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HN: I'm building a TC alternative. Will you share your startup's story with me?
157 points by g0atbutt on Jan 28, 2011 | hide | past | favorite | 59 comments
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.


With that username, are we sure this isn't Arrington? Maybe the AOL straightjacket is chafing a little...


Bwahahahah! Thumbs up!


I think it's hilarious, and actually makes me want to talk to him more.


I really hope that's the URL he goes with.


Same here. If you want my attention, you're much more likely to get it by being outrageous, than doing something "normal," "safe," and "professional" (that is to say, "BORING.")


Bathroom humor is a lame way to be outrageous.


You're saying that "g0atbutt" is bathroom humor? You know that goats butt things, right?


Absolutely. I wonder what the response would have been if his nick would have been either something techy or just his name.


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.


You probably know that space pretty well then. Would you be willing to write that list and post it on HN or on your blog?


I'd be glad to. I don't really use my blog. I could do it as an HN post, but that'd be a bit too self-serving....


If you tell me something I don't know and want to know I am happy for it to be 'self-serving'. Some things I would like to know (disclose what you are comfortable with): how to you monetize? How do you acquire users? How much (assuming you buy traffic)?


Right now, I don't monetize much. I occasionally add in an Amazon affiliate link.

I acquire subscribers in many ways, but I've bought very little. I spent $20 on a reddit ad which netted me (I think) 3 subscribers -- that's 100% of my marketing budget to date. The most effective ways: * I syndicate posts to certain blogs, asking the blogger to plug the newsletter in exchange for letting him or her run the whole post for free. * Word of mouth and asking readers to tell their friends about it. * Links to individual issues, which have on them subscription boxes and links to the archives.


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.


Consider switching to a more neutral nick for the extra professional look and/or flesh out your profile.

I realize you mean well but my first association was with goatse and that can't be your intention.


I wonder why you are being doubted. Because I'm not doubting you, I somehow am made to feel naive. Please address.


Please, try to be more professional in tone and more reliable in information than TechCrunch.


To be honest, I kind of like the tone of Techcrunch. The fact that many of the writers on Techcrunch have their own voice makes Techcrunch more fun to read than other tech blogs.

If you're looking to build a competing startup news blog, I think creating a unique voice for yourself is a good way to build your brand.


Another option would be to have two versions of each article. First, the "your own voice" article, and then the "journalistic style" article which gets to the point quickly, doesn't inject opinion into the news, etc...


Interesting idea. Perhaps even do it in a 'readability' style where the main article is in your own voice with injected opinions and the 'readability' version is just facts.

Maybe even allow the 'readability' version to be edited wiki style...


1. That would be great -- Wiki could be a bullet list -- And a list of tagged links


I don't have a problem with them having their own voice, I take issue with their utter lack of spell-check / proof reading.

There is no secondary editor previewing the content, and it makes them look like fools.

May as well be the individual writer's home blog - rather than the content of a site which was worthy of a multi-million dollar acquisition by media giant, AOL.


And yet, they have 2 million subscribers and got acquired for tens of millions by a media giant. Apparently it's not really a big deal to most people.


Also, sign all of your articles with the name g0atbutt.


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!


Great suggestion. Just sent him an email from his contact box on his site.


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. :)


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.


I think this is a great approach. The way to execute is to write several short articles on the startup, then stagger the publish dates


The one that really illustrated the difference to me was when adioso launched a new version. The TechCrunch article was based off a quick phone call, was a couple of paragraphs and got confused about some of the facts/ didn't grasp a concept.

Another site (i forget which one now) spent a couple of hours with the guys and did a multiple page writeup really getting into the new version and where the founders had come from. Of course the quick writeup was probably seen by many more people than the quality in depth article.


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


Vik, are you located in Holland, MI? My office is actually in downtown Holland.


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.


Have you looked at Beyond the Pedway?

http://www.beyondthepedway.com/


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).


Two words: good headlines. Non-link-bait headlines that are accurate and descriptive, now written to incite. TC's major flaw (or as some might argue: TC's major strength) is what might be described as arrogant Arringtonism

A couple examples from the top of my RSS feed:

"Five reasons the PSP2 won't succeed" "... the Dystopian Hellscape" etc, ad infinitum.


> 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 :)


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!


done! hope we get featured and goodluck with your endeavors. there is need for real* tech news now.


Thanks. I just got your email, and will be taking a look at it in a little bit.


Funny name. Serious sandwich.

Wait, that was something else. Just sent some info on ParkGrades.com...


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




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