36Kr has introduced its "Project Recommendation" service in an article that focuses on a familiar problem for startups: plenty of teams are building, but many still fail to explain clearly what they actually do.
The article says the market is not lacking new projects. New products, technologies, brands and business models appear every day. For investors, industry players and potential customers, the real task is not judging how passionately a founder speaks. It is deciding whether the problem is real, why customers need the product, how far the product has been validated, whether the difference from existing solutions can be understood, and why the team has a realistic shot at executing.
According to 36Kr, many teams do have substance, but that substance is scattered. Technical details may sit inside parameter sheets, customer cases may remain buried in chat logs, progress updates may exist only in internal weekly reports, and the business logic may live only in the founder's head. When the team finally speaks to the outside world, the presentation often leans too far into technology or too far into vision, without clearing the basic hurdle of being understood on first read.
The article points to several patterns. Some projects devote most of their materials to technical detail without explaining commercial value. Some already have paying customers, yet their documents still fail to show a full business loop. Others have reached a meaningful stage of progress, but because they have not made one restrained and professional public presentation, people outside the immediate circle struggle to form a clear view.
36Kr says its service is meant to narrow that gap. The aim, it writes, is not to invent a louder story for a project, but to organize products, customers, progress and judgment that already exist into a format the industry can read easily.
Structured submission instead of a blank-page assignment
The article argues that the first attempt to explain a project to outsiders is usually difficult. Internally, teams may feel that key points are obvious. For first-time readers, the background is missing. As a result, materials grow longer while the focus becomes less clear.
That is why "Project Recommendation" is framed as a structured interview rather than an assignment asking founders to write an article from scratch. Project teams are asked to respond to core topics including company basics, products and services, target customers, industry market, business model, competitive advantages and development stage. In 36Kr's description, the process starts by getting the facts out in full, then moves to presentation.
AI handles organization; editors review the result
36Kr says AI is used to sort information and generate a first draft, which lowers the time cost of a startup's first public-facing explanation. But it also stresses that AI is not the final step. Project content still goes through human review.
In the article's framing, the heart of a project profile is not word choice but authenticity, logic and information value. AI is suited to processing large amounts of information, clarifying structure and improving efficiency. Editors are responsible for boundaries and baseline quality. Used together, 36Kr says, the two can help a team complete a relatively full public presentation at lower communication cost.
The intended output, it adds, is not a simple self-introduction. It is a piece of project content that lets outside readers quickly understand who the team is, what problem it is solving, how far it has progressed and why it is worth paying attention to now.
Content as a long-term public asset
The article also argues that startups repeat the same communication work across different stages: sending BPs to investors, introducing products to customers, sharing materials with industry organizations and explaining the model to partners. Each time, the language has to be rebuilt.
If a company already has a relatively complete set of content that can stand up to public reading, that workload becomes lighter, 36Kr says. Investors can make an initial judgment earlier. FAs have public information they can cite when introducing a project. Industrial parks, incubators and industry service institutions do not have to rely only on verbal descriptions when making recommendations.
36Kr says this matters even more for early-stage companies still building their brands. Market recognition does not come only from paid promotion. A clear industry-facing explanation and a project write-up that outsiders can understand also accumulate trust.
For that reason, the service is described not as a one-off decision about whether to publish an article today, but as a way to help projects gradually build their own body of public content. The article says that asset can follow the company through different stages: as pre-read material during fundraising, as a business explainer when recruiting and as background material in partnership talks. It closes that point with a short line: clarity itself is a competitive advantage.
Submission link and contact details
36Kr says founders, as well as people serving promising startup projects, can submit through the "Project Recommendation" channel. The article specifically names project owners, FAs, investment institutions, industrial parks, incubators and industry service institutions.
After project information is reviewed, those that meet the content requirements will move into the later content production and publishing process, according to the article.
36Kr adds that if a project already has a product, customers, technical accumulation or commercial progress, or is validating a new industry opportunity, now may be the right time to introduce it seriously to a broader audience.
- Free submission link: https://36kr.com/seek-report-new
- Contact email for 36Kr Project Recommendation: aireport@36kr.com
The article ends with this line: "Let the project explain itself clearly first. How far it can go should be answered by the market."