Updated June 2, 2026
How Do I Pitch an Article to Fast Company?
Answer: For most executives, the realistic and documented path into Fast Company is the Fast Company Executive Board — an application-based contributor membership that produces ongoing, recurring bylines on FastCompany.com, not a one-off placement. A cold pitch directly to Fast Company's editorial team is possible, but it is a much smaller door, generally reserved for people with an existing editorial relationship or an unusually distinctive story. Once you're publishing — through the Executive Board or through a direct pitch — the same editorial bar applies: a specific, timely angle on innovation, technology, or the future of work, written for ambitious professionals who want to act on what they read.
Fast Company occupies a distinct editorial position: it is not a news publication, not an academic journal, and not a general business magazine. It is a publication for people who are actively building things — companies, careers, products, movements. Understanding that audience is the prerequisite for getting published there, whichever door you go through.
The Fast Company Executive Board Is the Realistic Path In
Most executives should be targeting the Fast Company Executive Board, not a cold pitch to editorial. It's an application-based contributor membership: accepted members publish on FastCompany.com on a recurring basis, with a board attribution line, through a structured editorial review process rather than a one-time submission. That structure is what makes it the practical route for most executives — it produces an ongoing publishing cadence instead of a single placement, application criteria are documented rather than dependent on an existing editorial relationship, and it fits the way a real authority record gets built: consistently, over many pieces, rather than off one lucky placement.
A direct pitch to Fast Company's editorial team is the other route, and it still exists — it's the more competitive path, generally reserved for people who already have an editorial relationship, an existing platform, or an unusually distinctive story that doesn't need an introduction. For most executives without that kind of pre-existing access, it's a much smaller door than the Executive Board, and one that can consume months without result. Neither path is an endorsement of the executive or their company — pieces are accepted on the strength of the specific idea, not membership or credentials alone.
What Fast Company Is and Is Not Looking For
Fast Company is interested in the intersection of innovation and work — but specifically the practitioner's experience of it, not the observer's analysis. A submission that says "here is what the data shows about remote work" is a media pitch. One that says "here is what I learned managing a fully remote team of two hundred people through three pivots" is a Fast Company piece. The distinction is access: Fast Company wants what can only come from someone who was inside the experience, not someone who studied it from outside.
The publication's sweet spots are: the future of work (how organizations and careers are changing), innovation and design thinking (how companies build new things), technology and its human implications (not tech specs, but how technology changes how people live and work), and leadership under pressure (specific, honest accounts of how leaders navigated real difficulty). Ideas that land outside these areas — general business strategy, marketing tactics, financial analysis — are better suited to other outlets, whether submitted through the Executive Board or pitched directly.
Writing the Piece Once You're In
Whether the piece runs through the Executive Board's editorial process or a direct pitch that got a yes, the same standard applies: communicate maximum information in minimum space, and lead with an argument, not a topic. A strong submission opens with the one sentence that captures the article's central claim (not the topic — the argument), establishes in a line or two why the author is the right person to make it (specific experience, not generic credentials), and makes clear why this is the right moment for the piece. The most common rejection signal at Fast Company — in either channel — is a piece that reads like a press release or a thought leadership blog post. Editors immediately recognize the PR-produced feel of writing meant to promote a company or position rather than to genuinely inform readers. The fix is ensuring the central claim creates tension — something that makes a reader say "I didn't think about it that way." A piece that amounts to "innovation is important and here's why" will not land. One that argues "the most common innovation advice is actively making companies worse, and here's what I saw happen" has a fighting chance.
If You Do Pitch Directly
For executives who do have the platform or relationship to attempt a direct pitch, Fast Company's editorial team pays attention to where else an executive has published. A pitch from someone with recent bylines in Inc., Wired, or Forbes Council signals that the author has already passed editorial quality filters and is unlikely to miss deadlines or require extensive revision. Building a publication record — including through the Executive Board itself — is a sound way to make a later direct pitch more credible, if that's a path worth pursuing at all.