Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Mauldin.
Hi Justin , thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I got my start at Apple back when the iPhone was just taking off, which was kind of like being at the center of the universe at that time. Steve Jobs was this huge, larger-than-life figure, and even though I wasn’t working directly with him every day, I was close enough to his core team that I got to see the ripple effect of his influence up close. What really stuck with me from those years was Apple’s obsession with detail — every single thing, down to the tiniest pixel or product texture, was intentional. You realize the magic isn’t in one big thing; it’s in the hundreds of little things that add up to a seamless experience. That’s where I first understood what “craft” actually means.
After a few years there, I left Apple and moved into the startup world in the Bay Area, running marketing teams and launching products. It was fast, messy, and exciting, but there was this one recurring frustration: every PR agency we hired sucked. I’d fire one, bring in another, and six months later it was déjà vu — same story, same results. Eventually, I got fed up and decided to just figure it out myself. I brought PR in-house, partly to save the company money but mostly because I wanted to understand why it was so broken. What I found was that PR wasn’t some mysterious dark art — it just required creativity, strategic thinking, and the ability to tell a damn good story. Once I started doing it myself, I realized I actually loved it. I loved the puzzle of figuring out how to get the media to care about something, how to make a story land, how to make the people behind a company feel bigger than life — kind of like what I saw at Apple years earlier.
After bouncing around startups for a while, I thought I’d see what the other side was like and joined a traditional PR agency. That lasted about a year. It was rigid, old-school, and completely disconnected from how startups actually operate. But that experience gave me this full-circle perspective — I’d seen what clients hate about agencies, and I’d seen why agencies can’t seem to fix it. So, I decided to do it myself. About ten years ago, I started my own firm with the idea of building something totally different — basically the anti-agency. No fluff, no outdated playbooks, no giant teams billing by the hour just to look busy.
Now, we’re one of the top B2B tech PR firms in the country, with a small, tight-knit team that moves fast and does things differently. It’s been a wild ride, but easily the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done. Looking back, taking that leap and betting on myself was the best decision I ever made.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh, definitely not a smooth road. I don’t think anyone who’s ever built something from scratch would describe their journey that way. The early years were rough — I was figuring things out as I went, leaning heavily on introductions and word-of-mouth referrals. That worked fine to a point, but there were so many things I just didn’t know back then. Stuff like content marketing, SEO, brand positioning, even how much your website design actually matters. I was good at the work itself, but I hadn’t fully grasped all the machinery behind building a business.
For a long time, it was just me. I had a handful of clients, kept things manageable, and told myself I was growing — but in reality, I’d just created a steady job for myself. That worked until it didn’t. You hit a ceiling really fast when you’re the only one doing everything. The first five years were very much that phase. I relied almost entirely on referrals, which is great when they’re flowing, but terrifying when they’re not. The first time the economy slowed down and the inbound work dried up, it was like the lights went out. You suddenly realize you have zero control over your pipeline, and that’s a horrible feeling. Getting through that forced me to rethink everything — I had to start investing in marketing, brand visibility, and building something more sustainable instead of just waiting for opportunities to show up.
Hiring was another lesson I had to learn the hard way. Finding good people in PR is tough, mostly because so many have been trained to think and work in this rigid, old-school agency way that doesn’t really fit how I like to operate. So I flipped the approach. Instead of hiring “PR people,” I started bringing in operations-minded folks — executive assistants, project managers, people who were hyper-organized and sharp but didn’t come with all the bad habits. I’d teach them the PR side myself. It turned out to be one of the smartest things I ever did. Those kinds of hires brought a level of reliability, structure, and trust that completely changed how we worked. It’s been a process, and there were a lot of false starts along the way, but eventually, I found my rhythm — and my people.
We’ve been impressed with Salient PR, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We’re a PR agency that works almost exclusively with B2B tech companies — mostly venture-backed startups that are in that fast, high-growth stage where every move matters. What we do is pretty straightforward on paper — announcements, thought leadership, speaking, awards, data-driven campaigns, case studies, all of that — but the way we do it is what really sets us apart. We’re not one of those cookie-cutter agencies that blast out press releases and call it a day. We’re deeply proactive. We think, plan, and operate like an extension of the client’s internal team. A big part of our reputation has come from being the agency that’s always one step ahead — the one bringing ideas, not waiting for instructions.
We spend a lot of time thinking about how the agency model itself can evolve — how to make it faster, more efficient, and more strategic. Whether that’s through automations, integrating AI into the workflow, or just rethinking how communication should flow between clients and media, we’re always pushing to do things better. The goal is to create storytelling that actually feels human — authentic, intentional, and not mass-produced. Tech PR especially is brutally noisy; there’s always someone trying to get attention. So we work hard to help our clients stand out in a way that doesn’t feel forced or formulaic.
Brand-wise, what I’m most proud of is the consistency and the relationships we’ve built. Our client retention rate says more than any marketing copy ever could — people stick with us because we deliver. We’re selective about who we work with, and that’s intentional. We’re not trying to be a massive global agency with offices everywhere. We’re small by design, which lets us stay sharp and only take on work we believe in. And honestly, I do think we’re better than most agencies out there. The industry is full of bloated retainers and surface-level effort, and that’s just not who we are. We care about outcomes, not optics. So if you’re a high-growth startup that wants smart, modern PR that actually works — that’s where we come in.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
There are a few different ways people can work with us. On the talent side, we’re always looking for smart, driven people who want to do things differently. We bring on freelancers across the board — writers, marketers, PR pros, copy editors, SEO specialists — pretty much anyone who’s good at what they do and wants to work on interesting projects. The cool thing is we don’t take a cut or play middleman with rates; people set their own prices, and we just connect great clients with great talent. We’ve also got ongoing opportunities for interns and administrative support, since that side of the business is always expanding. So if you’re organized, curious, and not looking to get stuck in another cookie-cutter agency job, we’d love to talk.
On the client side, our focus is B2B tech — mostly venture-backed startups that are growing fast and want real PR that actually moves the needle. If that’s you, reach out. We’ll have a conversation, figure out what you’re trying to achieve, and if it’s a good fit, we’ll build something great together. And if it’s not the right fit, we’ll still point you in the right direction. At the end of the day, it’s about working with people who care about the work as much as we do.
Pricing:
- Starting at $10K a month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://salientpr.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/salient-pr/
- Other: https://clutch.co/profile/salient-pr
