I was dying to announce this at TechCrunch40, but the timing just didn’t work out. Nevertheless, I am extremely proud to announce that TechCrunch now has a co-editor. Erick Schonfeld, most recently an editor-at-large at Business 2.0, will be joining the team starting next Wednesday, September 26. Matt Richtel at The New York Times broke the story.
Erick has been covering startups and technology news for 14 years. At Business 2.0 he writes feature stories and runs their main blog, Next Net, which has nearly 50,000 RSS subscribers. He also does a lot of video work and hosts regular panels of industry luminaries called Disruptor Round Tables. Prior to Business 2.0, Erick was an editor-at-large for eCompany and a contributing editor for Fortune. In 1999, Schonfeld won the prize for best information technology submission at London’s Business Journalist of the Year Awards, and in 2001 he won the prize for best space submission at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in Paris. In 1996 and 1997, Schonfeld was recognized in the TJFR Business News Reporter’s list of the “best and brightest financial journalists under the age of 30.” He appears regularly on CNBC, CNN, and NY1, and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Schonfeld graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University in 1993.
What impresses me most about Erick is that he comes from a traditional big media background but has embraced new media so completely. Next Net is one of a handful of blogs that I read religiously, and his expertise in video is much needed around here, where we are behind the curve.
The timing was also perfect. I was able to hire Heather, our CEO, after her boss Ross Levinsohn left Fox. Similarly, talking Erick into joining was much easier since Business 2.0 is closing down next week. He had many job offers to choose from, but our persistence won in the end.
I honestly think my greatest strength is my willingness to hire people who are, simply, better than me. Erick fits nicely into this category, and I can’t wait for him to start. Look for him starting next week. You can email him at erick at techcrunch. And see Erick’s blog post on this at Next Net.
As an aside, Erick will be staying in New York, and we will be opening a joint TechCrunch/CrunchGear office there. We’re looking at a number of options, but if you have a lead on available sublets, please let us know.
Congrats – I guess it follows well after your post yesterday about how awesome the business2.0 writers are (or I guess were).
Erick rocks! Good for you, Techcrunch team!
nice
Congratulations! Best wishes on continued success.
Congratulations guys, sounds like a great fit. I look forward to reading what you all come up with over here.
I’ve always been a fan of the Next Net. I never knew this much about Erick the man himself until this post. You’re right, he is simply better than you. gratz.
Welcome on BOARD ERICK.
I WISH YOU GOOD LUCK @ TC.
Cheers, Nag
Congrats Erick. Glad to have you!
welcome erick – i’m sure you’re more than worth your salt
the editor of Business2 is now working at TC:
This…Changes…Everything, lol
Awesome hire, Mike. Congratulations!
Sounds very promising. Good luck to you both, et al
Welcome Eric to real Business 2.0 i.e. TechCrunch.
Congrats on expanding the team.
Congratulations! I look forward to seeing this fantastic site get even better.
Congrats Erick. Looking forward to your contribution.
Bravo! Couldn’t have made a better choice. Congratulations, Erick! TechCrunch just got even better.
damn cool
damn cool
http://vidsonly.blogspot.com
Congratulations! I hate to see Business 2.0 close down as it was a great magazine (wonder whether they’ll refund my 1 1/2 of subscription left). But their lost is Techcrunchs gain.
Wow! TC just got kicked up many more notches. I’ve read Erick in print for a long time and it’s super that you’ve landed here. Big congrats to TC. Sameer
More reason to have a TechCrunch party in New York!
Bravo! Erick is a great guy and will be an awesome addition to TechCrunch.
Eric compliments TechCrunch and TechCrunch will compliment the new Silicon Alley. Good ‘moves’!
Does this mean we don’t have to read Duncan’s nonsense anymore?
@24. Duncan doesn’t post nonsense. If you think he does then you are probably not the right person to read techcrunch.
welcome – hope u r getting the six figure blogger income
….wish you best…
Eric, I think we met once at a conference at BGSU, yeah I actually remember, you’d eaten a lot of the cheeseballs that day, everyone there remembers.
Do a good job if you like our backing.
http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com
I hope someone hires Paul Sloan — I thought his articles in B2 were excellent.
like the post about B2.0 was not ass-kissing or obvious in letting us know MA was wooing B.20 guys? Come on, what a joke…
wow. Future Boy is now TechCrunch?!? awesome
congrats Mike, congrats Erick… and welcome TechCrunch NYC!
- dave mcclure
Eric, you are awesome dude. Now, hurry up and write your first post. I will be waiting.
Silicon Alley Insider (www.alleyinsider.com), which is covering web2.0 and digital media in NYC, is a good place to search for your new office space. It’s trying to hook people up with available spaces in the Alley.
Nice move Mike, I like ur statement especially where you say you are willing to hire smarter people than you. As Dale Carnegie puts it, the person who can manage the smartest people in the business is the one who ultimatley succeeds. Good luck to Erik and TC team
@33 – Ouch! Mike didn’t say smarter, he said better. People have smarts in different areas; but i believe the reason Mike has had such success with TechCrunch is not because he is the most skillful writer, but because his obvious passion for the content he covers is apparent in the writing.
I found Business 2.0 way late, unfortunately, and really hate to see it go, but clicking 1 link saves time if some of that goodness ends up here! Awesome!
I’ve read several of Erick’s blog posts from Business 2.0 and he gives/gave every startup a fair shake in the beginning. Thanks Erick! Welcome to TechCrunch!
Excellent news! Congrats TC crew.
Awesome. When I chatted with Erick at TC40, he felt very evasive when I asked him what he was about to do post-Business 2.0. Now I understand
.
Congratulations Mike, another great hire after Heather. And Welcome to Erick.
Congrats – looking forward to insights into venture capital NYC style.
Yay! More good stuff on TC!
Good luck, Eric! Can’t wait to read your creation – now on TC.
… oh yeah, congratulations.
Forget that I mentioned the flatulants incident.
http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com
Congrats Mike, great hire!
TC must be making loads of money if they can afford all this full-time staff now… and multiple offices… wow
OH NO!
Now we have to kiss another ass to get mentioned on TC
I didn’t know heather came from Faux news. wow
like Spider-Man and Batman joining forces to bring the spirit of tech start-ups to life. Great move Erick and congrats Mike.
A First Class addition to TCrunch. Erik’s posts will be my must-reads each day.
Looks like Business 2.0 shutdown is getting momentum in articles and blog… so I’ll link to a few things I read about this in the past days and see if I can contribute in any way. An article on MediaShift (http://tinyurl.com/33ff2o) raised this question: “So how would a publisher start up a magazine devoted to the intersection of technology and business today? Would it be in print and online, online-only, or some innovative combination of the two?”
I really think that paper magazines are fascinating tools that will never die. I don’t see the web taking over completely, so the combination of the 2 things is necessary. Few ideas on top of my mind…
A) shift paper edition to rich digital edition. Zinio.com is an example (probably the biggest even if not particularly successful), even if I prefer to refer to a Swedish company I partnered with in the past (www.mypaper.se/index_en.asp) that developed an amazing technology that allows you to digitize your magazine and disseminate it to the public without having to install anything because it’s browser-based (for an example in english see http://tinyurl.com/36pv3q). It’s cost effective and you can target ads in many ways. It’s even very pleasant to the eye and – be honest – a magazine looks a lot nicer than a blog.
B) Why not trying to apply the Lulu.com model (or the Amazon model, due to the fact that they are doing the same print-on-demand thing) to magazines? So if you are happy enough to have a FREE digital version of the magazine you’re fine (free is the key, because publishers save a lot of costs and most of all the magazine price covers a ridiculous amount of the costs, so let’s give it for free and widen the readership!), but if you are in love with the good-old paper you can request a print version.
These 2 points imply a lot of other things that cannot be discussed here but I’m more than happy to discuss this with anybody who is interested (fabiodebe [AT] gmail [DOT] com). The major issue when I personally tried to go down this line (coming from outside the publishing industry) was hearing publishers saying that they would rather drown than giving away their valuable content for free… c’mon, do me a favor, cut the crap!
One last thing about this statement left by Business 2.0 chief-editor on The New York Times: “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being heartbroken,” said Mr. Quittner, who steered the magazine for five and a half years. “That said, we had a terrific team here and learned a lot. A bunch of us are going on to Fortune, where we’ll have an even bigger platform to carry on the good fight.”
I don’t know Mr. Quittner and his situation, but if I were a friend of him I would suggest to quit his job and create his own new Business 2.0! I think that many of his fellow team members would follow him and maybe my considerations above are not so much nonsense…
PS: my best wishes to Erick Schonfeld… it was what the post was about at the end of the day!!
cool
@Arrington – what other blogs do you read religiously?
Bruchim Haba`im! (Welcome!, In Hebrew)
This is a great move, Mike and really takes TC to another level – as you said: a mainstream media guy taking to new media. That speaks volumes.
I’ve been reading Erick for ages and he’s the real deal.