Forming a well crafted communications strategy is part action, and part reaction. It’s about developing and telling your brand story in a deliberate way, while at the same time understanding the macro media landscape and thoughtfully responding to the narratives about your industry. Aaron Zamost, the Head of Communications at Square who led comms through the company’s IPO, has done an amazing job at synthesizing how the tech press works in his blog posts including “What’s Your Hour in ‘Silicon Valley Time’?” and “The Invisible Force That Warps What You Read in the News.”

In this podcast, Greylock Marketing Partner Elisa Schreiber sits down with Aaron to talk how a tech startup should think about communications from the early days all the way up to IPO.