

HN: I'm building a TC alternative. Will you share your startup's story with me?  - g0atbutt

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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>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.<p>If you would like to follow us our Twitter handle is @startupfoundry .<p>The best way to get in touch with me is to email me paul@codesketch.com.<p>Thanks HN.
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nonrecursive
I think this is great. My first impression, though, was that the name
"g0atbutt" does not inspire confidence. Just my 2 cents.

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

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mindcrime
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.")

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wtn
Bathroom humor is a lame way to be outrageous.

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

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DanLivesHere
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.

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jaxn
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?

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DanLivesHere
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....

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mattmiller
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)?

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DanLivesHere
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.

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g0atbutt
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.

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jacquesm
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.

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jokermatt999
Please, try to be more professional in tone and more reliable in information
than TechCrunch.

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davidbalbert
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.

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dgallagher
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...

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covercash
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...

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

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yeahsure
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!

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g0atbutt
Great suggestion. Just sent him an email from his contact box on his site.

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jacquesm
Talk to swombat on #startups, you guys should link up!

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portman
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.

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chr15
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.

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thecoffman
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.

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jparicka
Good luck with that. I stopped reading TC (AOL) about 4 month ago.

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kmfrk
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. :)

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vikdug
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

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g0atbutt
Vik, are you located in Holland, MI? My office is actually in downtown
Holland.

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robryan
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.

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conductr
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

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robryan
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.

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middlegeek
Have you looked at Beyond the Pedway?

<http://www.beyondthepedway.com/>

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djangoadmin10
Looks like this might have the same idea? --> <http://startupanimal.com>

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benedwards
Sounds like a good idea. Sent you an email about Swappa: <http://swappa.com>

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mattholling
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.

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iisbum
Email sent, best of luck with the site

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allenp
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).

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shawnee_
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.

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shasta
> 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 :)

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adlep
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.

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ssing
Send you a mail about my startup (<http://doosracricket.com>) Best of luck on
your new venture.

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elearnapp
Write about us => <http://elearnapp.com> <= Pretty please with goat butter on
top!

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kongqiu
Funny name. Serious sandwich.

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

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

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g0atbutt
Thanks. I just got your email, and will be taking a look at it in a little
bit.

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bowmande
When we are closer to launch I'll send you an email.

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barredo
What about talking to you in a month?

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evolution
this is good, i'll send you email about songslike.me and strangrchat.com soon

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swah
Only if it works out!

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zacharycohn
Shot you an email.

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mrboks
i want to be a part of ths,im a copypaste blogger.lol

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somug
i will

