We announced two new experts today for the TechCrunch20 conference in September: Google’s Marissa Mayer (VP Search Products & User Experience) and Yahoo’s Brad Garlinghouse (SVP Communications & Communities). We announced Caterina Fake, MC Hammer and Rajeev Motwani last week. The complete Panel of Experts is here, and we will announce more in the coming weeks.
The format of TechCrunch20 is simple: Twenty of the hottest new startups will announce and demo their products over a two day period in front of an audience of hundreds and a panel of twenty experts. And they don’t pay a cent to do this. They will be selected to participate based on merit alone. We are taking submissions now and will begin announcing selected companies in about a month. Submit your startup here.
Brad Garlinghouse
Brad Garlinghouse is SVP, Communications & Communities at Yahoo, which includes Yahoo Mail, Messenger and Groups. During his tenure, Brad has also overseen the primary starting points to the Yahoo! network, including Yahoo.com and My Yahoo. Brad is the author of the infamous Peanut Butter Manifesto, which received significant press for his vision for Yahoo! to realize its full potential. Prior to joining Yahoo, Brad served as CEO of Dialpad Communications. Earlier in his career, Brad led VC investments in software, communications and Internet businesses at @Ventures. He also spent time in product and marketing leadership roles at @Home Network and SBC Communications.
Marissa Mayer
Marissa Mayer is VP, Search Products & User Experience at Google. She joined Google in 1999 as Google’s first female engineer. Her efforts have included designing and developing Google’s search interface, internationalizing the site to 100+ languages and launching numerous features and products. Several patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design. Before Google, she worked at UBS research lab (Ubilab) and SRI International. Marissa has been featured in various publications, including Newsweek (”10 Tech Leaders of the Future”), Red Herring (”15 Women to Watch”), Business 2.0, BusinessWeek, Fortune and Fast Company.
I’ll go if you can convince the MC to pump it up and break it down with hammer time for old time sake…
BTW… you can’t touch this.
No vanilla ice? weak
Vanilla Ice wasn’t legit, so he quit…
the Hammer, on the other hand, was too legit to quit.
I’m on a roll, it’s time to go solo.
This is great news. Marissa can match MC Hammer’s acumen and success in launching new internet products (and wouldn’t they make a cute couple), while Garlinghouse can quietly watch TC20 unfold, prior to releasing a broad manifesto that demands sweeping changes at TechCrunch.
Impressive panel so far..
No offense to MC Hammer, but honestly, if you dropped his name from any announcements about this I think it would help. He might very well bring an important angle ot the proceedings, but I think from outside, it looks like a gag or something.
This announcement wasn’t even about him, and you’re getting 80+% responses about him instead.
Again, I bet he actually brings something worthwhile to the discussion, just not to the marketing.
we are so dead
I like MC, and info for Yahoo and Google will be good too.
Cheers
Does anybody feel that the costs are a bit high.
Kewtr;
I was just kidding. I just remember MC Hammer playing on the radio NON STOP (not that it was a bad thing). Hammer is one of the only rappers out there who managed to keep a clean image and become very successful while doing so, unlike most one-hit-wonders out there today. He’s also dabbled in tech (Dance Jam)…
http://techcrun...nel-of-experts/
How about publishing the websites of company that have applied ? Dont have to provide info about what they do.
Just be interesting to find out how is applying ?
Great lineup, Michael…
…now about this Em-See Hammer fellow…
Brad G is going to shave a Y on his hairy back and then rub peanut butter on it. Booyah!
congratulations mates
This is the second time this week I’ve seen a person on a panel who was associated to the Google UI design. I don’t mean this is an affront to Marissa but Google’s user interface design is God-awful. With all the money they throw around I wish they’d spend $10 grand to bring in a designer to design some templates for them. A little CSS formating/typpgraphy goes a long way in this regard. I’m deeply surprised anyone could feel good about associating their name to this crap.
Kudos Mike! But why didn’t you have these GREAT people back when you were here in NYC. I mean I loved the party and all but… Common! =(
Hey, say what you want about her work, but Marissa also brings sexy to the panel, too! And that, my friends, is a contribution not to be overlooked. Dang, she’s FINE!
Maybe she is bringing “sexy back” ….
– yah know the other fellas dont know how to act …..
(sorry Mc-Hammer got me in a music mood) …
– The more people you ad; the worse MC looks; I hope he doesn’t speak much at the conference
I hope MC pulls a can of whoopass out on all the 20-30 somethings involved. At least he was someone pre-boom 1.0.
…MC Hammer? – the MC for TC20 is going to be Arsenio Hall. …raise the roof! Woof-Woof-Woof!
2 Legit, 2 Legit to Blog.
Can Mike or someone please clarify a very important question:
Are you saying is that Marissa and Brad get to see our TC20 company submissions, including private information you’ve requested like funding, backers, usage statistics, business model, planned features and competitive advantage?
And since the TC20 conference is not until September, do they get to see all this information 4 months before the service is even launched?
If this is the case can you please:
1) Tell us if you have already forwarded company submissions to these folks?
2) Tell us how do we can withdraw our submitted applications?
3) Put an explicit warning to companies on the TC20 submission page that their submissions are going to be directly forwarded to their potential #1 and #2 competitors?
For the record I can’t see how on earth you thought that this would be a good idea. The most difficult question we entrepreneurs face from investors these days is “what are you going to do if Google/Yahoo start doing what you are doing?”… At least with a first mover advantage our startups might have a fighting chance to get traction before we get run over by “the new Microsoft” (aka Google).
The next problem is, can you promise Marissa’s and Brad’s opinions on participating companies won’t be swayed but what features and products they have planned for the future? No you can’t.
I was really looking forward to this event because of it’s promise of being non-political and purely based on merit. Now I think this is going to be the most BS event ever.
Frankly, I’m very disappointed.
Markus, good questions. I will address this on the techcrunch20 blog later today to clarify.
I’d love to be at this conference.
Markus,
Jason Calacanis writes this in his announcement of the panel appointees:
“Company presentations will be kept private under NDA until the event. If for someone reason you don’t want me to know about it you can pitch Mike Arrington directly and I will stay out of it (I trust his judgement on these issues).”
Full post:
http://www.cala...-join-the-team/
It doesn’t answer all your questions (fair ones, I think), but it’s a good start. As far as the the first mover advantage goes, attention can be a double edged sword in this situation. If your product is compelling enough, Google or Yahoo could eye you for a quick acquisition, which they’ve both come to be skilled at doing. But yes, they could also choose to compete. Either way, I don’t see how you could expect to avoid attention at a conference like this. Even without the impressive panel, Mike and Jason alone wield a huge reach in the tech startup blogosphere. It sounds like your startup should stay stealth for now and try to gain traction at a grassroots level.
hmmm… my “search honey” comment was taken down! techcrunch is going to the dark side… I’m sure Marissa is a big girl and is probably flattered by all the “eye candy” remarks. so lighten up there, get out of your cubicle and take a deep breath. now don’t you feel better already