Wow, those are some expensive tickets… I guess I’ll have to miss out on all the fun.

Sounds pretty interesting though - maybe I’ll find a startup to launch

congrats mike

sweet! couldn’t get better experts either. great job mike. looking forward to it.

Mike,

Katie Fehrenbacher @ GigaOM anounced your launch earlier this afternoon. You might want to include the following link under “Additional Coverage” in your post as well.

gigaom.com/2007/04/16/techcrunch20-now-live/

I’m very excited about helping out with this! You planned it on the same day that our kid is due, too. So, we’ll both be shipping something fun on the same day!

congrats mike… hope to be sending a few companies your way to make it into the TechCrunch 20

- dave mcclure
http://500hats.typepad.com/

lol like the shipment part in Scoble’s comment….:D

I have also covered TC20
http://startupmeme.com/2007/04.....-launched/

“The best part about the event is that “money cant buy you happiness” i.e you wont have to pay a dime to present, and merit alone would be the decider. So no one could complain that they could not present just because they did not have the resources to do so, while other lamers enjoyed the spotlight.”

Awesome news Mike! Hey, what is the latest with Rivals CEO? Very curious.

Andrew Katz
The Grape Enterprise Group
The Ultimate Experience in Wine and Fun!
http://www.yourgrape.com
Look for us on the West Coast soon!

good post, link to techcrunch20 blog currently points to http://www.techcrunch.com/blog may want to fix that.

Great Mike. Good to see you encouraging the good startups. Am regular reader of your blog. I came to know lots of startups only through TC. Thanks.

~ RaJ
http://www.suggestusability.com

Mike in your excitement, you have listed Dave Winer twice in the Additional Coverage section of the Post Calm down mate

Why is one guys face blurred on that header image?

I think Sam at Vecosys covered it as well, but I guess you two dont really get along well.
later!

I visited Sequoia Capital
it is 100% the best….Every Banks know it… All the money comes form U.S, China, Israel, and india. This is where the stockmarket controls…

Google, apple, etc..

Mike,

You need to fix the company submit doc. You ask for:

Key stats: [Please include, as applicable:Uniques:Page ViewsTransactionsEtc.]

But then ask:

[Presenting companies at the conference will be expected to present first public beta releases of new products or features. If your company is selected to present at TechCrunch20, please summarize what you will commit to launching at the conference. Please add why the TechCrunch20 platform will be important to your business development trajectory.]

How can you have Kye Stats, if you cant reveal what you are doing to TechCrunch20 ?

sorry didnt see that old companies could submit new features…………..thought this was for only new companies, and new products my bad!

This should also be streamed live worldwide with chat - so that as many experts could participate as possible - without the need to travel

It is so-o ironic - that with all the Web 2.0 hi tech that surrounds society, we are still in the Conference 1.0 mindset

WHY?????!!!!

GREAT ONE.

This looks cool - are you going to list all of the companies that apply? That would be a sweet list to review.

Jason Alba
CEO - JibberJobber.com

I’m interested in submitting our company to this. I’m confused like the person in the previous post as to whether or not the company can launch before techcrunch20. The website says the only rule is that it ‘has to be showcased at techcrunch20 first’. The tech doc however asks how many pages views, etc the site is receiving. So my question is, can the site be live and accessible to the masses before the conference, or can it be in a closed limited beta?

First, I love google map… than Microsoft Live map looks pretty amazing…

It’s going to be interesting to see what turns up from the show. Very cool.

i hope your expo succeeds, its a good idea, and well needed by some

I slurped the submission form onto scribd (www.scribd.com/slurp?url=…)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/32976/Submission-Form

you can view the form inside the browser without MS word. I converted it to html, but you can view it inside of flashpaper if you’d prefer.

talk about breaking the bank. if you’re not presenting it’ll cost you at least $1,995 just to get in the door, plus the fantastic rate of only $279 for each night in the hotel. what a bargain! and even if you are presenting, do you still have to come up with travel expenses? it seems like more could be done to actually help the companies out rather than just pimping them out to foaming-at-the-mouth VCs. i predict 18 future deadpoolers, 2 champions of mediocrity, and a streaker. booya!

Hey Arrington
Met you today at the netvibes party, sorry about the awkward hi! I wnet like , are you arrington btw…

oh, well.. I had a look at TC20, interesting and I am in SF atm and would love to come. But I dont think I can afford the 1700+ USD ticket. Is there anyway you can let a student in?
Please email me at d@ liveandbeyond. com , I would really appreciate it!

thanks

nice to see that there are no conflicts of interest, nobody trying to charge startups $2000 to come to a conference. delete this post if you want, but it’s crazy to trumpet the idea of guys working in a garage and then charge them $2000 to bump shoulders with a bunch of industry dudes.

Its great that startups are not being charged, but really a small conference room could be hired out for 500 dollars, and the advertising budget for this is 0, so your seemingly just cashing in on the energy here by charging 2k for a single pass.

Unless of course that you are going to give the chosen startup all the cash you rake in at the door? What is the prize for the winner btw?

I have an idea for you, the winner gets the door money in exchange for 5% of stock which is given to CrunchBank.

Its a shame this event is on at the same time as Dreamforce ‘07, otherwise I definitely would have attended.

http://www.salesforce.com/events/dreamforce/

Well, for those of you who complain the pass is too expensive, here’s an idea:

Take the $2,000 and fund a “2.0 company”. That’s what it costs nowadays, right? Then make something sooo cool that you’ll be selected.

There, now you’re in for free, you’ll show your goodies to the world, and you even have one startup under your wings. All for the prize of one pass

With all the form creation tools that have been reviewed here, I’m a bit surprised to see the application as a Microsoft Word doc. Ick. I would suggest using something more universal - web form, pdf, txt, etc. So Microsoft-averse hackers (a large demographic if you’ve noticed) aren’t put off. I can understand how it wouldn’t even phase most business folks, but that’s not who your application market is.

I think the time between the deadline for applications and the actual event is a bit too long (3 1/2 months).

Why not setting the deadline by,say, the end of July? That gives you 1 whole month to select the winners and then they have 15 days to put their act together (all candidates should aim for that the moment they submit their application anyway). Also the fact that theyhave to “show it here first” plays against them when the time between the deadline and the event is this long.

PS: I’m not planning to submit anything. I’m thinking for other folks and of course you can do whatever you htink it’s best. I’m just sending some feedback your way.

While a conference to get people together and demo their very hard work to other people who may or may not help them is probably not a bad idea. I must say that I’m sure I am not alone in thinking the ~£2000 price tag is simply way too high.

Is it for the ‘elite’ only?

Could you possibly justify / breakdown the costs please?

I would love to compare what you are offering against another conferences, like the wonderful Gnomedex (where I first met you) which is proven for 6 six years.

Gnomedex 3 days full at a conference center with food and facilities for $499?

TechCrunch 2.0 for 2 days for $2000?

The funny thing is - most of the same people will be at both, I’d wager.

thx.

I’m really quite flabbergasted at this

I can imagine the backchannel ‘ProleTrack’ will be pretty loud at this one.

Let me re-iterate: I’m not condemning this at all - and yes, people looking for investments have deep pockets and won’t bat an eyelid - and yes, conferences ‘like’ DEMO are a GREAT idea..

No doubt this will sell out.
But in more ways than one?

This is like the episode of Happy Days where Richie and Potsie stage their own beauty contest. Gotta love the business model here.. and you boys are no doubt loving the loot.

I wish those complaining about ticket prices would stop. This event is not for you. Although I am certain you would like to attend, just as I would (but is cost prohibitive), it is for these 20 startups to put their products in front of the ones that can move them along either through connections, financially or with meaningful guidance. That is probably not you. If it was you would be able to afford a ticket. So settle down and hope that your business can afford you the luxury of attending this conference down the road. I am hoping that. Michael you are doing a great deed, keep up the good work.

How are you defining “merit”?

i propose some changes to make this event better:

-make admission free (limited to capacity, of course)
-cover the costs with sponsor contributions (what do these go towards currently, anyway??)
-mike, you make your money for being such an altruist off all the extra ad revenue from your site during your coverage of the event. just make sure to have the best coverage, so everyone else that is there blogging will be sure to link back to you.
-proceed tooting altruistic horn

it’d be a shitton more popular, it’d help out the companies more by building more buzz from people interested in their products for the products (not the dollar signs), improve our education system, and reduce the dependence on foreign oil.

I can’t believe this! $2,000 dollars. When I read that…I had to quickly feel my back pocket to see if my wallet was still there…somehow thinking that “Mike the Great” may have attempted to reach through the screen and snake some cash from me. You’re a blogger…your suppose to be in favor of democratizing the web…how about democratizing web2.0 conferences? How about following through with what “Kosso” said…please post a break down of the expenses you’re going to incur.

I’ll pay $2,000 dollars if…during the big “Conference”…you get on stage for 10 minutes and demo the release of the “Michael Arrington” action figure…and then give away free purple capes to the first 10 people that visit your booth after the speech. Come on man…I just moved here from 2,000 miles away…I’m eating oatmeal 4 times a day to save money…soon to be launching a site i’ve been working on since August, I read about this conference, I get excited…only to find out you’re asking $2,495 for a ticket. I can’t even eat hamburger twice a week and you’re asking for $3,000 from me.

Can’t wait. Looks like Troutgirl posted some interesting picks:

http://troutgirl.wordpress.com.....-startups/

LiveOps has a CEO from EBay, CTO from Netscape… wonder if Andreessen is involved?

ugggg, another drive up to san fran i guess

im still recovering from web 2.0 after a freeway tire blow out