Gráfica rápida: Print for Entrepreneurs and Startups
Print for entrepreneurs and startups is something printers may want to take a closer look at, especially after a recent LinkedIn News article highlighted the rise in new business formation. The report showed a 69 percent increase in people adding “founder” to their profiles compared to last year. Nearly four in ten workers say they want to work for themselves as soon as possible, and Gen Z now represents 18 percent of new founders.
This trend is worth paying attention to. A growing group of first-time founders is building businesses from scratch, preparing to pitch, shaping brands, and meeting potential customers, often without clear guidance on how to present themselves in a professional, credible way. Many don’t yet understand how print supports legitimacy, consistency, and trust from day one.
This is where printers can step in. By understanding and educating founders on the role print plays in early-stage business development, printers can use this intel to build meaningful relationships and open new business channels. The goal is to introduce and provide print for entrepreneurs and startups in ways that match where they are now and where they are heading.
Here are 3 ideas for introducing and providing print for entrepreneurs and startups as they grow:
Start Strong Package
This package is for founders who are just getting started, the stage where everything is still taking shape, and they are trying to explain their idea in a clear, confident way. A simple “start strong” approach to print for entrepreneurs and startups focuses on making those first interactions feel more professional and prepared.
For most founders, this includes the basic materials they can bring — and even wear — into meetings and pitches to start building brand identity and presence. Printers who show through case studies and samples how print creates professionalism, stands out from crowded inboxes, and leaves a lasting impression will be seen as collaborative partners, not vendors, and be in a position to develop long-term relationships.
Look Legit Package
As founders begin pitching and presenting more frequently, the focus shifts to legitimacy and viability. This is where print for entrepreneurs and startups can make an immediate difference in how seriously they are taken in rooms with investors, partners, or potential customers. Customized or personalized presentation materials and leave-behinds show that the founder has invested in how their brand and information are presented — and invested in the meeting itself.
For printers, this package of print for entrepreneurs and startups helps you move beyond basic order taking, strengthens collaboration by introducing new ideas, and supports founders as they shape and communicate their story. Creating content that attracts founders at this stage is crucial. Help them find you and understand how you can support their next steps. Keep AI-driven search in mind and optimize your posts so your print shop appears in results and is positioned as an authority on this topic.
Scale Up Package
When a business starts to gain traction, the work shifts again. Founders are no longer solely focused on explaining the idea; they are managing customers, building processes, scaling operations, and often adding people. Print for entrepreneurs and startups is integral to growing education, marketing, sales, and communication needs.
This package can offer onboarding materials for customers or new employees, labels and packaging systems, event signage and materials, office decor, vehicle wraps, apparel, and so much more. Your offerings should reflect the capabilities of your print shop for maximum margin, without ignoring the needs of founders. Secure partners who can deliver what you can’t create or print for entrepreneurs and startups.
For printers, this is where repeat work can become steady and long-term, especially if you have a convenient process for ordering, reordering, and storing their assets. Help the founders see print as a vital element of their business and its future, not just something they needed at launch.
Where Printers Can Start
A practical place to begin is LinkedIn. Search for founders and owners of startups in your area or in industries you already understand. You will find people at all stages of the journey, from idea to launch, sharing updates about what they are working on and what they are struggling with.
Once you identify a few, spend time researching them and their businesses. Look at how they describe their work, how they present their content, and what they are putting into the world. Show up authentically with relevant, helpful information, solutions, and suggestions that reflect your understanding of where the founder is in their journey.
Generic outreach or phishing for sales is not a strategy for winning this business. Founders have limited time and financial resources. Create a short, tailored introduction. Reference something specific they are doing, point to one or two places where print could support their goals, and offer a simple next step, such as a conversation, a starter package, or a sample kit. This approach positions you as a resource who understands print for entrepreneurs and startups, not just another vendor chasing a quote.
Partnership and Permanence
The bigger strategy is to make print a permanent part of the business as it grows. An entrepreneur who starts with an idea today may need printed materials for an office tomorrow, signage for a building next year, and communications provided in multiple languages as they expand across borders.
By jumping on this trend now, using the LinkedIn intel as a guide, and taking the time to educate and support new founders, printers can build relationships early and stay with these businesses as they evolve. The moment is not automatically an opportunity, but it can become one when printers step in with relevant ideas and keep focus on creating a long-term relationship that can’t be broken over a few dollars in a quote from someone else.
Start up your startup strategy, now… Print Long and Prosper!
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Deborah Corn is the Intergalactic Ambassador to the Printerverse at Print Media Centr and Executive Director of Girls Who Print, a global nonprofit supporting women in the industry. She’s a ‘Print Buyerologist’, international speaker, blogger, and host of Podcasts From The Printerverse. Deborah also leads the Print Production Professionals Group on LinkedIn, the largest print group on the platform.
She is the founder of Project Peacock, an educational initiative that has connected with more than 8,000 print customers, students, and printers through live events, online programs, and streaming video content on ProjectPeacock.TV. She is also the founder of International Print Day, an annual global celebration of print, and the recently launched PrintFM Radio, the first 24/7 global internet radio station dedicated to print and graphic communications.
Through all her work, Deborah delivers printspiration, education, and valuable resources to print and marketing professionals around the world. She’s the recipient of multiple industry honors, including the 2016 Girls Who Print Girlie Award, and serves on advisory boards and technical committees supporting print education and career development, including the Advertising Production Club of NYC, Graphic Communications Education Association (GCEA, Lewis-Clark State College, and Five Keys Schools and Programs.
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