

Ask HN: Exclusive startup coverage  TechCrunch vs Mashable? - twidlit

If you had a startup that is the type that these two sites cover, who do you choose for exclusive coverage?<p>Some things to consider: Type of readers, how sticky are they (historically), which gives better feedback, etc.<p>Background info: I read that TC won't cover you if mashable or other sites have covered you.
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fabiandesimone
We tried to get coverage on TC and Mashable for Twitalbums.com but none
listened to us (I lost count how many times I wrote them). I also wrote to The
Next Web and nothing. Jolie O'Dell from ReadWriteWeb.com picked up on the
story and she did a wonderful job reviewing our startup. The review sent a ton
of traffic and gave us a good initial boost. Needles to say we love RWW :-)

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JayNeely
+1 for RWW. The quality of comments is much better on RWW, and their coverage
is usually more in-depth than either TechCrunch's or Mashable's. With Mashable
in particular, updates are so frequent that I don't think you'd stay on the
front page very long.

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alain94040
Techcrunch has the most power today. Actually, they pretty much have a
monopoly on covering launching startups before anyone else.

So go with TC coverage as exclusive, and then go with more substantial repeat
coverage from other places.

[I have been through that discussion with many CEOs who launched with many
different strategies - I'm giving you a quick summary of what could be hours
of discussions]

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DanBlake
Having been first on both sites, I can offer a bit of clarity.

Go with Techcrunch if you want to have VC's and other business's take notice
of you. Go with Mashable if you want lots of users to read about your product
and actually use it. Techcrunch is written for people in the biz. Mashable is
written for people who enjoy using the tools biz guys make.

Also, Readwriteweb is a great blog and will likely still write about you even
if they dont get the exclusive. Just make sure you save some info thats "just
for them", So dont give the whole kaboodle to mashable/tc.

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twidlit
thats exactly my hypothesis. TC crowd have different usage patterns. i read
that Mashable has surpassed TC in traffic or is about to.

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covercash
In 2008 we sent an email to TechCrunch asking if they wanted an exclusive on
our launch. After 2 weeks with no response, we emailed Mashable who promptly
responded and wrote an article. The same day the article ran we received a
snarky email from TC stating that they expected exclusive coverage and that
because Mashable ran us first, TC wasn't going to touch the story. We politely
referred them to our original email, they said oops and we all went on with
our lives.

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rwhitman
I get the impression these days that TC and Mashable aren't super psyched
about covering startup launches anymore unless said startup has a pre-
established relationship or part of their sponsored events.

If both of them give you the cold shoulder, I'd definitely go for
ReadWriteWeb. I'm always impressed by the quality of journalism over there,
and I feel that they really value their community and staying true to their
focus.

And that "TC won't cover you" stuff, I dunno. If you are getting a lot of
buzz, they'll have to cover you eventually. Who's to say either TC or mashable
will even honor your exclusive? Chances are they won't even shrug until
someone else starts buzzing about it at a lower level. Unless you have a
guaranteed home run, I'd play it safe and hit up individual writers, build
buzz from the ground up.

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froo
>I'd play it safe and hit up individual writers, build buzz from the ground
up.

This. The lower tier writers of today are the big cheeses of tomorrow. It
often pays dividends in the future to give them exclusives today and make
their job a little easier.

Besides, There are quite a few of the bigger named bloggers who subscribe to
some smaller name blogs. If your site is good enough, like cream it will
eventually float to the top.

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mgcreed
You don't rate ReadWriteWeb or The Next Web? Read somewhere that RWW drove
more traffic to a startup's website than TC. TNW has grown a ton over the last
year.

Anyway, i suggest email them all and see who bites first.

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noahr
That's bad form if you're negotiating to get an exclusive. You're also less
likely to get anyone to cover you if your pitch is general rather than
directed at a particular writer or editor.

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mgcreed
Possibly, but going with one particular blog could very leave you only getting
coverage from that one blog.

If your start-up is exciting enough, emailing them all should have them all
racing to write about you first.

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petervandijck
If I could choose, Techcrunch, for sure.

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shareme
Mashable is the obvious choice:

-unbiased coverage -nice people -fair

Techcrunch going by visitor counts has no power anymore.

