The most successful tech blog- the story of Techcrunch and Michael Arrington

March 20, 2017

Every tech enthusiast must definitely know about TechCrunch. One of the leading online publishers of technology news, TechCrunch draws more than 37 million page views every month. This figure itself portrays the immense popularity of the blog. TechCrunch’s achievements have been possible because of the sheer persistence, dedication and hard work of its founder, Michael Arrington.

TechCrunch’s story dates back to 2005, when Arrington launched a blog to share information about the companies that were making a difference in the escalating world of Web 2.0. Although, Arrington was blogging only in his spare time yet his blog gained huge popularity among the masses and also it caught the eye of the VCs. The turning point for TechCrunch came in 2006 when Arrington was the first one to break the news of YouTube’s acquisition by Google. Larger and more popular news and online media houses quoted TechCrunch’s opinion about the acquisition. This particular news aided to TechCrunch’s growing popularity.

Although he’s no longer the CEO of TechCrunch, yet an enormous portion of TechCrunch’s success goes to Michael. Before starting off with TechCrunch, Arrington was involved in many entrepreneurial endeavours. He left practicing law to join Real Names, a venture which raised $100 million. He co-founded several ventures like Achex, an internet payment company, Zip.ca which was an online DVD rental and movie rental kiosk and also Pool.com and Edgeio. Further he acted as the COO for Razorgator and was on the board of directors of Foldera.

Even though he started this blog as a hobby, yet after realizing that good posts is the key to a successful blog. He used to publish several posts a day, which clearly shows that he would work relentlessly with great focus. If a single blog produces several good content articles daily, it’s sure to gain popularity in no time. This is what happened with TechCrunch. The same strategy has been applied by other startup blogs in different countries. Michael’s tenacity is what pushed this blog towards success.

TechCrunch was acquired by AOL in September, 2010. A year later in September, 2011, Arrington decided to leave his position as editor of TechCrunch because of a conflict of interest involved around his decision to start CrunchFund, a VC firm dedicated to investing in technology startups. According to Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of AOL Huffington Post Media Group, “the heart of the matter” came down to: “Can someone running a venture fund edit a site covering the tech startup scene?”

While at TechCrunch, Michael ensured that all the write-ups would be completely transparent. Complete transparency and honesty are the pillars on which he built TechCrunch. Writing about startups is what Arrington has been doing since 2005. And, he planned on continuing this with his personal new blog, UnCrunched. He has laid the same foundation for UnCrunched as he had laid for TechCrunch. His articles maintain transparency, pure nugget of truth at the core of every issue and, his bias towards entrepreneurs who he considers to be his ‘rock stars’.

Currently, TechCrunch is committed to obsessively covering startups and technology news and reviewing new Internet products and services. Apart from these, TechCrunch has started with several more things that have made it a one stop destination for any person who’s curious and wants to know about startups.

TechCrunch started TechCrunch Disrupt or Startup Battlefield which is one of the world’s most preeminent startup competitions. It is held four times a year in New York, LA, San Francisco and London. Any startup with no or almost negligible prior press exposure is eligible to apply for it. It features 15-30 early stage startups who pitch in front of the judges which include top entrepreneurs, investors and technologists and a huge live audience. The winners of this competition receive the Disrupt Cup and a prize money of $50,000. However, that’s just the icing on the cake. Every contestant on the TechCrunch Disrupt receives a huge amount of investor as well as media attention. It is a one stop platform that helps startups in fostering good networks with the investors. Also, being alums of this elite platform adds another cherry on their cake. Above all participating in this competition is absolutely free!

The principal reason why Techcrunch became a one stop destination for investors as well as curious enthusiasts of startups is Crunchbase. It’s a huge database of the startup ecosystem with information related to the investors, startups and incubators. It contains information about the funding, acquisitions and mergers any startup is undergoing. Crunchbase is said to have a user base of 2 million.

Another initiative by TechCrunch that makes it so popular amongst startups is The Crunchies. It’s an award ceremony to recognize and celebrate the most compelling startups, technology and internet related innovations, and VCs.

Since the dawn of TechCrunch, Arrington has been very particular about the quality of the content that’s being published on the blog. The same legacy is being carried forward by the present contributors of the blog. This is why TechCrunch is still one of the most viral blogs both in the field of entrepreneurship as well as in the history of blogs.

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