October 23, 2025
October 23, 2025
This Q&A is the second in our Super Communicators series, which explores how leading communicators use curiosity, critical thinking, and creativity to create an innovation edge in the AI era.
AI is transforming how communicators work. But what’s staying the same? Melissa Sobel, Communications Partner at CapitalG, Alphabet’s independent growth fund, has spent 20+ years working across startups, big tech, and venture capital. Her take: technology changes, but the fundamentals don’t.
Melissa joined me to talk about the enduring power of relationships, how she uses AI to scale her output (but not replace it), and why understanding your own rhythms is critical to doing your best work. Our interview has been edited for clarity.
Has AI tangibly changed the way you work?
AI hasn’t changed the quality of my output, but it has dramatically expanded my speed and capacity. If I am the executive chef of my day, AI has become my sous chef. Instead of perhaps executing one or two high-quality, three-course meals per day, I can whip up four, five or possibly even six in the same amount of time. And I’m still controlling the quality.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly AI has embedded itself into our workflows? It’s been less than three years, and already it’s hard to imagine work without AI.
Isn’t it amazing how quickly AI has embedded itself into our workflows? It’s been less than three years, and already it’s hard to imagine work without AI.
Can you give me an example of how this works for you? What’s your biggest AI unlock?
For example, when we have a funding announcement, there’s a bunch of content we need to create: investment thesis posts, the press release, corporate LinkedIn posts, posts for all of the investors involved, the internal email, emails to advisors, etc. There’s all this communication that’s basically relaying the same content in different ways.
With AI, I’m able to take the press release, the investment thesis post, examples of each partner’s writing, and use AI to draft up all of the LinkedIn posts, internal emails, etc. Before, I would only write draft posts for the partners, but now I can write first draft posts for everyone, because it’s not that much more work for me. Gemini does the commodity work of creating first drafts, and then I refine them so they meet the quality bar.
And then there’s briefing docs to prepare for press interviews. They sometimes feel like the bane of my existence, because so much of the content is rote, as is the formatting. But AI helps me get through them faster and do them better since I have Gemini ingest my notes on each reporter and partner, as well as the reporters’ past writing. I find it’s especially good at helping me come up with logical possible questions to anticipate.
You are doing a lot more work now–including the work you love and the work you don’t.
I love my job. But in any role, there’s work that you know you have to do, but isn’t what energizes you or honestly adds that much value. I use AI in the areas that I consider to be important but not likely to move the needle for us or our companies. That frees up more time to do the stuff that’s high value to the firm or portfolio companies.
With the rise of AI, authenticity and relationships have become even more important. With the acceleration of content, much of it machine generated, we crave connection. Does AI change how you think about your relationships?
The value of authentic, substantive, interpersonal connections – those have always been really important. And with AI, they’re becoming even more important. And really differentiating.
The value of authentic, substantive, interpersonal connections – those have always been really important. And with AI, they’re becoming even more important. And really differentiating.
Just think about us. Over 12 or 13 years, we’ve both had all these different roles, and just when I was starting my consulting practice more than a decade ago, you reached out and said, “Let’s get lunch. I want to keep in touch with comms leaders I’ve worked with and who I value.’’ I wasn’t in a role at that point where we had any way of knowing whether our worlds were going to align in the future, but you invested in the relationship. And I think that just shows the value of really investing in people and substantive, authentic connections.
I love that example. How does connecting play out with media relations?
It’s so important to invest in journalist relationships. When I talk to a lot of startup comms leaders, they say that it’s really hard to break through to the media right now. And I wonder, do you have relationships with them? Do you actually know what one person cares about versus another? Are you actually reading their stories when they write something? If it is interesting, do you tell them?
Or are you transacting with them and then surprised when that doesn’t work? Building relationships with the media is an investment that pays dividends over time. Like with any relationship, simple, thoughtful little gestures go a long way.
I recently read that 90% of the world’s digital data was produced over the last two years. How do you stay tapped into the explosion of information in your field? And what are your go-to sources?
I am and always have been a news junkie. For me, the fact that things are constantly changing, that’s a feature, not a bug. I love it. I voluntarily subscribe to so many newsletters and consume so much news every day. On the weekend, I consume even more news for fun. When I’m cooking dinner, driving to the office, getting ready in the morning, I’m listening to podcasts.
When curiosity becomes your hobby, it becomes your superpower.
Absolutely. I start every morning scanning through some of the newsletters. Fortune Term Sheet, New York Times DealBook, Pro Rata, Pitchbook News. And then I get news alerts throughout the day. I listen to a bunch of podcasts religiously. I love Hard Fork. I never miss that. And I listen to the New York Times Daily every single day.
If I know what’s happening in the tech world and beyond, that makes me better at my job. I’m more likely to suggest interesting storylines to portfolio companies or reporters.
How do you approach media strategy with the portfolio companies you advise?
Usually when I start working with a startup, it’s just before a funding round. I have a very directed set of questions: What’s your goal? Who are you trying to reach? What do you want them to think and say about you? Where did you announce your previous rounds? How far from IPO are you?
We frequently work backwards from the IPO. If they were in TechCrunch for earlier rounds, but they think they’re two or three years out from IPO, we’ll say, “Okay, well, let’s start mapping back.’’
As we’re coming up with the strategy for the funding round, we might think about some of the reporters who we assume won’t cover it, but will nonetheless want to know about the company and will appreciate the update as a way to build the relationship. Sometimes we’ll even offer them the exclusive. Even if they say no, you’ve started to build a relationship with them.
What other common practices work for VCs?
I don’t think there’s one right playbook, either for tech companies or for venture firms. And what makes sense for an early-stage venture firm is going to be really different from what makes sense for a growth-stage firm. At a lot of the early-stage firms, it’s all about being as loud and contrarian as possible, but that would never be authentic for who we are as a firm, nor appropriate for most growth-stage firms. Our firm leans much more into the investors’ substantive deep thesis work spanning months and years.
I don’t think there’s one right playbook, either for tech companies or for venture firms. And what makes sense for an early-stage venture firm is going to be really different from what makes sense for a growth-stage firm.
Similarly, you have to think about what makes sense for each partner within a firm. Some people are more comfortable talking with reporters. Some are less. Some are more comfortable with writing. Some are more comfortable with podcasts.
It’s all about authenticity for each firm and each executive. Other than that, I don’t think there’s one right playbook.
Traditional PR is dead, long live…
The same as always: authentic, substantive connections. That’s what has always mattered, and with AI, it matters even more.
