boothers to buy a bottle of whiskey and serve it at 3pm. It worked. Who knew journalists liked whiskey?
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Two Phrases Your Company Should Adopt

Two Phrases Your Company Should Adopt

Business Insider — The term for a mob boss "godfather" was invented by Mario Puzo for his book of that same name. After Francis Ford Coppola turned The Godfather into a hit movie, the mafia actually adopted that term for their bosses. Sometimes it pays for life to imitate art (what is good art if not one step ahead of real life?). There are two movie phrases from the last year that every startup should adopt. "Wired in" In The Social Network, whenever someone tries to talk to a programmer working with headphones on, Sean Parker (as played by Justin Timberlake) discourages disturbing the person by yelling "He's wired in!".
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Interview with John Bogle of The Vanguard Group

Interview with John Bogle of The Vanguard Group

Venture Voice — If you're making lots of money in a fat industry for doing relatively little, then the last thing you want is a competitor like John C. Bogle. He founded The Vanguard Group in 1975 and revolutionized the mutual fund industry by slashing management fees. By creating the world's first index fund, John showed investors they could invest in the market without giving a large portion of their earnings to fund managers.
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Interview with Evan Williams of Odeo

Interview with Evan Williams of Odeo

www.venturevoice.com — A quick glance at Evan's bio might make it seem as though he just stumbles into all the newest, hottest trends. However, the only thing Ev stumbled into was traffic (the kind you get on the non-information highway -- where he discovered the value of listening to podcasts) on his commute. After trying his hand in Nebraska's tech entrepreneurial circuit (well, he was the circuit), Ev made the voyage out west to California.
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Interview with Dick Costolo

Interview with Dick Costolo

Venture Voice — My very first podcast (recorded on a voice modem) with the then cofounder and CEO of a tiny startup called FeedBurner.
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Like it or not, here's the universal scoring system for journalism

Like it or not, here's the universal scoring system for journalism

CNN — Social shares are replacing uniques and pageviews. By Gregory Galant @gregory, contributor FORTUNE -- Imagine an Olympic sport without any universal quantitative metrics. Thousands of hyper-competitive athletes competing furiously with each other, but only able to keep score by chatter at cocktail parties and compliments from their colleagues. Welcome to the world of journalism for the past several centuries. In the age of print, circulation numbers were dubious at best and there was of course no way for anyone to tell how much a given article in a newspaper or magazine was read relative to another.
Who shared?

Journalists like to tweet and they like to drink

Journalists like to tweet and they like to drink

The Riff — As a continuation of last week's post, where PR renegade Shaun Saunders interviewed Murray Newlands, and leading up to next week's PR Summit in San Francisco, I present an entertaining conversation with Greg Galant, CEO of Sawhorse Media (creator of Muck Rack and the Shorty Awards). Greg is one of those guys we can all learn a lot from; in terms of just normal human being-ness...he's pleasant and unassuming but not afraid to ruffle feathers. It's a fine balance, but he does it with extreme adeptness. In this interview he talks about the future of PR, what journalists like, and that little thing called Twitter.
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How to Guarantee Your Next Startup Event Is a Hit

How to Guarantee Your Next Startup Event Is a Hit

Clarity — All too often events are just a fabulous way for companies to waste money. But if you play your cards right, producing an event can deliver huge ROI for your business with little overhead. Even top technology companies focused on virtual communications rely on in person events. Steve Jobs's keynotes were legendary, and a cornerstone of Apple's product launch and marketing strategy. Salesforce's Dreamforce conference positioned the enterprise software newcomer as the leader in cloud computing and nurtured their essential developer ecosystem. TechCrunch made half its revenue from startup events. Twitter and Facebook throw numerous events to woo advertisers.
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YouTube gives you early jump on 2014 Super Bowl commercials

YouTube gives you early jump on 2014 Super Bowl commercials

CNET — The YouTube Ad Blitz gallery includes teasers, highlights, and postgame voting, according to the company. YouTube has offered early access to Super Bowl commercials for those don't want to wait. The Google-owned company on Thursday announced the Ad Blitz channel on YouTube. The channel's main attraction is its Teasers section, showing a selection of Super Bowl commercials available now, before the game goes off. The channel also includes a Highlights section to see playoff analysis, as well as a postgame voting function that will go live after the Super Bowl and allow folks to pick their favorites.
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Are social shares a good metric to judge journalism?

Are social shares a good metric to judge journalism?

fortune.com — Sharing metrics have their share of flaws but offer unprecedented insights. In my last column I pointed out that social shares (the number of times an article is shared on social media services like Facebook and Twitter) is the universal and publicly accessible metric for judging an article, simply because it’s the only universal and publicly accessible metric for judging an article.
Who shared?

How we're spending $55,930.08 a year on SaaS products

How we're spending $55,930.08 a year on SaaS products

blog.sawhorsemedia.com — I'm always fascinated by how companies spend money on software, especially since we sell a SaaS product ourselves, Muck Rack. Software-as-a-service makes it immeasurably easier to run a startup today compared to just a few years ago, where many functions would have to be done with custom solutions, or with purchased software hosted on our servers. It occurred to me there's one company whose SaaS spending we could analyze - our own. We're sharing our spending here in hopes it'll be useful for other startups that use and or sell online software.
Who shared?