20 Years of TechCrunch

20 Years of TechCrunch

Josh Kopelman is the founder of First Round Capital. Way back in June 2005 he received an email from TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington. It reminded me not to let this day pass without noting TechCrunch. Here is Mike's email to Josh:

---- Forwarded message ---

From: Michael Arrington <editor@techcrunch.com>

Date: Sat, Jun 11, 2005 at 10:56 PM

Subject: I need your help

To: <editor@techcrunch.com>

Hello, and please forgive this mass-email to my friends.

Keith Teare and I have been working on a new venture together. It's called Archimedes Ventures and it's focus is on web 2.0 - the two way or read-write web. We talk a bit about this on our website at www.archimedesventures.com.

We are investing in web 2.0 companies, consulting with others, and starting a couple of companies on our own. We have four employees now in addition to the two of us. Our first company will launch in the late summer/early fall and I'm pretty excited about it.

We also launched a new business weblog yesterday called TechCrunch, at www.techcrunch.com. We are hearing about new companies every day, and I realized that there is no one place to go to see profiles of all of these exciting new services. I just randomly come across them in weblogs, news sites or from tips from friends. So I am going to profile every new "web 2.0" company that I come across on this new site. It's sort of a cross between venturewire (which is for newly funded companies), and gizmodo, which is a blog that reviews new electronic gadgets.

TechCrunch is less about making money and more about contributing back to the Internet I also realized that since I am basically joining/checking out every new web 2.0 company anyway, I should go ahead and share my thoughts with others.

This was an incredibly open and honest email. Mike was on a mission to understand Web 2.0 and wanted to soak up every possible experience he could to better grasp it.

Josh points out that "...ever since TechCrunch has been an open tab in my browser. It is hard to underestimate the impact it has had on the ecosystem."

Others in the X thread concur and others ask questions, like this from Jay Wong:

Archimedes Labs was our co-founded entity and TechCrunch was Mike's way of documenting the profound changes going on in the Internet. It still exists and has gone through three major changes - The TechCrunch era; The post TechCrunch 2010-2016 era and the current era.

Today 2005 Archimedes would be called a Venture Studio. We were intent on creating new Web 2 companies that we would be owners in. Our founding document was also the basis for TechCrunch and summed up our approach to Web 2.

The full document is here:

Archimedes Newsletter

1.1MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

The first writings from June 2005 are all stored in the WayBack Machine, which stores everything from that date forward.

The About TechCrunch section takes a lot from the Archimedes Newsletter. It reads:

About TechCrunch

Posted in TechCrunch,Web 2.0 on June 11th, 2005

TechCrunch is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing every newly launched web 2.0 business and service. In addition to new companies, we will profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the web 2.0 space.

TechCrunch is edited by Michael Arrington and Keith Teare, with frequent input from guest editors. It is part of the Archimedes Ventures network of companies.

What is "web 2.0″? There are entire websites dedicated to trying to define it in a succinctly. For instance, here is Wikipedia's entry on web 2.0. At Archimedes, we think of web 2.0 as the inevitable evolution of the web from a read-mostly medium to a read-write, or two-way medium (think geocities v. weblogs). Web 1.0 was static html pages. Web 2.0 is dynamic and interactive, and more fully exploits network effects. Web2.0 applications leverage key new web application frameworks like Ruby on Rails and AJAX.

We are seeing the separation of content from its old forms. Text is no longer necessarily embedded in a web page, it can be syndicated through RSS or ATOM. Audio is no longer tied to the Radio network. It can be Podcast or streamed or downloaded. TV shows are no longer necessarily tied to TV Networks. They can be delivered on demand across IP networks. And so on.

These trends throw many business models into question. New companies are being created to leverage these trends. We will profile them here.

Like all good web 2.0 services, this site will be a two-way communications medium. Comments, trackbacks and other feedback will be welcome. We will distribute this content in every way our readers want it - our website, RSS, Atom, email, and other web 2.0 distribution mechanisms that companies that we profile will think up!

If you'd like to contact TechCrunch with suggestions, comments, corrections, errors or new company announcements, please email us at editor@techcrunch.com.

As Mike said, TechCrunch was initially a utility project. There was no intention of it becoming an asset. But that changed quickly mainly due to Mike's focus and dedication. I can't do justice here to his work, but in short, he moved to the Valley from LA. Rented a home in Atherton that became the "TechCrunch House". He leveraged a new technology called Wiki's to launch events at the house. Chad Hurley pitched YouTube at the first. Published regular reviews of new Web 2 companies.

By the end of 2005 TechCrunch had become the center of Web 2 in the Valley. Mike was working crazy hours, mostly writing himself. I was running our other company edgeio. TechCrunch retained and grew its authority over the years, especially after Heather Harde took the lead operational role. I might credit my wife Gené McPherson too. She was a powerhouse behind the scenes at the early TechCrunch events leading up to Disrupt. She also became a founding team member at CrunchBase when it became independent, where she still works.

On a personal note, people often credit me for TechCrunch because I was there and got many mentions. On the 20th anniversary I have to repeat an often said point. The success of TechCrunch is 100% Mikes. I was the author of the Archimedes Newsletter, a co-owner, partner and co-thinker but the idea of TechCrunch, the inspiration, passion, work, writing, networking, product and events management was all his.

Thanks to Josh Kopelman for his X post. I might have passed over this anniversary were it not for that. TechCrunch's role in the HBO series Silicon Valley is probably a testament to what it became and remains. I still read it daily.

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