ASTRSK launches AI PR training platform for founders

ASTRSK has launched ASTRSK Academy, an AI training platform for founders who want to manage public relations and media outreach themselves.

The self-paced 21-day programme includes 25 lessons, each designed to take about 20 minutes a day. It is divided into three modules covering narrative development, media pitching and sustaining media attention over time, with weekly assessments that users must pass before moving forward.

ASTRSK, a communications agency founded by Elliot Tomaeno, said it built the platform for companies that are not ready to hire an agency but still want access to PR training and workflows. Over the past 15 years, the agency says it has worked on more than 1,500 company launches and 500 product announcements.

The platform includes five AI tools designed to help founders manage parts of a PR campaign. They cover drafting and refining media pitches, finding news angles, building media lists based on journalists' recent coverage, tracking outreach through a PR customer relationship management system and keeping records of previous pitching activity.

It also includes a separate AI Discovery diagnostic. ASTRSK says the tool shows whether AI systems including ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Gemini recommend a company and highlights areas for improvement.

Founder focus

The launch reflects a wider push by service firms to turn specialist agency work into subscription or software products for smaller businesses. In public relations, that trend is intersecting with startups' growing use of generative AI tools to produce marketing and media materials without adding headcount.

ASTRSK has priced Academy at USD $199 as a one-time payment, including lifetime access and future updates. The first three days are free and do not require card details.

Users who complete the course receive a Press Operator credential. They also gain access to additional educational material through what ASTRSK calls a Grad School curriculum, covering topics such as AI search visibility, thought leadership and newsjacking.

The agency also plans to introduce a premium coaching offer called Academy+, which would add narrative reviews, mock interviews, launch support and twice-monthly coaching sessions. No pricing was disclosed.

Tomaeno framed the product as a response to longstanding barriers for founders with limited PR budgets. "We're entering an era where domain experts can build the thing they're an expert in, not just write about it," said Elliot Tomaeno, Founder & CEO, ASTRSK.

He added: "We've spent over 15 years getting startups covered. ASTRSK Academy is an open-sourced system for founders who want to do it themselves. For years, I watched talented founders struggle to tell their stories because they couldn't afford an agency or didn't know where to start. Academy is years of frameworks turned into a system and a set of tools any founder can run on their own, with no PR background required."

ASTRSK was founded in 2012 and says it has worked with brands including Lemonade, Squarespace and Prime Video. The Academy launch marks an effort by the agency to expand from client services into training and software for early-stage founders.