HN: I'm building a TC alternative. Will you share your startup's story with me?
Recently I've began to notice that the sort of articles I read on TechCrunch are less about startups, and more about business that are already established. There is nothing wrong with this, it's just not the type of articles I'm really excited to read about.
I know there are others out there like me. People who would love to read news exclusively about startups, so I decided to start my own TC alternative. I've almost finished the site, and I'm just looking to build up some really great content before I push it live.
Would you be willing to talk about your startup with me? I'm looking for 30-45 startups to write about over the next month, and would love to get started with the HN crowd. The site and Twitter account will be launched later this week. I wanted some time to write a couple days in advance.
Although I can't promise a huge amount of traffic, we will be regularly plugging it from our blog that gets 45k hits a month. I'm hoping to grow this site well beyond that.
If you would like to follow us our Twitter handle is @startupfoundry .
The best way to get in touch with me is to email me paul@codesketch.com.
Thanks HN.
I think this is great. My first impression, though, was that the name "g0atbutt" does not inspire confidence. Just my 2 cents.
I think you need to do a lot of lists. I'm serious. There are a LOT of tiny startups out there and you can hit upon 10 at once this way, while also building good content.
I'm going to be self-serving here, but it makes it easier to articulate my idea and point. I have a small, "lifestyle startup"/hobby -- a daily email newsletter where I share awesome/true facts like how Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service the day he was fatally shot. (Really -- http://dlewis.net/nik is the subscribe URL, the archives are linked thereto, and it's in the archives.) There are a LOT of small, wannabe thrillist/daily candy email newsletters out there. Featuring one is stupid, but writing about this emerging/cottage industry is interesting.
Basically: "Ten Interesting Email Newsletters" is a great post, potentially, as is "Ten Ways To Manage Your Business Connections" (hashable? cloudcontacts? cardmunch?), as is "Ten Sports Startups" and ... well, you get the idea.
As of 4:12p eastern time, 19 startups from HN have already gotten in touch with me. There are some really great companies brewing on HN, and I'm looking forward to covering them.
The response has been fantastic. I can't wait to see what else comes in.
Please, try to be more professional in tone and more reliable in information than TechCrunch.
I really look forward to reading this site!
I suggest you get in touch with Andrew from Mixergy.com - he has plenty of connections to get you started.
Good luck!
Talk to swombat on #startups, you guys should link up!
Good for you. I recently removed TechCrunch from my RSS feed, and I haven't missed it for the last two weeks.
I was trying to find a feed that let me exclude certain authors, but I ended up ditching everything.
I helped start http://bootstrapped.it (@bootstrappedit) where we interview bootstrapping entrepreneurs and try and get them exposure.
I agree, there needs to be more news about startups. Good to see that other people are doing this as well! There are plenty of startups to write about.
Awesome - I don't have any startup news to share at this time - but best of luck! There's a need for this type of news and TC isn't filling it anymore.
Good luck with that. I stopped reading TC (AOL) about 4 month ago.
I'd love to see more stories about app developers - I'm getting a little tired of only hearing about web services to be honest. :)
You're so right. I knew something was up when I saw a post about Johnson Controls on TechCrunch recently. I worked there and it's a Fortune 100 company. Good luck!
Vik
It would be great to go into a bit more depth than TechCrunch does with their articles on startups. Problem is though that you are more likely to capturer a wider audience with the shorter articles and they are easier to write. For most people around here though I think it would be great to see more long articles really getting into details about the founders, their stories and exactly what their startup is doing.
Have you looked at Beyond the Pedway?
Looks like this might have the same idea? --> http://startupanimal.com
Sounds like a good idea. Sent you an email about Swappa: http://swappa.com
That's great. There really is a big need for something like this, and I look forward to checking it out when it's live.
Email sent, best of luck with the site
TCs comments suck - look at what boingboing does for moderation that might be helpful. Also I am probably in the minority but I rather read and respond to one really good article a day than 10 spammy articles. I think focusing on quality is key (just my 2 cents).
> I know there are others out there like me. People who would love to read news exclusively about startups, so I decided to start my own TC alternative.
I hope you're going to have an editor :)
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Good luck with your venture. Just stay true to your original intent. Please do not sell out to the giants once you'll make it :) Focus on startups and not on Facebook.
Send you a mail about my startup (http://doosracricket.com) Best of luck on your new venture.
Write about us => http://elearnapp.com <= Pretty please with goat butter on top!
Funny name. Serious sandwich.
Wait, that was something else. Just sent some info on ParkGrades.com...
done! hope we get featured and goodluck with your endeavors. there is need for real* tech news now.
When we are closer to launch I'll send you an email.
What about talking to you in a month?
this is good, i'll send you email about songslike.me and strangrchat.com soon
Only if it works out!
Shot you an email.
i want to be a part of ths,im a copypaste blogger.lol
i will
Anybody who disrupts techcrunch would have my respect and gratitude. Try not to take credit for other peoples' work and you'll already be one step above Arrington when it comes to ethical grounds.
Sent you an email about neovella. Sounds like this is a great idea, and if you don't do it, I just might!