TechCrunch from 2006

It used to all be about new products and founders - and now its about Money

I yearn for technology coverage from the 2006 era of Techcrunch, because the emphasis was on cataloging cool products and founders. Mike Arrington’s writing inspired me to be an entrepreneur bringing the pulse of the valley via an internet connection to my computer in London, eventually leading me to leave for SF in the summer of 2007, and actually go to the Techcrunch party in Palo Alto (where i saw MySpace founder Chris De Wolfe in the flesh - wonder what happened to him?).

The point stands - today’s tech coverage is focused on transactions. Funding announcements are just tools startups use to get pre-empted. Big companies receive more coverage than they used to, and rather than focusing on the emerging pulse, a few hot areas are given preferential coverage versus just breaking and curiously discovering the frontier. The frontier is global, so i’m going to shift up my writing to be shorter and more curious - writing about products and new companies globally, and more regularly. This is my exploration and no one else’s. A bit like a 2006 Techcrunch, but with a global flavor. There are way too many companies I’ve never heard of. And if you have, thats great, but the frontier is changing faster than ever.

Here are some good posts from 2006/2007 to get you the flavor of what things used to be like in Technology blogging

Odeo releases Twttr https://techcrunch.com/2006/07/15/is-twttr-interesting/

Did YouTube just Raise Another $25m? https://techcrunch.com/2006/04/30/did-youtube-just-raise-another-25-million/