Honeyjar is an AI-powered communications tool designed to automate parts of the public relations workflow while preserving human judgement in final decisions. The company was founded by Michelle Masek (CEO) and Nadia Jamshidi (CCO), both veterans of agency and in-house communications, and is participating in TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield 200.
What the product does
Honeyjar automates tasks such as drafting announcements, finding and building media lists, scanning news and social media, tracking coverage, and surfacing promising speaking opportunities. The founders describe the product as more than a set of individual AI utilities: their aim is to bring together signals, context, strategy, judgement, timing and execution into a single communications workflow.
Target users
The tool is aimed not only at founders and PR firms but also at the many people who perform communications work without carrying a formal comms title. Michelle Masek noted that marketers, investors, authors, creators, school superintendents and sports-team leaders often shoulder strategic communications tasks; Honeyjar seeks to make senior-level PR expertise available to these users.
Founders and background
Michelle Masek previously served as senior vice president of marketing and communications at Obvious Ventures. Nadia Jamshidi has decades of experience in agency and in-house roles as well. The founders say they built Honeyjar to meet the needs they encountered in their own careers.
Human-in-the-loop and the Comms Lab
Honeyjar is not intended to replace PR professionals. The company insists that the human user must approve and send any pitch or publish any post generated by the platform. To capture professional judgement, Honeyjar is training the product through a broader initiative called the Comms Lab, incorporating the decision-making patterns of experienced PR practitioners: when to act, when not to, what to say, to whom, and where.
Traction and beta users
When Honeyjar opened its waitlist, it received 10,000 signups in the first 24 hours, according to Michelle Masek. Beta testers include Nextdoor, Coco Robotics, investor Bloomberg Beta, and the agencies Mission North and Full Picture.
Implications for journalists and communications
While the product can help organizations increase visibility, journalists worry about being flooded with low-quality, AI-produced pitches. The founders respond that the platform requires users to take the final step of sending pitches, and that their long-term vision includes producing more credible, relevant pitches from sources journalists want to hear from. Honeyjar may even advise a founder when their company is not yet ready for coverage.
Conclusion
Honeyjar aims to scale senior PR judgement and make strategic communications accessible to non-specialists without removing humans from the decision loop. The company will demonstrate the product at TechCrunch Disrupt and continues to refine it through the Comms Lab and user feedback.
