
Michael Arrington reportedly to launch “CrunchFund” to invest in startups - tilt
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/07/15/is-mike-arrington-launching-a-crunch-fund-to-fund-new-startups/
======
rsingel
Someone recently wrote that you know you are in a bubble when reporters start
their own startups. Maybe that should be revised to be "when reporters start
their own venture funds."

(that said, this ain't the same as the last tech bubble, and the issues around
Arrington/access/other angels are only going to get more and more
complicated.)

~~~
rokhayakebe
I disagree with tat someone's statement.

I think MA has more connections that could be beneficial to startups that most
angels. I for one would give him ownership in exchange for introductions to
people he knows.

I do not see what makes MA less qualified than most angel investors. He spent
5 years interviewing founders, being the first to learn about their ideas,
seeing the ones he wasn't fond of (Twitter. Mike used to talk shit about
Twitter, granted in a friendly way, all day long). I think he is very well
placed to start his own angel fund.

If you can start the platform where companies like Mint launched, and have
Marissa Mayer show up for your conference, I think you can launch a startup
fund.

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orofino
While I think the exposure would be great for startups, but his attitude and
approach on things just seems to be toxic. I'm all for not beating around the
bush on things, but I'm not sure I'd like someone like Arrington providing
guidance (or even associated with me).

~~~
johnrob
While he might be a fine advisor (I wouldn't know), I would assume his main
value add is PR. He definitely knows that space inside and out.

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timxpp
Interesting. I guess each investment includes 10 free TC blog posts for the
company ;-)

~~~
rwolf
It's funny because it's unethical. With any luck, he'll get greedy and push
the "reporting on companies I invest in" needle so far that it gets too noisey
we stop reading (and posting everything he does on HN).

~~~
petercooper
Where do you draw the line between someone mentioning their own company on
their own blog and unethical conduct?

It's not as if it hasn't happened before. He used to write about Edgeio on
TechCrunch without much of a problem:
[http://techcrunch.com/2007/12/06/edgeio-to-shut-down-in-
the-...](http://techcrunch.com/2007/12/06/edgeio-to-shut-down-in-the-
deadpool/)

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diogenescynic
This reminds me of Glen Beck telling his audience to invest in gold.

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coderdude
He's in a good position to do this. Connections and fame aside, he has the
perfect avenue to give exposure to the startups he invests in. I think this is
critical. Part of the reason why many tech startups "go big" is because
they're given broad exposure and are shown in a good light from the beginning.
For example, Y Combinator has Hacker News to promote their investments.

I've said before that without HN you probably wouldn't hear about very many YC
companies. (I think I said something along the lines of "you simply don't
front-page stories about every YC company on Reddit.") Michael Arrington will
have TechCrunch to promote his investments and I think he will be able to give
them a good chance for success if he promotes them well. You might also say
that Arrington has TechCrunch _and_ Hacker News given how easily TC front-
pages around here.

~~~
dotBen
Sure but that has conflict of interest all over it, and while Arrington can be
as conflicted as he likes...

...a) people don't have to read TC and as the level of conflictedness for that
site increases more and more people will stop reading it

...b) the conflict is at odds with Aol's wider aspiration to be a respected
media outlet (Arriana Huffington, etc). At some point such 'exposure for self
interest' will cross a line even Aol won't go - esp if they don't have
some/any upside in the CrunchFund venture.

The worse situation is that you end up with Arrington as an investor and TC
can't write about you because Aol decides it really is too much of a conflict.
And other outlets won't write about you or they give you shit because they
still perceive Arrington as a competitor. Worst of both worlds.

~~~
coderdude
I agree that he should be careful about the editorial conflict of interest
issue. This is assuming he hasn't already cleared it with AOL. I do think that
it is a conflict of interest, but in a similar sense that HN is run by YC and
an inordinate amount of YC startup news is poured through here. I'm not saying
that PG et al are causing this to happen directly, but it is not a
coincidence.

I think the point I'm trying to make here is that you can't scold Arrington
without acknowledging that this already happens -- either directly or
indirectly.

~~~
cube13
>...in a similar sense that HN is run by YC and an inordinate amount of YC
startup news is poured through here.

The difference being that YC doesn't try to hide it at all on HN. YC ads
cannot be commented on, and YC related stories are(generally) noted in the
titles. HN is essentially an advertising channel for both YC and YC funded
companies.

The problem is that Techcrunch has positioned itself as a news reporting site,
not Michael Arrington's Super Startup Investment Blog(tm). So it should be
held to a higher standard than YC, especially when it comes to investments.

At the bare minimum, I think that Arrington should(assuming he doesn't leave
TC to work on this) disclose his fund's involvement in anything that TC is
covering. This goes not only for his personal articles, but anything that any
TC reporter is covering.

~~~
coderdude
He does say "The easiest way for me to handle this is to be up front about all
of these investments and disclose it in posts, which I've done and will
continue to do..." So at the very least he has acknowledged that disclosure is
important.

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vaksel
I'm surprised he didn't do it sooner.

That said it just screams of me too, jumping on the bandwagon to cash in
before it's too late

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cynusx
so, is he still going to cover competitors of 'his' startups?

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trotsky
Why not cut to the chase and just offer a substantial block of positive Tech
Crunch coverage for a fixed % of the startup?

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kloncks
CrunchFund.com, which according to the article was only recently registered,
is about a product called CrewBuyer.

What is that?

~~~
rburton
crewbuyer.com is a startup focused on group sales where members establish
groups (otherwise known as a crew) to buy products. They have an setup that'll
let members refer friends in return a 1% discount for each member referred.

I hope that helps.

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molecule
but does it have AOL Legal's stamp of approval?

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fedd
what does "angel fund" mean? will it accumulate other angels' personal money?
like Yuri Milner's...

