From start-up to PR tech powerhouse: Looking back at 15 years of Presspage

How does a small Dutch company grow from a good idea into a thriving global brand within just a few years? 

If you ask the three founders of Presspage, Bart Verhulst, Sébastien Willems and Tim van den Tempel, they have a clear answer: offer a smart solution that caters to your customers’ needs, and find the most talented people to make it happen.

Last year, the Presspage team celebrated its 15-year anniversary. To keep up the momentum for the next 15, the founders look back on the early days, talk about how far the company has come and give us a preview of what's in store for the future.

Recognizing the market’s needs

Presspage’s story started almost by accident. In 2008, Bart, Sébastien and Tim were working with a PR agency to promote their first young company, Viddix.

“We were on a tight budget, so the PR firm advised us to create our own ‘social media release’: basically, a website where journalists could find all the information they needed to know about our company. It included photos, videos, press releases and even a chat tool for sending instant inquiries to us. We just thought of it as our ‘page for the press’ or our ‘press page’”, recalls Tim.

Sébastien adds that the agency had never seen a platform quite like their press page: "Next thing we knew, they asked if we'd be interested in offering it as a product to some of their clients", he says. "All we had really wanted was to promote our original company, but soon, we realised that there was a very powerful need in the PR world for what we started to call a ‘digital newsroom’. That’s how Presspage was born."

Bart adds that, from that point onward, the potential was hard to ignore: "Things started moving really fast after that. We quickly recognized how valuable Presspage would be, especially to large companies with complex PR and communication needs."

With Bart in charge of sales, Sébastien running the business and Tim attending to the tech development, the three brought Presspage to the market in 2011. It was the first solution of its kind: a digital newsroom that made it easier than ever for companies to communicate and interact with the press and other stakeholders.

Just as the founders had hoped, there was strong demand for a solution like Presspage. Within one year, the company had already caught the attention of major enterprise clients like KLM, Velux and Epson.

Building strong customer relations

After 15 successful years, the founders say Presspage still owes its success to building strong customer relations with some of the world’s best-loved brands. With dozens of global enterprises in its customer base today, it is almost hard to believe that it all started with a three-person team. Yet the story of Presspage shows the value of hard work, networking and good, old-fashioned salesmanship.

“Part of what made these huge companies interested in us was our company’s vision. But it definitely also helped to bring a cake along to a client meeting, to start a conversation and listen to what was on their minds”, says Bart, thinking back on the early days.

Tim agrees, adding that the Presspage platform has evolved based on customer feedback: "It didn’t take us long to discover how important it is to really listen closely to our customers. That’s how we learn what workflows we’re still missing and need to add, or which improvements we can make to the platform. Or which connections and integrations we could add – which partnerships will serve our customers the best." 

One suggestion that came up repeatedly was the customers' need to have their questions answered quickly: "From the very beginning, we set up our ticketing system and phone support to make sure we were always there whenever any of our customers needed us. We pride ourselves on offering exceptional service and support, and it’s something we often hear in the feedback our customers give us”, he adds.

Attracting the best talent

As more and more major clients began adopting Presspage, the company grew far beyond the Dutch market. By 2015, it had opened a second office in Chicago. To support its fast growth, Presspage continually expanded its team, adding new tech talent to keep the platform moving forward.

“What keeps us going strong after all these years is our team. We have such a great team of experts here that really know what they’re doing and are very much engaged with our platform and with the companies we work for”, says Bart.

When asked what sets Presspage apart from other companies, Sébastien points out one thing in particular: “It’s easier to attract the best talent when people see that their work really makes a difference. We give people the opportunity to work with advanced technologies, like AI, but also to work really closely with all these amazing international companies. Everyone has their favourite brands, so it’s cool when you get to work at a place where those brands are your customers, whether it’s your favourite car maker, an airline or a watch brand." 

According to Tim, the Presspage team also shares a common motivator: "One thing all our team members have in common is that they love a hard day’s work. We are pretty clear from the beginning that we like to have a good time, but we didn’t come here to play. The people who share our commitment are exactly the people we’re looking for."

What’s next for Presspage?

Reflecting on its 15-year milestone, Presspage is proud of its past achievements and looking forward to many exciting new developments in the future. One thing is clear: the company is as committed as ever to the founders’ vision – helping communications professionals tell their story. So, what’s next for Presspage?

“At the moment, we’re seeing a lot of potential to serve new customers by offering them individual parts of the Presspage platform. For example, many companies can benefit from having a standalone solution to streamline their workflow for handling press inquiries. We’ve built a system where they can manage all of their inquiries in one place, which multiple users have access to. They can label inquiries, search for them, filter them, and have conversations with journalists inside the platform, so everything can be managed and archived there, but also connected to press releases in the newsroom, or emailed using our distribution solution,” says Tim.

Bart agrees, adding that AI and data-driven solutions are also on the team's radar: "We’re working very hard to develop new tools that make life easier for corporate communications teams, while also complying with strict legal standards like the GDPR, which regulate how companies collect and use their data."

As a final note, he adds: "Corporate communications teams have always been our heroes at Presspage. We’re going to spend the next 15 years doing what we’ve always done: talking to them, listening to them, and creating technologies that are really useful to them."