Katie Bomi Son is a serial entrepreneur and marketing strategist with a track record that spans fintech, global arts, and now AI. As the founder and CEO of StarSeed Co., Ltd., she is pioneering a new era in public relations through Pulitzer AI, a Generative AI-powered PR SaaS platform designed to make professional communication more accessible and effective for startups and small businesses.
Prior to founding StarSeed, Katie worked at fintech startups like QARA, Finda, and Pocket Mobile, and led her first company, Project AA, to acquisition. A published author, global volunteer, and the first Korean member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, Katie’s entrepreneurial journey has been powered by deep curiosity, global experience, and a strong desire to make communication smarter and more inclusive.
With StarSeed’s recent Pre-Seed round investment and venture company certification, Pulitzer AI is set to become a game-changer in the PR tech space — not just in South Korea, but globally. In this interview, Katie Bomi Son shares her journey from fintech to founding StarSeed Co. and pioneering Pulitzer AI, a game-changing PR SaaS platform for startups.
Q. Your background is incredibly diverse—from fintech to arts to global volunteering. How did all these experiences lead you to founding StarSeed and launching Pulitzer AI?
My global experiences during college helped me discover that marketing was my path. I won a couple of awards in marketing competitions, which eventually led to my first job. I also travelled around 25 countries and volunteered in six of them. Those journeys became the basis for my book, The World’s Most Selfish Volunteer Journey. In its final chapter, I wrote, ‘One day, I’ll build a global company with both social and economic impact.’ That vision inspired me to start my career by gaining experience at a global company.
While working for three years as a marketer at Johnson & Johnson, I was selected as the first member of the Global Shapers Seoul Hub by the World Economic Forum in 2012, and represented Korea at the Forum from 2012 to 2013.
Following that, I left Johnson & Johnson to pursue my first entrepreneurial venture — Project AA (Asian Arts) — a global social enterprise focused on cultural and artistic marketing.
After exiting two startups over the past decade, the emergence of GPT-3 truly reignited my imagination. I saw it not just as a technological breakthrough, but as a tool that could revolutionize storytelling and communication — ultimately leading to the birth of Pulitzer AI.”
Q. Pulitzer AI is built on Generative AI. What specific problems in the PR world were you trying to solve with this technology?
One of the most prominent use cases of artificial intelligence (AI) is writing. According to the “2023 Information Statistics Survey” published by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Information Society Agency at the end of last year, 30% of companies were using AI for document creation and information gathering. This shows just how many people struggle with writing tasks like reports.
For about two years, our startup developed an AI tool to support writing tasks and officially launched “Pulitzer AI” in April 2024. A press release is a structured document used by governments, companies, organizations, and even individuals to communicate with the public through the media. Because it requires a specific format and expertise, writing one can be difficult without prior experience. That’s why many businesses hire PR professionals or agencies. Pulitzer AI is an AI tool designed specifically to help those who struggle with writing press releases.
While exploring new business ideas, I was helping multiple startups with PR and noticed a pattern: they were all facing the same repetitive, time-consuming process when creating press releases.
Then GPT-3 came out — and I realized it could change everything. If this quality of writing could be automated, we could help non-experts produce professional press releases in seconds. That insight led to the founding of Starseed and the launch of Pulitzer AI.
Our initial goal was to support early-stage tech startups, but today, our users include listed companies, VCs, accelerators, public institutions, and even PR agencies. In particular, we’ve seen strong adoption among government agencies and public organizations, such as Seoul Metropolitan Government, Korea University, Gangdong-gu District Office, and Korea Industrial Education Institute, that need to communicate transparently and effectively with the public.
Unlike traditional tools, Pulitzer AI generates unlimited press releases in just 10 seconds — sometimes from a single keyword. Users can also edit the AI drafts selectively, giving them both speed and control. That’s the real game-changer.
Q. You’ve designed Pulitzer AI to help even those with no PR experience. Can you walk us through how the platform works for a first-time founder?
Most of the time, first-time founders and those who do not have PR experience are frustrated with the questions like “where should I start with the PR?” They don’t know where to begin and where they should look for help. Pulitzer AI is designed just for them.
Pulitzer AI is an all-in-one AI PR platform that covers from writing a press release to distributing and coverage tracking. Which means, you won’t need a separate PR team to roll-out PR missions.
With a simple input, you can generate a professional press release in just a few seconds. You can either write a simple keyword or write a full statement of what and how you would like to promote your news. Whatever you write into the platform, it will magically transform it into newsworthy writing.
Then, the next step would be to distribute it. We have organized a simple process in which the user can easily follow through and distribute the press release even without their own media list – I will be explaining this in more detail soon.
Finally, there’s coverage tracking. Our “Media Bridge” automatically gathers news articles related to your press release and lists them all in one place. Just click any of them to go straight to the original article. Traditionally, PR managers have spent hours manually collecting and verifying media coverage. With Pulitzer AI, our “News Clipping” feature streamlines this entire process by auto-collecting and summarizing relevant media mentions.
While Pulitzer AI was initially built to empower startup teams and PR beginners, we’ve found that a significant portion of our users—about one-third—actually come from public institutions and government organizations. These users turn to Pulitzer AI to streamline their communication processes, improve transparency, and save time on repetitive documentation and outreach tasks. Especially for teams handling public announcements or citizen-facing communications, the platform offers an efficient and professional solution that fits seamlessly into their workflows.
Hence, Pulitzer AI offers a complete, guided approach to PR. Whether you’re brand-new to media relations or managing communications for a public agency, you can simply follow the platform’s lead—and get results quickly and effectively.
Q. You recently partnered with Stage Nine, a major workspace platform. How do such collaborations help extend the reach and impact of Pulitzer AI?
Our recent partnership with Stage Nine is a great example of how strategic collaborations can significantly extend the reach and impact of Pulitzer AI. By joining forces with a workspace platform that serves a wide range of startups and entrepreneurs, we’re able to bring our AI-powered PR solution directly to the companies that need them most—early-stage teams who often lack the time, expertise, or resources for effective media outreach.
Through this partnership, Stage Nine members gain exclusive access to discounted memberships and distribution services on Pulitzer AI, allowing them to create and distribute professional press releases with just a few clicks. Even without prior experience or existing media contacts, startups can now tap into AI-generated content, customized journalist targeting, and auto-drafted email—all designed to lower the barrier to entry for public relations.
This collaboration is not just about extending our user base—it’s about empowering startups with accessible tools to tell their stories, build their brand credibility, and compete on a larger stage. We see it as a step toward democratizing PR, and we’re excited to continue expanding our impact through more partnerships like this.
Q. In what ways does Pulitzer AI empower startups, especially those without a dedicated communications team?
Pulitzer AI was specifically developed to address the challenges that many startups face when it comes to public relations—namely, high costs, inefficient processes, and lack of internal PR expertise. For startups without a dedicated communications team, navigating the traditional PR landscape can be both overwhelming and inaccessible.
Pulitzer AI empowers these teams by dramatically lowering the barrier to entry. With just a few keywords, our platform automatically generates professional-grade press releases, offers instant revisions based on user feedback, and even suggests journalists based on the content and industry relevance. Startups no longer need to rely on expensive PR agencies or have insider media contacts to get their stories out.
Additionally, we support multi-language PR and have built connections to global media networks, helping startups, public institutions, and international teams easily reach global audiences—something that was previously difficult due to language and network barriers.
By automating and simplifying every step of the PR process, Pulitzer AI enables even small teams or solo founders to handle investment announcements, hiring promotions, and brand storytelling with speed, confidence, and cost-efficiency. It’s a PR companion for the startup era.
Q: You just closed an angel & Pre-Seed round and earned venture certification. What was that journey like, and how are you aligning with your investors moving forward?
Having been part of the startup ecosystem for over a decade, I had already built strong relationships with great investors. When I started this new venture, I began sharing relevant updates and insights on social media — including news articles and behind-the-scenes progress.
That transparency sparked conversations with angel investors and early-stage VCs who resonated with our mission. After several in-depth discussions, we successfully closed our angel and pre-seed round.
I believe what made the biggest difference was showing steady progress, staying authentic, and consistently communicating our vision and execution. Moving forward, we aim to keep our investors closely informed and involved as we grow — not just through numbers, but through trust and shared purpose.
Q. Pulitzer AI also includes a copywriting generator. What sets your tool apart from other AI writing platforms on the market?
What sets Pulitzer AI’s copywriting generator apart is not just the speed or convenience—it’s the strategic depth behind every result. Most AI writing tools focus on surface-level text generation, but we built our tool to think like a marketer. Whether it’s a YouTube title, blog headline, newsletter subject line, or social media caption, Pulitzer AI doesn’t just produce catchy phrases—it generates them based on real copywriting principles and what actually drives engagement.
Users can input anything from plain text to images or PDFs, and in just 10 seconds, our AI provides 10 compelling headline options. These aren’t random—they’re contextually aware, tailored to the format and platform, and optimized to stop the scroll or increase open rates.
In fact, what really sets us apart is the upcoming feature we’re developing: strategic explanation and intent behind each copy suggestion. We know that when you’re in a team setting—pitching ideas in meetings, writing proposals, or planning campaigns—you need more than just a good headline. You need to explain why it works. So Pulitzer AI will soon offer background rationale for each suggestion, helping users back up their choices with solid reasoning. This transforms our tool from a generator into a true copywriting partner—ideal for startups, marketers, and creators who want to move fast, but still be strategic.
Q. Press release distribution is another core feature. How does Pulitzer AI handle this, especially for startups without existing media lists?
Press release distribution is often one of the most intimidating parts of PR—especially for startups that don’t have existing media contacts or a clear idea of where to start. That’s exactly the problem Pulitzer AI was built to solve.
Our platform comes with a pre-built database of over 10,000 journalists, and what makes it truly powerful is that we’ve trained our AI to understand each journalist’s writing preferences, topics of interest, and publication history. When a user writes a press release, Pulitzer AI analyzes the content and automatically matches it with the most relevant journalists who are likely to be interested in that specific story.
In addition, Pulitzer AI also generates a professional, well-crafted email draft that summarizes the press release and respectfully requests coverage—ideal for founders who might not be familiar with PR norms or how to structure outreach. The whole process is designed to be intuitive, even for those without any prior PR experience.
Simply put, Pulitzer AI turns what was once a complex and time-consuming task into a streamlined, intelligent workflow—empowering startups to get media attention with confidence and efficiency.
Q. What feedback have you received from early users so far—particularly startups and small businesses?
We’ve received incredibly encouraging feedback from early users, especially startups and small businesses. One of the most consistent themes is how Pulitzer AI dramatically reduces the time, cost, and mental load associated with creating and distributing press releases.
Many users told us they previously felt overwhelmed by PR—uncertain of where to start, unsure of what journalists expect, and often lacking both media contacts and writing experience. Pulitzer AI changed that. Startups appreciated that they could generate high-quality press releases in seconds, even without any prior PR knowledge. They also mentioned how useful it was that the AI would automatically match their release to relevant journalists and generate email drafts that felt natural and professional.
For small teams, especially those without a dedicated PR manager, Pulitzer AI saved time and resources that would otherwise be spent coordinating with agencies or writing from scratch. One edtech founder shared that even their junior team members were able to create high-quality press releases that felt professionally written. A beauty-tech brand emphasized how Pulitzer AI allowed them to bypass costly PR agencies without compromising results. A team at an AI tech startup said they were impressed by how quickly Pulitzer AI generated journalist-matching content—something they previously struggled with due to a lack of internal PR staff.
Startups in fields like beauty, fintech, and even public sector communications said that the quality and completeness of the AI-generated content exceeded their expectations—with some comparing it favorably even to human-written drafts. The ability to instantly revise or regenerate content based on tone or keyword adjustments was also highlighted as a major strength.
Overall, the feedback confirms our core mission: making professional-grade PR accessible to everyone, not just big companies with big budgets.
Q. As a founder coming from SNU and KAIST networks, what’s your vision for the future of AI in PR? And what advice would you give to others building in the AI startup space?
With Pulitzer AI, we’re already seeing the potential of AI in transforming PR. Our platform can create press releases in seven languages — Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, French, German, and Indonesian — making it easier for companies to communicate across borders. Whether a Korean company needs to reach global media or an overseas brand wants to engage with Korean outlets, Pulitzer AI makes the process seamless. In short, PR has no borders anymore.
But we’re not stopping at press release generation. We’re expanding into a full-stack PR automation tool — including email-based distribution, media coverage tracking, and a CRM-style journalist management system we call Media Bridge. This feature allows PR teams to log conversations with journalists so that even if team members change, knowledge and relationships don’t get lost.
My vision is to make PR more accessible, less painful, and more efficient — globally. The global PR industry is valued at around $114.1B and is projected to grow to $144.28B within five years. I believe AI will drive at least 30% of that growth — and Pulitzer AI is built to lead the way.
For founders building in the AI space: don’t just chase the trend — deeply understand the pain point you’re solving. And build with empathy. If our company succeeds, I want to launch a fund to support people who take meaningful risks, even if they fail. My long-term dream is to create a foundation that helps entrepreneurs do good for the world — regardless of profitability.
Keep tab on latest news in the Korean startup ecosystem & follow us on LinkedIN, Facebook, and Twitter for more exciting updates and insights.
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