
Calacanis to Challenge TechCrunch - bjonathan
http://newsgrange.com/?p=2139
======
ryanwaggoner
One of the things that popped out at me in this announcement is that he's
going to be launching this on email, rather than a blog. I know email seems
like it's so antiquated and passé, but after listening to Mixergy's interviews
with IdealBite and VitalJuice, I'm not so sure. The CPMs for email newsletters
seem to be 20-100x what you can get for a blog in the same space, because the
customers are so much more engaged. This might not work as well in a tech
market, where the audience presumably uses RSS (or maybe not, as Jason already
has a sizable list). That said, the reality seems to be that normal people do
not use RSS, so you're probably better off starting an email newsletter than a
blog.

Some links:

[http://jasonlbaptiste.com/commentary/email-newsletters-
busin...](http://jasonlbaptiste.com/commentary/email-newsletters-business/)

[http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/email-newsletters-are-
sti...](http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/email-newsletters-are-still-a-
serious-business/)

<http://mixergy.com/jen-boulden-ideal-bite-interview/>

<http://mixergy.com/amanda-freeman-vital-juice-interview/>

~~~
vaksel
actually I think it's a very bad idea for tech news.

email is slow, any news you cover is old news, that will get scooped by the
blogs way before you run it.

A week's time for his editors, means that any news they cover will be severely
out of date.

I run <http://mydailygeek.com> and my run time is only 1 day...and I find
myself constantly having to pick different stories throughout the day to run
with, since they get bludgeoned to death by the time the emails get sent out.

Now for me it's fine, since my focus isn't startups or the bleeding edge of
tech, so the tech I do cover is just interesting stuff that my readers may
have missed elsewhere...but for a "Techcrunch competitor", it's suicide.

Any scoop you get will get leaked to Techcrunch before you can run the story.

~~~
yurylifshits
This is not about news. It is about analytical, in-depth content.

~~~
vaksel
would you read a 5000 word story on Google Instant right now?

I wouldn't, since that topic has been beaten to death already.

~~~
yurylifshits
Analytical content covers different topics. Not product launches, deals and
executives moves. It is about opportunities, trends and introductions to the
new areas. E.g. should the next wave of startups start from China market? How?
What is the potential of sell-to-government market? What is a 5-year outlook
on TV business?

Here is an example of content (my own writing) that is an analytical
alternative to tech blogs: <http://bit.ly/PublicGood>

~~~
vaksel
stuff like that is fine if you write a big essay once a month...but good luck
making that a daily publication.

there are only so many topics you can cover, before you tun out.

------
hvs
Calacanis knows a race to the bottom when he sees it. Hell, he practically
_invented_ the race to the bottom with Mahalo.com.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
Oh please.... we're going great work with millions invested in content and
amazing results due to it.

type "how to play guitar" into google or youtube, and watch our videos.

... or check out our halo reach walkthrough <http://www.mahalo.com/halo-reach-
walkthrough>

we're making a lot of good content that is helping our 17m unique users (11m
on mahalo.com and 6m on YouTube!) every month. The massive traffic to these
pages is creating nice revenue that we are reinvesting 100% of into great
content.

So, give it a look.... i think you'll find it solid.

~~~
die_sekte
"Once a year my dog shits diamonds." CNR.

------
jamesshamenski
Jason is hitting a low point. If he wants a cut of the Aol deal, would he then
give Arrington a portion of the launch conf (because just like disrupt, it's a
derivative of tc50)? He's a hypocrite and drunk for any attention he can get.

Plus, isn't sequoia peeved about him starting to invest + run a separate video
network + new conference + playing poker? I hear a new product is in the pipe
but their innovation has slowed since he got distracted.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
1\. Well, Mike kicked me out of the TechCrunch50 conference. He nuked it--not
me.

2\. Sequoia is not peeved, they are more excited then ever with Mahalo and the
amazing performance right now. We're really crushing it on all fronts
including revenue, hiring, content creation and, yes, a really killer version
4.0 that will be out next year. It's not easy to build a top 200 site in under
three years... in another three years we will be in the top 50!

3\. I spend an hour or two a week on ThisWeekIN.com hosting my show, This Week
in Startups. That show has resulted in about five of the last seven developers
we hired. It is the ULTIMATE recruiting machine for Mahalo.

4\. You might notice I wear a Mahalo logo playing poker on TV along with Full
Tilt (which I need to wear since I'm a Full Tilt Red Pro... I'm sponsored,
yes). I play maybe five hours a week.

5\. 90% of my 100 "work" week is Mahalo. Literally.... I love what I do and
I'm 1,000% dedicated to Mahalo.

I'm not distracted... far from it. I'm super focused.

~~~
jamesshamenski
Thanks for the response. I see that you wrote this at around 4:25pm. If you
are focused, why are you chatting on HN? Especially when you've publicly
commented that you dislike the HN community.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
I'm in the UK. It's midnight. I'm still working.

~~~
jamesshamenski
O - okay that's pretty rad.

------
camworld
Email newsletter? Is there some legal non-compete that Calcanis is under after
selling Weblogs, Inc to AOL that prevents him from running a blog as a
business?

~~~
petercooper
I don't know if you've missed all the stories around here, but e-mail
newsletters are resurging in popularity. My own experiments have proven
there's certainly a strong audience for them, even in the progressive tech
scene.

------
RBr
At first glance, this isn't revolutionary or even newsworthy. E-mail
newsletters have been around forever - even those that are authored by a
series of writers. I find this interesting because I've heard Jason say things
such as "I like to find a new market and blaze my own trail". This certainly
isn't trailblazing.

It sounds like he's thinking that he can build off of the success of his
personal newsletter. However, the difference will be in the audience. People
subscribe and connect with his personal newsletter because they want to hear
what he has to say. Also, there is something sort of neat about getting an
e-mail from an author in your inbox rather then passivley clicking on a
bookmakred blog.

However, this doesn't sound like it will be the individual thoughts of someone
like Jason. It will be a series of articles by a number of people - likely low
paid people. Some of those people may be interesting and insightful, but
unless they have an existing audience coming into the newsletter, the effort
won't get large enough for very many advertisers to care.

This newsletter effort will work well in combination with the This Week In
network. Hosts will be able to say things such as, "subscribe to our
newsletter" or "get the inside scoop via e-mail".

Beyond a complimentary add-on that builds on a tiny bit of personal success, I
don't see this effort being a fraction of what TechCrunch is. I think Jason is
using this sensational comparison (and the whole Calacanis vs. Arrington
thing) as the same word-of-mouth marketing he's well known for.

------
moxiemk1
"Jason's list" (his current email list) has been, on average, excellent. It
consists of long writings trying to convey what he thinks in a reasoned (if
occasionally emotional) way. It is plished occasionally instead of around the
clock, and so avoids most knee-jerk topics. He often responds to well-thought-
out user replys.

This sounds like him hiring some more people to have more articles and points
of view. If it manages to continue to be thorough and nuanced, it'll be a
great resource.

------
orenmazor
"email newsletter?"

I love steam powered technology.

sarcasm aside, this is a good idea on the whole. just not over email. my inbox
is fifth date material. I'm gonna have to create a separate email address that
forwards to my rss reader, or something..

~~~
markkat
It's funny, but email just wants to be a part of my life. Due to the push
notification on my phone, it's almost a feed to me.

I mentioned this in the comments on AVC some time ago: I'd like to see an
email service where I can modify the submittal (ex: for NAME@email, I could
submit NAME-X-@email.com) where the X automatically created a sub-inbox X when
replies to it came in.

~~~
Goosey
Gmail has this feature with + tagging.

[http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/08/gmail-plus-smart-trick-
to...](http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/08/gmail-plus-smart-trick-to-find-
block.html)

------
bmelton
It seems like that's all I'm reading today, but this is yet another article
that I started reading with one idea, and finished having completely rethought
it.

My instinct was to make a snide remark, or to say something like "Good luck",
not believing there are serious inroads to be made there (at least, not by
Calacanis) -- but he speaks of a 'race to the bottom', and in writing deeper,
more detailed posts than those made in an effort to be the first to break the
news.

I've always felt that was an error on the part of TechCrunch, in that they are
so eager to release that sometimes facts just get in the way of a story
breaking. Or at least, aren't checked to the degree they ought.

I personally, welcome something like this in the market.

My initial hesitation would be that I wouldn't expect to hit this site every
day, but it appears Calacanis has already thought about that as well,
intending (at least to start) an email distribution, which I think fits the
model nicely.

Perhaps I'll learn to start keeping my prejudices in check.

~~~
pchristensen
Subscribe to his email list - you'll be pleasantly surprised. 1-2 per month
right now and every one is deep and thoughtful.

~~~
jasonmcalacanis
Thanks pal. The plan is to convert my www.jasonnation.com newsletter to the
LAUNCH newsletter at some point (or fork it, have to discuss with my list
members).

Basically, I'm trying to do long form, in-depth profiles of startup companies.
Instead of begging TechCrunch to get a profile, only to be mocked in their
edtiorial, we will actually get to the know the business model, founders and
dig deep into their vision.

It won't be a fluff piece, but it won't be a snarky/venomous TechCrunch/Gawker
article.

all the best, jason

(in London for the first Open Angel Forum here!!)

------
InfinityX0
The problem with this is the invisible barrier to entry. Calacanis has a good
point - but what does it take for TechCrunch to rebut? Simply ask three or
four editors to spend more time putting out Atlantic/New Yorker-esque
articles. Instantly.

That is ridiculously easy to do.

------
gojomo
How long will it take for...

"tech blogging is a race to the bottom" and we're "going for something that
doesn’t exist in the market"

...to turn into...

"tech blogging is a race to the bottom, and we intend to win that race"

The problem is that pot-stirring, half-wrong stories, and superficial snap
judgments bring the eyeballs, inlinks, discussions, and ad revenue.

A new online journalism needs specific ideas to break or reverse that entropic
cycle -- at least locally (even if it persists globally) -- rather than just
high-minded goals.

~~~
notahacker
Depends if you're going for quantity over quality of eyeballs. If Calcanis'
newsletter provides engaging content that tech professionals with purchasing
power consider a must-read then it's going to achieve much higher CPMs than
tabloid-style blogging, which can make up for serving fewer impressions and
being unknown to Google and the consumer audience.

The advantage of running it as an opt-in email list is that you find out much
more about who your readers are.

------
petercooper
I like the e-mail newsletter idea, but on the _type_ of content that's
planned, it just sounds like the sort of work ReadWriteWeb and GigaOm are
already doing.

------
rokhayakebe
One of the best tech blogs was <http://www.startup-review.com>. Unfortunately
it shut down. I prefer thought-through reviews as opposed to quick post about
another investment raised as if that was a milestone.

------
jw84
He's going back to Silicon Alley roots. Plus the ThisWeekIn startup, he's got
a pretty good read on the community than TechCrunch.

