The Inquisitr: TechCrunch50: $3.5 million x Disingenuous
Tory Young
· 1 year ago
If you'd seen Techcrunch traffic over the last 6 months you'd know that TC50 is the only way Arrington can afford to pay his staff as TC has gone downhill in interest and traffic (almost coinciding with when you left) has been decimated. Mike has missed the boat on selling TC and so TC50 is what it's all about.
Duncan Riley
· 1 year ago
Tory, I can't speak for his traffic numbers, but certainly the value in the TechCrunch buy isn't the blog alone, it's the events as well, and possibly in a big way
John
· 1 year ago
I think this may be your best article yet. I like TechCrunch and usually when people bitch about Michael Arrington I ignore it, but this raises a very interesting point. I hope TechCrunch responds.
Moses Malone
· 1 year ago
I agree with John. This was a really good post Duncan.
Perhaps I misread where it said that CalANUS makes money. How is this possible when he is supposed to be running a company. With all the hard work one has to put into this event Mahalo may go out of business without his undivided attention. Well, it will probably go out of business anyway. I guess he's smart diversifying his time.
@JoeHobot
· 1 year ago
Great post mate, I totally see this as one vs other....
gregorylent
· 1 year ago
i am late to this, are you saying it costs 3000 bucks to go to techcrunch50? why would anyone pay that? oh, company money, ok
Ferdie Mack
· 1 year ago
Techcrunch50 is Arrington's way of window-dressing Techcrunch. Given its declining traffic, he needs this to at least sweeten Techcrunch in case... just in case... anyone is interested in acquiring his company.
The IT Being
· 1 year ago
Wow, thats a huge amount of money, and I dont think this is woth it really. Especially that way...
John Treadway
· 1 year ago
This is marketing, plain and simple. When you're new you take aim at the incumbent and the resulting press (like this article) only increases your visibility. Maybe Mike et al really don't like DEMO, but for me the battle is just a publicity tactic that has resulted in massive interest in TC50. I'll be there in the DemoPit and look forward to the event!
webwright
· 1 year ago
Good points.
I'd add that if it was really for the startups, they'd drop this rule about launching at the conference. This "grand opening" mentality really flies in the face of modern agile web development. Great apps are often launched early/roughly to real users and markets and then iterate their way to greatness (or not!).
The TC50 essentially disqualifies any company that launches software in an iterative way. Instead of the "unlaunched" requirement, why not require that the product must generate less than X revenue per month ($50k?) and then judge it strictly on merit?
The TC50 forces apps to go dark, build in secret (or, at best, a smattering of alpha users), and then get blindsided by traffic, usability pains, and other realities that come with real users.
As Seth Godin said: "The best time to promote something is after it has raving fans, after you've discovered that it works, after it has a groundswell of support. And more important, the best way to promote something is consistently and persistently and for a long time. Save the bunting for Flag Day."
Engago team
· 1 year ago
Why all the fuzz? Startups should question themselves if being at TechCrunch50 or DEMO will bring customers?
Starting a company can have two purposes: - A company that wants to be in business needs customers or users. - A company that wants to sell the company or burn money from others needs exposure to VC's.
Well what else is interesting is that the price tag keeps this a rather "elistist' event. If they truly wanted to help start-ups, they could make the entry point more affordable and let regular Joe's in and increase the venue size - not just well heeled potential investors (who will still come, if the quality of the companies is good). So I'm a normal guy making 100K in silicon valley, i'd certainly like to use some of the products listed (I know I can get them from the site once they "launch) but it'd be nice to attend the conference. But $3k is one month's mortgage payment. It's braces for my daughter. It's a vacation for my family....... I think the attendee fees are too high.
All Comments
Perhaps I misread where it said that CalANUS makes money. How is this possible when he is supposed to be running a company. With all the hard work one has to put into this event Mahalo may go out of business without his undivided attention. Well, it will probably go out of business anyway. I guess he's smart diversifying his time.
I'd add that if it was really for the startups, they'd drop this rule about launching at the conference. This "grand opening" mentality really flies in the face of modern agile web development. Great apps are often launched early/roughly to real users and markets and then iterate their way to greatness (or not!).
The TC50 essentially disqualifies any company that launches software in an iterative way. Instead of the "unlaunched" requirement, why not require that the product must generate less than X revenue per month ($50k?) and then judge it strictly on merit?
The TC50 forces apps to go dark, build in secret (or, at best, a smattering of alpha users), and then get blindsided by traffic, usability pains, and other realities that come with real users.
As Seth Godin said: "The best time to promote something is after it has raving fans, after you've discovered that it works, after it has a groundswell of support. And more important, the best way to promote something is consistently and persistently and for a long time. Save the bunting for Flag Day."
Startups should question themselves if being at TechCrunch50 or DEMO will bring customers?
Starting a company can have two purposes:
- A company that wants to be in business needs customers or users.
- A company that wants to sell the company or burn money from others needs exposure to VC's.
The last category read: http://tinyurl.com/58bw2c book by Jon Fisher (who build Bharosa with the purpose of selling the company and sold to Oracle).
http://selectbooks.com/t_strategicent.htm