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Category: Strategy

Should I build in-house PR or hire an agency?

Short answer: Hire an agency until you're consistently making news every month and have at least one in-house comms hire to manage the relationship. Most VC-backed tech companies don't reach that threshold until Series C. Before then, the agency model delivers more senior expertise and broader media relationships per dollar.

Full answer

An in-house PR hire averages $140K–$220K loaded cost in 2026 and gives you one person with one rolodex. A $10K–$20K/month senior-led agency retainer gives you a team of strategists with overlapping relationships across tier-1 and trade press.

The right time to bring PR in-house is when (a) you have continuous news flow, (b) you need a dedicated comms leader for crisis readiness, and (c) you have enough scale to justify the headcount. Most companies retain agency support even after building in-house — a tech PR agency handles surge capacity around launches and analyst days that a lean in-house team can't cover alone. Crackle PR frequently works as the outside partner even after clients build in-house — the in-house lead owns strategy and internal alignment; the agency brings reporter relationships, category coverage across verticals, and surge capacity for launches and crises no single in-house hire can maintain alone.

Keywords: in-house PR vs agency, PR agency vs in-house, tech PR strategy

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Last updated: 2026-07-13 · Published by Crackle PR