About PitchFriendly

We believe that public relations software is broken and anachronistic. We aim to be one of the agents of change for this industry by developing wonderful software for media relations. Much like MailChimp has helped make email marketing more fun, we want to remove the pain from media outreach. Have feedback on how we can do better? Email us: founders@pitchfriendly.com.

Joel Andren - Co-founder, CEO

Joel got his start in PR as an intern at a small agency in Seattle in 2000. Over the next couple of years he moved in-house and transitioned to corporate marketing roles at a number of Silicon Valley technology companies. In 2011, he co-founded enterprise storage company Bitcasa. Diving back into PR in 2013, Joel teamed with Paul Denya to launch PR startup PressFriendly. Three years later, they launched PitchFriendly to help PR pros with the media outreach process.

Paul Denya - Co-founder, CTO

Paul learned to code as a teenager and has enjoyed being a professional developer. He was working at NY ad agencies for a few years shipping microsites. He and his family relocated to the SF Bay area in 2011. Most recently, Paul was employee #2 at HelloSign.

Brendan Lewis - Partner at The Pramana Collective

Before joining The Pramana Collective, Brendan was named Global Head of Communications for Shazam, one of the world’s most popular apps that connects people to the world around them. Previously, he served as head of communications for Foursquare, developing and leading the external communications efforts through three rounds of funding, four new product launches (including the unbundling of Foursquare’s core use cases into two separate apps, Foursquare and Swarm,) and the introduction of several lines of monetization. Prior to Foursquare, Brendan worked at daily-deal provider LivingSocial, handling domestic and international business communications. During his career, Brendan has worked in-house and agency side for Juniper Networks, VeriSign, 463 Communications, and Edelman.

He began his career in the the public education department of The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration, the world’s first transplantation organization. Brendan holds a B.A. in sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Though born in Virginia, he considers himself a proud New Jersey native. Brendan currently lives in Westchester County, NY with his wife and daughter and a Carol Channing ventriloquist dummy that he spent nearly $400 on for some inexplicable reason.

Steve Wymer - Vice President, Corporate Communications & Public Relations, TiVo Inc.

Steve Wymer leads corporate communications and public relations for TiVo Inc., responsible for creating and driving the communications strategy around the company's global priorities and development. Steve also leads TiVo’s Silicon Valley engagement with key members of the media and community philanthropic and policy leaders.

Prior to joining TiVo, Steve spent a decade in a variety of leadership roles in political communication as a senior adviser to three U.S. Senators, President of the U.S. Senate Press Secretaries Association and as a delegate of the U.S. State Department training media and political leaders in Eastern Europe and Africa.

After graduating from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University where he served three terms as student body president, Steve worked in marketing in the athletic department of The University of Arizona. In 2008, Steve completed a graduate program in business and political negotiations at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. A resident of San Jose, Steve and his wife Michele have three children.