5 ms·

The Math of TechCrunch: Is TechCrunch Still About Startups?

46 points by mjgold 15y ago

citricsquid 15y ago
Techcrunch isn't really about startups, it's about companies in this technology generation. Whether they're new or old doesn't really matter, "Startup" is just the hip term of the moment. It'll die eventually.
- hvs 15y ago
  I'm unclear what you mean by the "hip term of the moment". You are aware that that term has been in use for at least 30 years, and most likely longer, right? And yes, TechCrunch started as being about startups.
  - citricsquid 15y ago
    The term in relation to technology. It seems 90% of what people now refer to as a "startup" is a dumb website that someone made in a couple of days that has no real business behind it and will never be anything more than a dumb website. People will eventually stop calling every damn thing on the internet a startup and it'll have meaning again. Techcrunch covers technology, not "startups", it covers big companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft etc.) actual start ups and other technology stuff. The same is here at HN, a lot of what is posted here as a "Startup" isn't and it's people just using the term because it's hip. Like "app" and "social media", it's a fancy term people like.
    - btcoal 15y ago
      Agreed. I am also not a fan of using "startup" as a strict noun. I think of it more of an adjective. That is, companies can be in their "startup" phase. Too many people consider startup as a business category in and of itself. Moreover, even useful websites do not constitute a business, startup or otherwise. I'm sure there are plenty of nascent businesses that techcrunch would never cover just because they are not web-centered [citation needed].
nateberkopec 15y ago
I'd read a seed-stage only TechCrunch...is there some way to filter TC to do this?
- SoftwareMaven 15y ago
  Try http://thestartupfoundry.com/ http://thestartupfoundry.com/
zcam 15y ago
> 1. TechCrunch is now 22 times more prolific than its founding year > TechCrunch now covers 10 times more seed-stage startups quantity != quality It used to have a lot less noise/signal ratio on TC, it used to have decent quality posts (and editors), and a TCrunched effect that barely exists now since a post gets buried quite fast given the post rate. These days getting mentioned on TC doesn't do/mean much, you end up between a new iphone speculation or some non-story about [insert web giant here].
- SoftwareMaven 15y ago
  Those aren't even the important numbers. With 22x the number of articles and the ratio of small and mid stage startup to tech giant articles half of what it used to be, even finding the articles in the noise is a joke. Then, once found, we have to deal with the quality problem you mention. TechCrunch left my reading list almost a year ago for these reasons.
  - tuhin 15y ago
    What do you use then to just keep yourself aware of new startups coming up? I am not looking for sites like BothSidesofTable and others from VCs or Cofounders. I am looking for a site that jusat tells me X is a cool service that does this and launched last week. Sites like Startupli.st and betali.st have too many useless (sorry to those working hard at them) sites which makes it difficult to go and check each one of them. So yes what other sources exist to get a superficial overlook of new startups.
    - petercooper 15y ago
      I can't answer for SoftwareMaven but I use the same sources as where I get my news, such as HN. Any startup worth its salt is content marketing, blogging, podcasting, or whatever, and its stuff comes up on sites like HN. That said, sites like ReadWriteWeb and Mashable also cover the beat well.
  - zcam 15y ago
    That's what I suggested with the quotes, at this rate startup news will drawn. But fortunately we have way more (quality) startup news sources these days.
mikle 15y ago
I feel punked. The picture explaining their classification of startups has a blue underlined sentence. Clicking it just opened the picture, instead of bringing me to a list of top 100 sites as declared by google.
- mjgold 15y ago
  Sorry, TechCrunch asked for JPEGs instead of tables and that link stayed in the original table. The JPEGs are also low-quality so I'm going to try creating higher-quality ones next time.
  - iaskwhy 15y ago
    You should go with PNG instead of JPG, it's more readable since it avoids artifacts when text is present on the image.
    - mjgold 15y ago
      Thanks for the advice. I'll look at sending PNGs next time.
staunch 15y ago
Sacrificing quality for profit works in the short and maybe mid term. Long term they'll lose their core audience and be replaced.
clobber 15y ago
Short answer: no
nhebb 15y ago
Why are Android and iOS are categorized as companies, separate from Google and Apple respectively?
- mjgold 15y ago
  TechCrunch uses tags for companies and a few products. Android and iOS were so common that I included them to give a sense of what TC covers within those companies.
shivam14 15y ago
Excellent analysis and something that well quantifies a general feeling that long-term TC readers have had. The real takeaway for me though that you found a creative way to get your startup on Techcrunch and probably get a lot more eyeballs than just your press pitch may have received.

46 points by mjgold 15y ago

Techcrunch isn't really about startups, it's about companies in this technology generation. Whether they're new or old doesn't really matter, "Startup" is just the hip term of the moment. It'll die eventually.

hvs 15y ago
I'm unclear what you mean by the "hip term of the moment". You are aware that that term has been in use for at least 30 years, and most likely longer, right? And yes, TechCrunch started as being about startups.
- citricsquid 15y ago
  The term in relation to technology. It seems 90% of what people now refer to as a "startup" is a dumb website that someone made in a couple of days that has no real business behind it and will never be anything more than a dumb website. People will eventually stop calling every damn thing on the internet a startup and it'll have meaning again. Techcrunch covers technology, not "startups", it covers big companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft etc.) actual start ups and other technology stuff. The same is here at HN, a lot of what is posted here as a "Startup" isn't and it's people just using the term because it's hip. Like "app" and "social media", it's a fancy term people like.
  - btcoal 15y ago
    Agreed. I am also not a fan of using "startup" as a strict noun. I think of it more of an adjective. That is, companies can be in their "startup" phase. Too many people consider startup as a business category in and of itself. Moreover, even useful websites do not constitute a business, startup or otherwise. I'm sure there are plenty of nascent businesses that techcrunch would never cover just because they are not web-centered [citation needed].

nateberkopec 15y ago

I'd read a seed-stage only TechCrunch...is there some way to filter TC to do this?

SoftwareMaven 15y ago
Try http://thestartupfoundry.com/ http://thestartupfoundry.com/

zcam 15y ago

> 1. TechCrunch is now 22 times more prolific than its founding year > TechCrunch now covers 10 times more seed-stage startups quantity != quality It used to have a lot less noise/signal ratio on TC, it used to have decent quality posts (and editors), and a TCrunched effect that barely exists now since a post gets buried quite fast given the post rate. These days getting mentioned on TC doesn't do/mean much, you end up between a new iphone speculation or some non-story about [insert web giant here].

SoftwareMaven 15y ago
Those aren't even the important numbers. With 22x the number of articles and the ratio of small and mid stage startup to tech giant articles half of what it used to be, even finding the articles in the noise is a joke. Then, once found, we have to deal with the quality problem you mention. TechCrunch left my reading list almost a year ago for these reasons.
- tuhin 15y ago
  What do you use then to just keep yourself aware of new startups coming up? I am not looking for sites like BothSidesofTable and others from VCs or Cofounders. I am looking for a site that jusat tells me X is a cool service that does this and launched last week. Sites like Startupli.st and betali.st have too many useless (sorry to those working hard at them) sites which makes it difficult to go and check each one of them. So yes what other sources exist to get a superficial overlook of new startups.
  - petercooper 15y ago
    I can't answer for SoftwareMaven but I use the same sources as where I get my news, such as HN. Any startup worth its salt is content marketing, blogging, podcasting, or whatever, and its stuff comes up on sites like HN. That said, sites like ReadWriteWeb and Mashable also cover the beat well.
- zcam 15y ago
  That's what I suggested with the quotes, at this rate startup news will drawn. But fortunately we have way more (quality) startup news sources these days.

mikle 15y ago

I feel punked. The picture explaining their classification of startups has a blue underlined sentence. Clicking it just opened the picture, instead of bringing me to a list of top 100 sites as declared by google.

mjgold 15y ago
Sorry, TechCrunch asked for JPEGs instead of tables and that link stayed in the original table. The JPEGs are also low-quality so I'm going to try creating higher-quality ones next time.
- iaskwhy 15y ago
  You should go with PNG instead of JPG, it's more readable since it avoids artifacts when text is present on the image.
  - mjgold 15y ago
    Thanks for the advice. I'll look at sending PNGs next time.

staunch 15y ago

Sacrificing quality for profit works in the short and maybe mid term. Long term they'll lose their core audience and be replaced.

clobber 15y ago

Short answer: no

nhebb 15y ago

Why are Android and iOS are categorized as companies, separate from Google and Apple respectively?

mjgold 15y ago
TechCrunch uses tags for companies and a few products. Android and iOS were so common that I included them to give a sense of what TC covers within those companies.

shivam14 15y ago

Excellent analysis and something that well quantifies a general feeling that long-term TC readers have had. The real takeaway for me though that you found a creative way to get your startup on Techcrunch and probably get a lot more eyeballs than just your press pitch may have received.