High revenues and relatively low costs have made TechCrunch 50 the envy of its rivals, competing tech conferences like Demo and the Wall Street Journal's D. If only its founders could stop fighting like rabid dogs.
Concentrate engineers and tech executives in one conference hall, and the ensuing sausagefest is bound to produce some moments truly offensive to women and foreigners. Just ask the organizers of TechCrunch 50 and Demo about their recent low points.
Theirs was a lover's quarrel, startup style. But now Hollywood tech barker Jason Calacanis has kissed and made up with his Silicon Valley conference partner Mike Arrington. And in true Valley fashion, the couple is pretending nothing happened.
It should be a happy day for Mike Arrington and Jason Calacanis. The tech nabobs just wrapped their latest TechCrunch 50 conference, which captivated venture capitalists and the press. But the moguls are locked in Northern California-Southern California civil war.
Powerset founder Barney Pell brazenly reaches past former TechCrunch contributor Calley Nye's first available knee for an extra helping of frottage during the TechCrunch50 conference festivities. For Pell, the "Hot Chicks with Douchebags" joke has already been made, so you'll have to come up with something better in…
The anointing of Yammer as the winner of TechCrunch50 has raised questions about how the startup-launch conference operates. Michael Arrington, the founder of TechCrunch, has made much of the fact that he and fellow event organizer Jason Calacanis don't charge startups to present at the show, as established rival…
There's so many reasons to run away from this as-yet-unknown Portland startup's "gigs" ad on Craigslist. The founders say their app was written "I think [in] C#." They're "so disruptive" that they've "already been approached by TechCrunch" — without a product release yet. And for the right full-time programmer,…
Please tell me someone has pictures of Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur giving small-time technology investor Michael Arrington Segway riding lessons outside 330 Ritch for the TechCrunch50 conference's closing party. For now, I'll have to settle for Siqi Chen, left, and Alex Le, right, the guys behind Facebook widget…
Stubblicious Flickr developer Cal Henderson and his "fake wife," Pownce community liaison Ariel Waldman, were sharing a precious booth with their entourage at yet another overpacked Seesmic party. Here, Waldman tries to chat with Laughing Squid founder Scott Beale over the din. Mahalo CEO Jason Calacanis and Twitter…
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington just wants to get a scotch and hit on girls at the Seesmic party at 330 Rich, but ended up stuck in the multi-hour-long line outside the closing night party. Dutiful Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur personally came out to escort him past the velvet ropes. For a second there, people…
In a short interview for Yahoo, giggly Tech Ticker reporter Sarah Lacy gave model-turned-actor-turned-investor Ashton Kutcher a chance to let everyone know that he's not just a pretty face as a company founder, but "isn't getting much sleep" while managing every facet of his new startup, Blahgirls. This week he's…
The closing party for TechCrunch50 kicks off tonight, and our spy will be bringing us live updates as the evening unfolds. Hungover organizer Jason Calacanis, who got so sauced he couldn't remember what city he was in last night and showed up late this morning, was offered a bottle of Finnish vodka from a…
A Valleywag spy attended the second day of TechCrunch50 and then followed the crowd to a dinner, a party and an after party. He learned that blondes love Mark Cuban, Jason Calacanis likes to drink, and flack turned TechCrunch blogger Calley Nye knows how to leave with a billionaire. Also, our spy reports that the…
Sure, it's just a bunch of disgruntled kids at legendary San Francisco after-work bar House of Shields slinging tech slang and calling into question the reductionism ideal for deal making in the Valley. But few of the ideas presented at interface designer Eris Stassi and author Paul Carr's hastily assembled "Smack My…
Bless their little hearts, TechCrunch50 organizers Jason Calacanis and Michael Arrington have had someone sing the national anthem to kick off each day of their startup demonstration conference. Even we here at Valleywag, who will presumably believe anything, couldn't believe this. Marxists, Objectivists and Kurt…
I thought Ashton Kutcher at TechCrunch50 was just some elaborate year-long Punk'd episode. Ooma? Blah Blah Girls? But it turns out it's actually just Michael Arrington's publicity bait! Well today's featured commenter, Rachel Marsden, shares with us a glimpse of her ass-kicking notoriety:
Google's cupcake princess Marissa Mayer celebrating the company's tenth anniversary at the TechCrunch50 party — giving us all a taste of how they celebrate young Googler birthdays at the Kinderplex. Yesterday's winner: "You know little boy, I have much I can teach you" by Duncan. (Photo by Andrew Mager)
An eagle-eyed tipster points out that TechCrunch50's Web site favicon, the little graphic which appears next to URLs in your browser's location bar, is off by about 30. "TechCrunch50 startups ideally better at math than their hosts," our tipster quips, before reminding everyone he'll be here all week, and please…
The New York Times and Los Angeles Times don't normally write about tech conferences. But if the host of MTV's Punk'd shows up to launch a cartoon site, so does the MSM. In a Q&A for the LA Times with former San Francisco Chronicle reporter Jessica Guynn, Kutcher explains his ties to Silicon Valley: "We have offices…
Just how isolated are tech pundits like Robert Scoble from the real world? In a telling moment at a "VIP" party for TechCrunch50, Michael Arrington's startup conference taking place this week in San Francisco, an attendee tried to explain Scoble's notoriety to fading film star Demi Moore. Moore was on hand to…
