LaunchSquad vs Sam Brown: Which Startup PR Firm Is Right for You?
When you compare LaunchSquad vs Sam Brown for your startup PR needs, you are really asking one question. Does this agency understand my world? Both firms have been running startup PR since 1999, have real records, and they operate in completely different industries. LaunchSquad is a tech and consumer communications agency. Sam Brown is a healthcare and life sciences communications agency. Hiring the wrong one will cost you time, money, and six months of explaining your industry to people who should already know it. This article gives you an honest, objective comparison. You will find facts from PRWeek, O’Dwyer’s, Business Wire, and Fierce Pharma ,so you can decide which startup PR firm fits your brand. How LaunchSquad vs Sam Brown Took Different Paths in 1999 Both LaunchSquad and Sam Brown launched in 1999. That shared start date is where the similarity ends. The two firms made vastly different choices about where to focus, and those choices still define who each agency is today. LaunchSquad was co-founded by Jason Mandell in San Francisco. Mandell had previously worked at Schwartz Communications and Cunningham Communications before building LaunchSquad into a 110-person agency. The firm grew up alongside Silicon Valley, close to venture capitalists, tech journalists, and the startup founders who were shaping the future of the internet. Sam Brown healthcare communications agency was founded by Laura Liotta in Wayne, Pennsylvania. She was restless in a corporate communications role and saw the PR industry as ready for a new kind of firm. She named the agency after her grandfather, Samuel Mastrangelo, who performed as “Sam Brown” with his big band orchestra in Atlantic City in the 1920s. LaunchSquad vs Sam firms made the right call for their markets. LaunchSquad grew alongside Silicon Valley’s startup ecosystem. Sam Brown grew alongside the biotech and pharma boom. Today, LaunchSquad vs Sam are listed in O’Dwyer’s Top PR Firms database, have teams of 50-plus. And both have quite different answers to the question of which startup PR client they serve best. Read Also: JPA Health vs Hoffman: Which Agency Wins in Tech PR? LaunchSquad vs Sam Brown: What LaunchSquad Offers as a Startup PR Agency LaunchSquad describes itself as a storytelling agency first and a PR agency second. Before pitching any journalist, the team works out what the brand story is. According to O’Dwyer’s PR Firms Directory 2025, LaunchSquad has 110 employees across offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Austin, and Denver. According to PRWeek’s Agency Business Report 2024, the agency reported $18 million in revenue in 2023, a 10% decline from the previous year. The firm projected $19.2 million for 2024. PRWeek also featured LaunchSquad on its Dashboard 25 list of the most innovative PR agencies in the technology sector. In November 2024, LaunchSquad made its first acquisition. It bought Megawatt, a Boston-based content marketing firm focused on cybersecurity, AI, and deep tech. Megawatt brought in $2.2 million in revenue in 2023. The acquisition strengthened LaunchSquad’s content strategy and SEO capabilities for technically complex B2B brands. Client highlights from O’Dwyer’s include Uber, Netflix, iHeartRadio, On Running, Waabi, Cohere, General Catalyst, and Hippocratic AI. LaunchSquad and its clients ASICS and Oyster were named finalists at the 2024 SABRE Awards North America. The agency was also recognized on the PRNews 2022 Agency Elite Top 100 list. These are verifiable recognition points, not self-reported claims. Where LaunchSquad Likely Falls Short LaunchSquad has three real limitations you should know before signing. First, revenue declined. PRWeek confirmed a 10% drop to $18 million in 2023. That was a tough year for tech PR broadly, as startup funding tightened. The firm projected recovery at $19.2 million for 2024, but you should ask directly about team stability and account continuity during that period. Second, healthcare is not a core strength. LaunchSquad has worked with Hippocratic AI, which focuses on AI applications in healthcare. However, the agency does not have the deep clinical communications expertise that life sciences startups need. Managing press around Phase 3 clinical trial results or navigating FDA regulatory language in a press release requires extremely specific skills. LaunchSquad does not list clinical communications as a service. Additionally, senior attention to a large portfolio is a real concern. LaunchSquad serves more than 75 client accounts across a 110-person team. Smaller startups may find themselves managed day to day by mid-level account managers rather than senior partners. Before committing, ask specifically who oversees your account daily and how often a senior partner reviews strategy. Also, because LaunchSquad’s deepest relationships are in tech and consumer media, brands trying to reach financial trade press, life sciences investors, or healthcare journalists will find the agency’s network less useful. The firm is strong where it focuses. Outside that focus, the fit thins out. What Sam Brown Offers as a Startup PR Agency Sam Brown is a healthcare and life sciences PR agency. That focus defines every hire, every client, and every media relationship the firm has built since 1999. Sam Brown has more than 50 professionals serving more than 40 clients from its base in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The agency’s website states it uses only senior-level professionals on all client accounts and maintains exceptionally low staff turnover. That stability matters in healthcare PR, where the trust between communications and science teams takes time to build and cannot be quickly replaced. On September 18, 2024, Blue Matter, a life sciences consulting firm with more than 230 team members and 120 active clients, acquired Sam Brown. This was confirmed by both Business Wire and MM+M. Sam Brown retained its name. Founder Laura Liotta continues to lead the agency and joined Blue Matter’s executive management team to head a new strategic communications division. Sam Brown’s verified client list, from O’Dwyer’s and PR News, includes Corium, JSR Life Sciences, Harmony Biosciences, Tris Pharmaceuticals, NervGen, SR One, and Velia. The agency works with biotech and pharmaceutical companies at all stages, from stealth mode through Phase 3 trials and commercial launch. Its website explicitly describes collaborating
LaunchSquad vs Sam Brown: Which Startup PR Firm Is Right for You? Read More »
