TechCrunch is turning 20. I have a little here half of that time, and that was the best job of my life, which may be the reason why time has gone so fast.
Before dipping (quickly!) In nostalgia that the milestone is inevitably brought, I want to stop and explain why this particular anniversary is so important to me. After working in many big media companies earlier in my career (Time Inc., Dow Jones, Reuters), I can say with certainty that there is nothing like culture here. Contrarian, smart, hilarious and hard work. Almost everyone in TC is wearing multiple hats, as anyone who has worked here will tell you. This is not just another media company – it’s a place where people are curious about everything, everyone cares for a crazy amount of brand (and each other) and where the provocative conventional wisdom is not only encouraged but expected.
The approach has opened doors that otherwise could remain closed. During the last decade, TechCrunch has had the opportunity to sit with incredible personalities in every corner of the technology world, from CEOs such as Sam Altman and Evan Spiegel to antitrust inspectors such as Lina Khan, from businessmen such as Marc Andressen Conan O’Brien and Al Gore and leaders like Sannland Marin. We have interviewed the founders who do defensive technology, consumer giants and selling their software companies for billions of dollars. Collectively, our team has spoken to thousands of founders and operators whose impact on our lives is felt daily. From these conversations, we have learned – explained to our readers – how technology, politics and human ambition intersect to shape the world.
We have done this from our homes, from cafes, from offices, but also around the world, to the many places that TechCrunch took us, from Lisbon, London, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Davos to the opposite end of the bullet:
In these cities, we sat with founders who became superstar and superstar that became imprisoned. We watched the boring technologies take over the world and celebrate the technologies that were transferred to fires.
We have seen entire industries born, mature and sometimes withered. We have introduced you to newly established two-person businesses that became trillion companies and told you about business innovations that we reversed the industries upside down-from the subscription models to the GIG economy, more recently, the AI Roll-ups. We have mentioned in discoveries that changed everything. We have also covered “discoveries” that were equivalent to Bupkis.
We continue to show up every day. In recent weeks, TC has sat with the Prime Minister of Greece and the Mayor of San Francisco. We have broken stories that include VCS protruding, boot founders and Big Tech. Transfers, starting, cyberspace and AI’s cover against everyone would be stacked.
These are difficult times in the media. Is between an increasing number of industries in flow. But to all those who have written happy about the supposed collapse of TC, plots, we are still here! Twenty years, we continue to break stories that matter, keeping power responsible and give you a look at the next big thing before it is obvious to everyone else. We do it for a growing audience.
Michael Arrington, thank you for creating this brand that became much more than one could imagine. Thanks to every parent company that supported us and helped us continue to do what we love, including today, regent. TC ownership has changed all these years, but our mission to find the signal to noise and tell stories that the issue remains the same.
Here is the prospect that he has been giving you twenty years, and in twenty years to ask harsh questions, helping readers to see around the corners and working with amazing people.
To all those who participated in this story – writers, authors, sources, readers, participants, speakers, critics and cheerleaders – thank you very much for doing TechCrunch what it is, a place for people who passionately believe that technology can make the world better – and who do not trust us. It’s a privilege every day.
