Lessons in PR (Why I chose not to court Techcrunch)

http://industryinteractive.net/ideas/lessons-in-pr-why-i-chose-not-to-court-techcrunch/

by lanej0 • 18 years ago

19 5 18 years ago

dmix2• 18 years ago

To be honest "There’s no glamorous future for Mailmanagr, as well." pretty much sums up this article. It may be a good product, but its aim is not to be a high growth start-up and technically its just a component to an existing app.

Best place for a start-up lesson? Probably not.

Should you not target techcrunch, even if your app would most likely not get covered, in order to maintain the exclusive nature of your launch? Sure, if you got a good plan B.

tx• 18 years ago

What?! Over half of Techcrunch-covered "businesses" are not even that: useless weekend projects without use nor future. By the way, I got an email from a co-worker today about Mailmanagr with subject "Check this out, it's pretty cool".

Last time I got an email like that was about Google's "Street View" feature.

P.S. I am not affiliated with Mailmanagr in any way.

dmix2• 18 years ago

Really? I thought Techcrunch has been moving away from those weekend apps and more towards the ones with potential to have "mainstream" appeal. Aka venture fundable apps. Plus mainstream tech news so he can get interviews on CNN.

I go to mashable for "weekend apps".

Of course, they have a lot love affair with Twitter and Arringtons ego.

At $5/month per user is a very low margin thats only reaching a market based on another non-mainstream apps userbase. This would definitely be considered a side project that regardless of TC is not very ambitious or PR worthy.

iloveyouocean• 18 years ago

'Lessons in PR' implies that there was actually something learned, or at least that something worth learning is being presented.

Nope, just a guy explaining why he chose to market his Basecamp specific web-app via 37signals. Dur.

lanej0• 18 years ago

The lesson learned (and I'm sorry if you had to read between the lines a bit) is that Techcrunch and the other major outlets aren't the only course for marketing your product. I could have busted my ass making putting together everything I'd need to make Arrington raise an eyebrow, or I could focus on trying to get the word out in locations where I was more likely to get conversions. I chose the latter.

Yes, it is just a component to an existing app, but it's a component that customers seem to want, and that the original app's developer didn't seem interested in building (but who can ever tell with 37signals).

Lessons in PR (Why I chose not to court Techcrunch)

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