

Why are all of the startups linking to their techcrunch coverage?  - dfc

I am curious why all of the new startups are linking to their coverage on techcrunch? In my opinion your website should do a better job of introducing your company to me than techcrunch's introduction.<p>Is this an attempt to appear as if you are not astroturfing? If it is do not engage in discussions as a founder in the comments page using the same credentials as the submitter.
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jcr
dfc, you need to understand that there are back room deals occurring,
specifically, there are exclusivity agreements with techcrunch enabling them
to "break" the news of the new startup announcements. An existing/known
startup has to be particularly special to get _re_ announced on techcrunch. It
does happen, but it's fairly rare.

Additionally, Mike Arrington is an angel investor, and does invest in YC
companies. If you didn't know, he recently sold techcrunch but still runs it.

Breaking the news is good for techcrunch, hence the reason why they want
exclusive coverage on announcements of new startups. The news coverage is
obviously beneficial to the startups, so it's a win-win situation. Having
Arrington as an investor or potential investor in some of the startups being
covered on techcrunch is, of course, another mutual benefit (though it's not
always disclosed).

Posting articles from techcrunch onto HN often results in a whole bunch of
karma points on HN, so those desperate for HN points will regularly post
anything new they find on techcrunch. There have even been bots made to post
techcrunch articles to HN to harvest the karma. It sucks, but such is life.

If a startup founder knows about techcrunch covering their company, they might
have advanced knowledge of when the techcrunch story will be released to the
public (this is speculation, but reasonable speculation). There is nothing
wrong with the founder posting the link here to HN. You need to remember that
HN is the playground of YC and the YC funded founders. HN helps and entertains
everyone, but it helps and entertains the YC folks a bit more.

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dfc
jcr, thanks. I did need to understand that is why I asked:) I was not trying
to be critical I was truly curious about why it was happening. It is happening
enough that I figured there had to be a reason for it. I do not know a lot
about startups/launching that is why I am here and I do not know who is who
among the startup crowd so "Mike Arrington" meant nothing to me at first.

I did find it amusing that a techcrunch story lends credibility to a story. I
always think of techcrunch as being the "fair and balanced" tech news website.
I did not realize that it was "the grey lady" of startups and not the "fair
and balanced" version.

Thank you for your explanation.

NB To the yc folks who are launching I apologize if you thought I was being
critical in my question. I was genuinely curious...

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adrianwaj
I prefer to call it AOL Techcrunch these days.

It's supposedly an element on the periodic table of the web (a blog element),
and people that launch also want to become elements on that table and want to
associate with an element already on it.

