TechCrunch+'s founding editor about its launch to complement TechCrunch's ads and events revenue and its failure due to issues with finding business reporters
January was a brutal month for journalists, globally from death and locally from layoffs. The latter hit home this week … Threads: @firstadopter . Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to . X: @mjburnsy , @rezendi , @dannycrichton , @kevinsxu , @logtecheric , @wolfejosh , @jryedinak , @jasonlk , and @logtecheric . LinkedIn: Danny Crichton Threads: Tae Kim / @firstadopter : Good read: “media company that cannot convince enough readers to pay for it has a very limited time horizon in today's world. Subscription offers a path to true sustainability” https://www.luxcapital.com/... Mastodon: Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : Insightful read on the failure of TechCrunch+. — The fundamental challenge of creating tech journalism worth paying for is that anyone who knows the tech well enough to write well about it can get a better job in tech than being a journalist. — I found the analysis of TechCrunch's core business to be insightful as well. … X: Matt Burns / @mjburnsy : @Techmeme @DannyCrichton Danny is spot on here, but failed to mention TC+'s *horrible* tech stack and Yahoo's unwillingness to invest in the service. The TC+ subscriber-only newsletter launched last month because that was the first time the TC+ team had the ability to email only subs. Think about that. Jon Evans / @rezendi : Excellent piece by @DannyCrichton on the trials and travails of our joint alma mater TechCrunch. If TC—which was, as Danny notes, in its heyday a site where one could reasonably expect ~100K views on a post—can't make it, you have to wonder who can. https://www.luxcapital.com/... Danny Crichton / @dannycrichton : I am saddened that @TechCrunchPlus, where I was founding editor, is being shuttered. Here's a reflection on the past and present of @TechCrunch's economics and business model within the maelstrom of the media hellscape: https://www.luxcapital.com/... Kevin Xu / @kevinsxu : Great analysis and meditation on the media business. As a one-time contributor to TC+, this saddens me. As a big reader of all types of journalism, this frustrates me. As a firm believer that a healthy, sustainable fourth estate is crucial to an open society, this worries me. Eric Johnson / @logtecheric : @DannyCrichton ... Sorry one more quote from this banger of a piece: “Passion plus perspective plus precision is asking a lot of one person or even a small band of reporters. Even if you can find that talent, then the challenge becomes one of compensation.” Josh Wolfe / @wolfejosh : Excellent by Lux's @DannyCrichton on malestrom of media hellscape I hope MANY talented writers + journalists will ping Danny to spend time w/our growing Lux team (riskgaming, freelancing, coauthoring, working w/Lux co's)—to not just tell stories but to WRITE THE FUTURE with Lux John Yedinak / @jryedinak : Must read for anyone thinking about launching paid subs to compliment a healthy advertising business. In depth analysis that people will pay for requires deep industry expertise and context - very few have it. Many can crank out rewritten press releases. Two different... @jasonlk : @DannyCrichton ... too many somehow miss this -> “The unique economics for TechCrunch around advertising and events funded the organization well, but they have an obvious flaw: they don't really scale” Eric Johnson / @logtecheric : @DannyCrichton ... This is, by a fair distance, the best thing I've read about why media is struggling right now. Just detail and insight after detail and insight. “A media company that cannot convince enough readers to pay for it has a very limited time horizon in today's world.” LinkedIn: Danny Crichton : I am saddened that TechCrunch+, where I was founding editor, is being shuttered. Here's a reflection on the past and present of TechCrunch's economics …