How to Get in TechCrunch

Here’s a video of my interview with Mike Arrington of TechCrunch.

The salient question that Mike answers is, ”How do I get my company in TechCrunch?“ The short story is:

1. The “standard answer” is to send an email to editor@techcrunch.com and take your chances. Thirty pitches come in per day this way.

2. The most effective way is to get a referral from a venture capitalist or someone “known” who can speak on your behalf. Ten per come per day this way. Thirty plus ten equals forty, and he runs four stories per day, so you might think that ten percent make it. However, many of his stories are internally generated (followups, reports on what big companies do, etc.), so the actual percentage is much less.

3. The key is how good the company is, not the “slickness” of the pitch. For example, an unpolished pitch for a great company will get through. Also, a great pitch for a lousy company won’t. Basically, you should assume that the bull-shiitake detector is always on.

4. Speaking of bull shiitake, specifically don’t use descriptions such as “revolutionary,” “Web 2.0,” “huge,” “change the way you’ll use the Internet,” and “disruptive.” This is what Mike calls “cheap adjectives,” and they are kisses of death in Michael’s eyes.

5. To describe what you do, you should provide a tangible frame of reference instead of using the usual bull shiitake. For example, one pitch that worked is "YouTube for PowerPoint." Many entrepreneurs are loath to mention other products and prefer cheap adjectives. This is a mistake.

6. Finally, only the first two or three sentences count. If you don’t capture him that quick, you’re hosed.

In short, you should approach TechCrunch as you would a venture capitalist except that TechCrunch doesn’t write checks, but it can get you in front of 250,000 or so people.

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Comments

[Katalog Stron]

Nice movie and great coments for this article..

[Audio]

This was a great video - worth the 45 mins. This is the kind of conference and knowledge share that is worth the trip

[bobe_logan]

I really enjoyed seeing it. It was a great interview, and definitely one of the most entertaining segments of the day.

[amy]

Launch: Silicon Valley 2007

When
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
12:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Where
Microsoft Campus
1065 La Avenida, Bldg. 1
Mountain View, California 94043
(Yahoo! Maps, Google Maps)
Category
Commercial
Description
Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 is THE premier event designed specifically to give you the opportunity to stay on top of the latest emerging technologies, products and startups.

Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 offers the chance to witness the launch of up to 30 pre-screened new product offerings, which are built and ready to hit the market. Unlike business plan pitch events, Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 showcases real products - but before the market and competition have seen them. This provides you with the forum to discover new products and startups, at that critical time when ideas turn into realities and possibilities into opportunities.

So join us on June 5 at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, for the chance to uncover new products, trends, opportunities and partners. Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 is the only event of its kind in the San Francisco Bay area, where you get a preview of the people, products and technologies that will shape the future.

The Selection Process
Last year over 150 companies from New York, Colorado, Finland, New Zealand, Australia, Spain, and the UK, as well as from the West Coast of the USA submitted executive summaries for the opportunity to pitch at the inaugural Launch: Silicon Valley in November 2006. Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 will use a similar process of evaluating every submission by at least 2 members of the Advisory Board, composed of leading members of the Silicon Valley investment community, to bring you the 30 most exciting products offerings from the best emerging technology startups.

The Pitches
Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 will put presenting companies in the spotlight, giving them 10 minutes to make a believer out of you. And if these high energy pitches leave you only thirsting for more, you can meet the startup teams one-on-one during our regular networking breaks.

The Deals
At Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 you’ll have the chance to meet the people who created the products you just saw launched on stage, to answer your questions one-on-one. You might even be able to explore the potential for a deal or two.

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION available until April 31, 2007

Launch: Silicon Valley audience:
SVASE Members: $125
Non-Members: $145
Homepage
http://svase.org/index.php?option=com...

Thanks
amy

[amy]

Following the success of the initial Launch: Silicon Valley event in November 2006, we are pleased to announce Launch Silicon Valley 2007 will be held on June 5, 2007, at the Microsoft Campus in Mountain View, CA. The event, co-presented by SVASE and Garage Technology Ventures, provides the next generation of emerging technology companies with the opportunity to pitch their products to, and network with, an audience of Silicon Valley's top movers and shakers. The first Launch: Silicon Valley event featured 29 top startups, presenting their products and services to an audience of over 180 VCs, Angels, corporate business development executives, prospective customers and partners, bloggers and media.

Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 is designed to uncover and showcase products and services from the most exciting of the newest startups in information technology, mobility, security, digital media next generation internet, life sciences and clean energy. Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 will feature new companies that are ready for launch, but are not yet well known. These are companies that have a product or service available (as of June 5, 2007), but have not been out in the marketplace for more than a few months. Companies that are interested in presenting their products at Launch: Silicon Valley 2007 should send an Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to Launchsv@svase.org by latest May 3, 2007

[~ SearcH EngineS WeB ~]

Another just recently revealed point is that Techcrunch almost always has to be first to publically intoduce the firm in Blogs - otherwise they will usually pass on it. :-(

blog.fleck.com/2006/11/16/mashable

[Ed]

Great post. TechCrunch is my favorite blog, i visit the site daily.

[Ade]

even one or two sentences can be overkill. ideally, the concept can come down to one or two bullets.

flynote.com

[RMena]

Techcrunch is good if you want to hear about 2 or 3 companies a day, but lets be real many more are on the prawl, if I must say. So many websites are on the internet, but never get to be seen or even heard of. I dont want to talk about my site too much(TallStreet), but I believe it is starting to solve a problem for smaller websites to be seen. Are we just using the sites that get funded or put on a small list from one person reviewing it. Everyone is always worrying about the wrong things for there site, remember its about purpose of the site, not how much money you have behind it, I do agree money does help. Our site allows anyone to sumbit there site and you choose the keywords and the users choose the ranks!

TallStreet.com

[Anju Marempudi]

Intrigued by the recent WSJ article on TechCrunch, we were trying to analyze how much new VC money was raised by the companies profiled on TechCrunch. Surprisingly, these investments could hit a billion dollars this year! Surely, these are more of interesting metrics rather than a serious attempt to draw correlations. I am glad that I saw your interview just yesterday, which further supports the influential role of Mike Arrington and TechCrunch for VCs and Entrepreneurs in the Web2.huh?
world.

[Patrick]

I was at Web 2.0, but after seeing this, wish I was at Art of the Start! I would have saved a few thousand $$ too!

[brian patrick]

If you want to see a video of what happens after being "Techcrunched" - check this link about David Cohen's service Earfeeder, which was featured on TechCrunch, and then sold in a little over a month afterwards.

http://blip.tv/file/99328

[Aaron]

Great post. Great interview. Guy you are always entertaining, if not highly informative.

[JibberJobber Guy]

This was a great video - worth the 45 mins. This is the kind of conference and knowledge share that is worth the trip!

PS Rob Dewey, can I be your friend? Seems you have a knack for getting things onto the TechCrunch page ;)

[alek]

Educational and entertaining video I watched/listened to the whole thing.

Typical Guy hilarity - his microphone wasn't on, so he said "a good sound guy would have turned it on" ... and then as he pulled it out of his pocket he said "... or a good speaker would turn it on too"

[michael white]

Dem's are back, Guy gets to have his wish. Just one more bubble. Guy, it's in the making on Wallstreet.

M :)

[xamox]

The trick is you just send him an e-mail that says,

"I will kill you Mike Arrington...............with my new web service. Blah, blah, blah."

[Daily Blog Tips]

I wonder what is the value in terms of exposure of getting featured on TechCrunch, some $50000 or so?

[Jason]

It's interesting what Michael says about relationship being key to getting published. I agree with that but it is somewhat contradictory to the way news channels are flowing. He cites cnet as being a traditional hierarchical organization (slow to respond). True. However, look at their coverage. They cover a much wider range of territory than techcrunch can with just 10 people. And look at that organization of digg or reddit in terms of being flat and community driven. Which turns out the most compelling content? IMHO, it's the social bookmark sites - not the big editorial hierarchy or the small gatekeepers. Great interview - Thanks Guy!

[Joe Suh]

Great Q/A. Guy, God has a slightly higher market share... more like 45% :)

[Mark]

TechCrunch is a great site but there are a ton of companies they haven't touched yet. I'm still waiting for them to talk about AssociatedContent.com and how well they are doing in the content space.

[Netanel Jacobsson]

I think a more important question is how do get active users and frank questions about your business model. Getting covered by Techcrunch is really not that important - unless your futur users and your target audience is Techcrunch readers. The other question is how many of those companies that have been covered by Techcrunch have a sustainable business and will be around tomorrow....

[jack]

I recently found a very interesting website:
http://alreadylinked.com/
There you can purchase ad space for your Blog etc.

[Andrew Michael]

Great interview and conference.
Very personal, humorous, and enlightening.

Thanks again for the autograph :-)

[michael arrington]

Guy - Thanks for the opportunity to talk with you today. I had a lot of fun, and it was a great audience.