A Forbes feature or a paid profile: what each one gets you

"How do I get featured in Forbes?" is one of the most common questions founders ask. The honest answer is that there are several kinds of Forbes page, and only one of them is the kind people mean.

The four ways a name appears on Forbes

• A story by a Forbes journalist. Written by staff, chosen by editors, not for sale. This is the feature people mean when they say "featured in Forbes". You earn it by being news.
• A list. The 30 Under 30, the rich lists and, in India, lists such as Forbes India W-Power for women. Editors choose the names; you can usually nominate or be nominated.
• A council or contributor post. Forbes runs paid, vetted membership groups (Forbes Councils) whose members may publish articles on Forbes.com, labelled as council posts. You are writing, and you are paying a membership fee.
• Sponsored content. Brands buy labelled sections (BrandVoice on Forbes.com; Forbes India has its own labelled partner content). This is advertising, sold by the publisher.

Be careful of anyone selling a "guaranteed Forbes article". What is usually sold is one of the last two, or a page that is later taken down.

Earned feature or paid profile: side by side

	An earned Forbes story	A paid magazine profile (Prive Pages)
Who decides	Forbes editors	You decide to take part; our editor decides the story
Cost	No fee; many months of work and luck	From ₹60,000 · $900
Your control	None over the text	You approve every word and picture
Label	Editorial	Marked as a Prive Profile
Photography	Theirs, if any	A shoot directed by our art desk
What you keep	A link	Print copies, your own page, a press kit
Certainty	Low	Agreed date, agreed pages

When each is the right choice

Chase the earned story when you have real news: a large raise, a first in your industry, numbers that change a market. Pitch the journalist who covers your field, and pitch the lists in their nomination season.

Choose a paid profile when you need a beautiful, accurate account of what you have built, on a date you can plan around, to send to investors, clients or family. It will not carry the weight of an earned story, and it should never pretend to. It will carry your story exactly as it is.

Do both if you can. A well-made profile is often what gets a journalist's attention later: it gives them the facts, the pictures and the story in one place.

The questions to ask any paid offer

Is it labelled? Who writes it? Do I approve it? Who reads it? What do I keep? If a seller cannot answer all five plainly, keep your money.

If you would like a page in Prive Pages, here is how we choose, and here is where to begin.