Mark your calendars for the second annual TechCrunch launch conference, co-produced between TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis: TechCrunch50 at the San Francisco Design Center on September 8-10, 2008.
Like last year at TechCrunch40 (except there will be ten more startup launches), fifty new startups and products will launch over three days. All finalists will be chosen solely on merit; they are not charged to attend or present at the event. The top startup to launch at TechCrunch50, as chosen by the judges and organizers, will receive a $50,000 cash prize (last year’s winner was Mint).
The 40 startups that launched at last year’s event have now raised at over $143 million in venture capital (not all has been disclosed publicly). That’s mostly because they were all excellent startups. But the press and blogger coverage from the event certainly didn’t hurt, either.
We will also be bringing back expert panelists to speak at the event and judge startup demos. Last year’s experts are here. Many of these people will be returning, along with a number of new judges as well. Announcements of attending experts will be made over the next few months.
New Venue, New Format
TechCrunch50 is a three day conference to accommodate the ten additional startup launches, as well as more panels and workshops. We’re changing locations this year. The event will be held at the San Francisco Design Center, a huge and beautiful venue that can accommodate over 1,000 attendees with ease.
We’re incredibly lucky to have the support and backing of a great and growing group of corporate partners. Sequoia Capital, Mayfield Fund, Clearstone Venture Partners, Charles River Ventures and Fenwick & West all returned quickly to support us for the second year in a row. Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo reached out as well, and we’re very grateful for their new commitment to our merit-based conference format.
Is Your New Product Right For TechCrunch50?
If your startup or product is launching in the late summer or Fall, TechCrunch50 may be the perfect launchpad for you. The important factor is that the startup has no previous public exposure before the event - the 50 slots are reserved for new products that the audience hasn’t seen before. If launching on the actual date of the event is too soon, we will make a limited number of exceptions to allow you to show a demo of the product at the event instead.
Things To Know:
Official Site: TechCrunch50
Dates: September 8 - 10, 2008
Tickets To Attend: TechCrunch50 Tickets
Application to Launch Startup/Product: Company Application Form
Applications Deadline: Friday, June 27, 2008 (early consideration deadline June 13)
Conference ticketing courtesy of EventBrite
excellent to see another one is happening!
excellent more a chance of getting in. I apply this year
yeah, might come!
helllz yeaaah! better than the Grammys if you ask me
2000 bucks :((
too expensive for poor enterpreneurs. is the target audience only VCs or high level employees not poor code monkeys?
too bad for me.
Last year it doubled from 20 to 40….Should we expect TC100?
I am trying to submit my company and it gives me a JavaScript error saying EchoClientEngine is not defined.
For 2000 bucks I would have expected something better
New venue looks great!
I’ll be filling in my company application form a.s.a.p. Don’t know if we have a chance to get into the top 50 though. If you go there please be kind!!!
can’t wait…awesome!
One question. Last year, it seemed some companies didn’t ‘launch’ at techcrunch40 but more or less demoed(such as powerset and others) Is that the case this time? Does my startup have to wait till september to launch the product or can we launch earlier and present it at techcrunch 50.
140m$ for TC40 companies. Can we have the details?
Thanks and congrats.
Good news!
I can’t see why we can’t launch earlier than September, otherwise a whole load of good start ups would be penalized. I think that if you still a Beta in September it should be OK - but someone should tell us!
Mike:
Last year’s event was great. This is a great service you do for the tech community. I know that many of us especially appreciated that you went out of your way to bring in co’s from all over the country and world, not just sv.
I do think that you should reconsider some of your rules this year. As you know, companies and products are being built faster than ever. Maybe a couple of years ago 5 months was a reasonable time to wait between private alpha and launch, but not anymore. Good services can be built so much faster now and they NEED usage and user feedback early and often in order to develop. Your rule that asks participating companies to hold off on any public beta just doesn’t make sense for products that rely on strong network effects. Why would a twitter or a friend feed participate? The next 5 months could be spent building and learning from a user base vs. waiting for an event. I don’t think you could have a friend feed or a twitter that works if they remained invite-only for such a long period of time (imagine only being able to friendfeed with some of your facebook and twitter and flickr friends….for 5 months. That would suck. Or, imagine if people could read your twitter updates but not register for twitter yet…not good)
Me thinks you should reconsider that rule and just make it such that participating companies have to commit to have their first formal launch at TC50 — with no prior launch at a major technology event.
Mike,
I am joining this year! Will be sending the application soon!
“We applogize for the inconvience, however, app2you currently only supports Firefox and Internet Explorer web browsers.”
That sort of error is inexcusable on the web in 2008, especially for someone who is supposedly marketing to techies. Opera? Safari? Konqueror? Are you 508 compliant?
Really - I just don’t get it. That’s easy stuff if you have a clue…
I second Jason - we had planned to Beta in July, and holding back would be a significant strain on our funding - you know the cost of keeping good people in SF. With ROR and Zend 5 slashing development times there need to be a rethink. We really want to participate but will be at a disadvantage against start-ups more VC funding.
Good to hear. TC50 is a nice round number.
To all you whiners, STFU.
Chris: if you were to get in to the TechCrunch50 i think you would easily be able to get extra funding to hold a launch for two months from your investors. look at the massive push the companies who launched last year got.
chris - no one’s holding a gun to your head. launch now, give me the exclusive to cover it on techcrunch.
Tony,
in reply to your comment #19.
app2you is launching Safari support on Tuesday,
followed up by Opera and Konqueror support days later.
The reason behind the current limitation:
app2you is much more than what you see in this
“Submit Application” page.
It allows people to create web applications
in a WYSIWYG environment, where they essentially draw
the pages. The resulting high use of Javascript and the consequent
compatibility issues have had us focus on Firefox first.
With the above being said, we fully recognize the need
for wide browser support and that’s why Safari, Opera,
Konqueror are coming up next, in this order.
regards,
—the app2you team
Michael you’ve got my exclusive attention!
errr, Heather, why are we using a partner that doesn’t support Safari or opera yet?
We will definitely look to apply to this event. I can’t wait.
To comment 27- here is our link
Isn’t this overlapping with DEMO?!?!
michael, please answer jason goldberg and others.
my site is launching next month, we cant wait 5 months.
please rethink that rule.
thanks
Can’t wait to apply… the rules seem fair. Can you clarify about “no public exposure before launch?”
If, hypothetically ;-), TechCrunch covers a startup that is still in private beta, does that count as public exposure? I’m assuming that scenario is OK?
zizi - no one wants to attend a conference to see stuff that’s already out there. If you need to launch earlier, no problem. we’ll cover it on techcrunch.
Also…we’ll have the demopit again this year, and there will be some opportunities for existing startups to show their stuff there.
shafqat - people can know the startup exists, but no reviews or screenshots of the product can be shown before the event. If we review it on TC, that means it can’t be launched at the event.
unto us this day, a startup is born
Shafqat- That’s a good point. Makes sense so I guess I don’t qualify for it people have seen our product. We were password protected for a while. Mike- do you think we have a good chance of getting our product reviewed on TC?
susan - it depends. How much does your product suck?
Why not hold this in Washington, DC next time?
MAXroam launched at TechCrunch40 last year and it was one of the best things we could have done. If you’re a startup I encourage you to apply.
And Michael and Jason… Please make sure someone takes a stroll down to the new venue and checks that there is GSM coverage. I’m sure one or two of the startups might have a mobile bias and they’ll need infrastructure that actually works.
Sean - there is…that’s how i posted from the event at last year’s facebook platform event there.
Is Mahalo buying a ticket? I assume they are since they are clearly a start-up. What are their chances of winning? I assume that Jason will recuse himself from voting for Mahalo.
God if Mahalo wins - This is the 2nd bubble.
How about a catch-up post to let us know where TC40 participants are at? It would be great to hear how the predictions panned out.
We’ve launched our product, however would love a spot in the DemoPit. That would be awesome. Applying now…
Mike, I’v seen prices for attendees, but do you charge the presenting 50 startups, or do they get in free?
Thx
You should have a contest for students thats prize is an entry ticket
Zoli - We provide each of the final 50 companies with two free passes to the conference.
Well, TC pretty much “stole the show” this year. While DemoFall cost an arm and a leg to present at, you can get in free - and get just as much VC and media attention. Hm.. which one is more startup-friendly?
Those of you who can’t wait till September can always try for Launch:Silicon Valley 2008 by SVASE. This event will be in mid-June. But remember: once you present, you’re no longer “new and unseen” for TC50.
#46 @Metal, see #44
Your link to EventBrite goes to “evenbrite”
TechCrunch50 is THE conference to launch your company at and would definitely be a dream come true if made possible but will someone clarify for me– let’s say my company is invited to present at Under The Radar– http://www.undertheradarblog.com — we should say no and wait till August to find out if we made a good decision or a bad one? Or can I keep my company underwraps in private beta where users have to be invited talk about it at small conferences like Under The Radar and hopefully publicly launch it at TC50?
Michael,
Save all of us some grief and call it TechCrunch100 now than in June
That said, we are all envious of how you have grown this blog to such a cash cow….
Toby: thanks, fixed.