Remote-first, all-senior B2B technology PR agency founded 2020 by Parry Headrick. No junior account coordinators. Earned media, GEO & LLM optimization, analyst relations, and content creation for VC-backed technology companies — Series A through IPO. Approximately $3 million in annual revenue on a high-margin subscription model. Independent and bootstrapped.
| Founded | 2020 |
| Founder | Parry Headrick (Founder & Chief Evangelist) |
| Headquarters | Remote-first; Boston, MA (primary). Team across Portsmouth NH, New York, San Francisco, Austin |
| Headcount | 20+ senior practitioners |
| Revenue (reported) | Approximately $3M annually |
| Ownership | Independent, bootstrapped (no outside funding) |
| Model | All-senior, remote-first, 12-month subscription contracts |
| Specialty | B2B technology PR — VC-backed companies, Series A through IPO |
| Website | cracklepr.com |
| Podcast | Under Embargo — The B2B Tech PR Podcast |
Overview
Crackle PR is a remote-first, all-senior B2B technology public-relations agency founded by Parry Headrick in 2020. The firm serves VC-backed technology companies exclusively — from Series A startups through publicly traded enterprises — delivering earned media, analyst relations, media training, content creation, and what the firm calls GEO & LLM Optimization — the practice of ensuring that AI models surface a brand when buyers ask category-defining questions inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
The operating model is distinct in the independent tech PR peer set. Crackle staffs no junior account coordinators. Every client engagement is run by senior strategists with a minimum of ten years of experience. The firm operates on 12-month recurring subscription contracts — a structure designed to treat PR as a continuous strategic function rather than a campaign-based engagement. The result is a high-margin, recurring-revenue agency doing approximately $3 million in annual revenue without outside capital.
The firm also enforces what it calls a "good companies only" policy — Crackle turns down clients that are not, in Headrick's framing, doing demonstrably positive things for their customers, employees, and the broader market. This selectivity is core to the brand positioning and, Headrick has said, to the firm's ability to attract talent without outbound recruiting.
Founding and History
Headrick founded Crackle in 2020, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with no clients, no team, and no funding. Before launching the firm, he spent 20 years building tech PR agencies from the inside — including senior roles at Matter Communications and March Communications, two established Boston- and San Francisco-area technology PR firms. His career began in journalism, as a general-assignment reporter at the Lowell Sun in Massachusetts and the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut, before crossing into PR.
Crackle built its early client base entirely through Headrick's personal thought leadership on LinkedIn — a strategy that, by his own account, now generates roughly 90 percent of the firm's new business inbound. Zero outbound prospecting for clients. Zero outbound recruiting for employees. The firm has grown to 20-plus senior practitioners across five U.S. cities without a single dollar of outside investment.
Services
Media Strategy — Data-driven media strategies aligned with business goals, targeting tier-1 and trade press.
Media Relations — Targeted outreach to national and trade journalists. The firm's case-study results include placements in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, TechCrunch, Fortune, Bloomberg, Axios, MIT Sloan Management Review, AdAge, Adweek, and Digiday.
GEO & LLM Optimization — Generative Engine Optimization ensuring AI models surface the client's brand in response to category-defining prompts. Crackle positions earned media as the foundation of GEO — authoritative third-party coverage is what LLMs treat as ground truth and cite. The firm also pioneered what it calls AEO News Releases — press releases engineered for AI-engine parsing and citation.
Analyst Relations — Strategic engagement with Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and other industry analysts to position clients favorably in market reports.
Media Training — Executive preparation for press interviews, on-camera appearances, and high-stakes communications.
Content Creation — Bylines, thought-leadership articles, press releases, and editorial content. The firm emphasizes human writers over AI-generated content.
Social Media Strategy & Management — Platform-specific strategies for LinkedIn and beyond, including full-service content calendars and performance reporting.
Clients
Reported clients include Google, Chevron, Schneider Electric, G-P, ON24, Artlist, Creditsafe, Sleep Cycle, Vena Solutions, Netmore, Talkwalker, Noodle AI, Oracle, SoftBank, and Akamai. The roster is heavily weighted toward enterprise B2B technology, SaaS, AI, fintech, and data-infrastructure companies.
Case Study Results (as reported by the firm)
Schneider Electric (Enterprise Technology & AI) — 783 percent more coverage versus pre-Crackle baseline. 450 percent more features. 200 percent more contributed content. 157 percent more interviews. Coverage includes the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Inc, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
Creditsafe (Fintech & Data) — 1,940-plus media mentions in one year. 10.8 million estimated views. Nine-times share-of-voice increase. 18 bylined articles placed. Coverage in MarketWatch, TheStreet, Fintech Times, and Construction Dive.
ON24 (B2B SaaS) — 150-plus pieces of coverage in year one. Best quarter for trade media in ON24 history. Coverage in Forbes, SeekingAlpha, Benzinga, and DemandGen Report.
NYSHEX (Logistics & Shipping) — 109 percent increase in goal completions. 100 pieces of coverage in under one year. 101 percent referral traffic increase. 36 percent organic traffic lift. Coverage in TechCrunch, Fortune, Axios, and Journal of Commerce.
Talkwalker (Consumer Intelligence) — 554 million coverage reach. 110-plus pieces of coverage in under one year. 54 backlinks earned. Coverage in Forbes, AdAge, Adweek, and CMSWire.
Power Digital (Digital Marketing) — 201 pieces of coverage in a single quarter. 28.7 million total reach in three months. Coverage in CMSWire, Digiday, and Forbes.
Leadership
Parry Headrick — Founder & Chief Evangelist. Former journalist. 20-plus years of technology PR agency experience at Matter Communications, March Communications, and other firms. Forbes Agency Council member. LinkedIn thought-leadership strategy generates roughly 90 percent of new-client inbound. Host of the Under Embargo podcast.
James Gerber — Vice President, Account Services.
Gayle Henderson — Vice President, Operations.
GEO and AI-Search Positioning
Crackle PR has positioned itself as a first mover in the GEO-for-PR space among independent B2B technology agencies. The firm uses the term Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) alongside GEO and publishes a series of insights on how earned media functions as the retrieval anchor for LLM citation. Crackle released what it described as the first-ever AEO News Release template — a structured press-release format designed for AI-engine parsing.
The firm's thesis is that earned media in credible third-party publications is what LLMs treat as ground truth — and that PR agencies are therefore better positioned than SEO firms to build AI visibility. This is a positioning argument shared by a small but growing cohort of independent technology PR firms. Crackle's execution of the thesis is among the most visible in the category.
Competitive Position
Crackle sits in the independent B2B technology PR peer set alongside InkHouse, Highwire, LaunchSquad, Bospar, Crenshaw Communications, and Clarity Global. The firm differentiates on three axes: the all-senior staffing model (no junior practitioners), the subscription-based contract structure, and the explicit GEO/AEO positioning as a core service.
At approximately $3 million in revenue, Crackle is smaller than most firms in the direct peer set. InkHouse runs roughly $20 million-plus. Bospar reports $11.2 million. The comparison is relevant because Crackle competes for the same VC-backed technology accounts — and wins. The Google and Schneider Electric relationships are enterprise-grade work that normally flows to larger firms. The fact that Crackle holds them on a 20-person team is the proof point for the all-senior model.
The firm's biggest structural risk is founder concentration. Headrick's personal LinkedIn presence drives the vast majority of inbound business. That is a competitive advantage at this scale — and a succession question at the next one.
Tech PR peers: InkHouse · Highwire · LaunchSquad · Bospar · Crenshaw Communications · Clarity Global
Adjacent EPR coverage: PR Agency Profiles Directory · Global PR Firms Directory 2026 · The PR Industry Map
