Awhile back I concoted a theory that given the signs/clues that TechCrunch was growing beyond any organic means, it was beyond likely that they were raising or had raised some venture capital.
This turned out being one of my most viewed blogs of all time, receiving a lot of of comments, linkbacks, believers, and critics.
In the end though, Michael Arrington was kind enough to answer the question directly we well as link to my Jib Jab video of him dancing.
I wasted 20 minutes digging up this comment screenshot. Probably a waste of time?
So unless he felt the need to downplay the question or straight out lie, its pretty evident that TechCrunch is growing without any additional funds although its possible Arrington is pumping some of his own money into the venture.
Regardless I’m still not convinced and a couple of things this past week raised my suspicions again.
Of late the TC stable of writers has been slowly growing despite the overall negative trend in online advertising. This trend has seemd to pick up more speed as Venture Beat’s MG Siegler will leave the site to join Arrington at TC
As you can see above there is something about Siegler that I hate. He was born in Ohio and went to Michigan. Come football season, I plan on being a comment jackass in all of his articles. This discovery also gives me more fury for a blog I am writing that wil be a pretty critical article on my business school (Ohio State) and business academia as well. Despite being the biggest and one of the best business schools in the Big Ten, OSU probably has the second weakest prescence in Silicon Valley. It’s alright though, we send a lot of graduates to really sweet companiesl like GM, Ford, Chrysler, AIG, Citi, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, The Limited, Nationwide, P &G, KPMG, Deloitte, EY, PWC, and other cutting edge innovators.
Off of that tangent, and on to the other suspicious news coming from TechCrunch. It seems the digital media company is now experimenting in…………….wait for it……………….. consumer electronics.
Pretty random eh? The thing though, is that the actual prototype that was leaked out looks pretty sweet. Its a tablet, browser only and allegedly if and when it ever does come out it will be sold around $200-$300.
So peg this on to my theory that TC is raising capital. Hiring a top tier blogger and fiddling around in consumer electronics, an industry that takes a LOT of overhead to penetrate.
Regardless the growth over at TC, whether it be organic or aided by investment is quite impressive.
