looking for starling cycles sponsorship?
We receive loads of sponsorship requests from enthusiastic young riders looking to be The Next Big Thing.
Most of them, maybe 99% of them, send a really, really crap sponsorship pitch and don’t get further than Joe’s inbox.
It’s not that we don’t like sponsoring riders – we love it in fact.
It’s not that we can’t afford to sponsor riders – we don’t have big bucks, but we have a little to give.
It’s mainly because those “Wil You Sponsur Me Plz??” emails just aren’t going to make anyone part with free stuff.
Try a bit harder please aspiring World Cup Champs and Youtube Superstars!
Don’t just send us a one line email, treat it like applying for a job. Send a well-written, spell-checked, polite email when you apply and include:
Take it seriously, show us you’re going to be good to work with. Ask your mum to proof-read your email.
You wouldn’t punt an employer a one-line email asking for a job, so why would you do the same for sponsorship? Treat it like a job application.
Hint: This is NOT a good sponsorship email:
“Hi Starling. I’m 14 years old and have just done my first MTB race. I want to do more. Will you sponsor me?”
Under 16 years old? Younger riders listen up – we’re stoked to hear from you but we’re not going to consider your sponsorship application if your parents aren’t copied into the email and involved in your proposal. We need them to be looped in to all communications and aware that you’re talking to us.
Talk to your parent or guardian before you email us. Include them in any emails to us. Involve them in your plans.
We might sponsor strangers, but it’s way more likely if we already know you. People rarely buy something they’ve never seen before.
If you send a very, very good CV and have a great offer we might jump on it – but – we’re way more likely to bite if we know you already, we know what you can do and we’ve seen your insta/met you/follow you already. So come say hi at an event or email to intro yourself!
What’s in it for us? Sponsorship is a transaction – the rider gets support and in return, they offer value to the brand.
We’re looking for a few things from our sponsored riders. First, we want to put Starling in front of new people that don’t already know about us. Second, we want to show those people our bikes, teach them about why they rock and encourage them to be interested in what we’re doing. We also need help creating content for our website and social media channels – riders that can produce photos and videos to a decent standard are a huge asset.
When you apply, think first, what value are you offering Starling cycles? How can you help us with those jobs above?
And why are you different? We have a few sponsored riders already. We have 30kish followers on Instagram. We have a mailing list. We’re on Pinkbike, Loamwolf, BikeRadar.
What can you do that we can’t already do? Find out what that is, then use that to sell yourself to us. Hint – we love MTB guides, holiday business owners, event organisers, race organisers and youtubers. We really love working with people in countries that aren’t the UK where we’re trying to grow.
Make us feel special. Send us something specific when you apply, show us you know the brand and you care about it. Show us why you care as much as we do about our brand.
Don’t just copy and paste the same sentence into 50 emails and send it round 50 brands. No ChatGPT please
Right now, we are looking for a few riders to join the Starling Cycles family.
We’re open to proposals and love hearing from people.
If your application is successful, we will most likely offer a discounted price on our frames or complete bikes.
In rare cases, we may offer long-term loans of frames or bikes, without charge. This is rare though and only for riders that are offering something really special.
We’re not looking to bring on salaried riders for 2025, but, we may change our mind for the right person.
If you’re a higher-profile rider and think we’ll be a good fit, let’s talk.
We’re really interested in finding riders that focus on non-competitive riding and making it look fun.
We’re especially interested right now in adventure, gravel, bike-packing, and ultra-distance riders – both competitive and non-competitive. This is an area we’d really like to lean into.
We’re also interested to hear from content creators, MTB guides, event organisers, race organisers, club leaders and anyone that’s got a real, human audience to connect with.
Racers – we’re open to proposals for Enduro at grass roots through to national level. It’s more about having fun, than winning races for us, right now.
Note, we’re not able to support racers looking to start racing, you should already have a few races under your belt by the time you speak to us.
And, right now, we’re happy to hear from people anywhere in the world. Get in touch – we want to meet some new people in new places.
