Calacanis to Challenge TechCrunch | Hacker News Reader

Calacanis to Challenge TechCrunch

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51 pointsbjonathan36 comments

One of the things that popped out at me in this announcement is that he's going to be launching this on email, rather than a blog. I know email seems like it's so antiquated and passé, but after listening to Mixergy's interviews with IdealBite and VitalJuice, I'm not so sure. The CPMs for email newsletters seem to be 20-100x what you can get for a blog in the same space, because the customers are so much more engaged. This might not work as well in a tech market, where the audience presumably uses RSS (or maybe not, as Jason already has a sizable list). That said, the reality seems to be that normal people do not use RSS, so you're probably better off starting an email newsletter than a blog.

Some links:

http://jasonlbaptiste.com/commentary/email-newsletters-busin...

http://jasonlbaptiste.com/startups/email-newsletters-are-sti...

http://mixergy.com/jen-boulden-ideal-bite-interview/

http://mixergy.com/amanda-freeman-vital-juice-interview/

actually I think it's a very bad idea for tech news.

email is slow, any news you cover is old news, that will get scooped by the blogs way before you run it.

A week's time for his editors, means that any news they cover will be severely out of date.

I run http://mydailygeek.com and my run time is only 1 day...and I find myself constantly having to pick different stories throughout the day to run with, since they get bludgeoned to death by the time the emails get sent out.

Now for me it's fine, since my focus isn't startups or the bleeding edge of tech, so the tech I do cover is just interesting stuff that my readers may have missed elsewhere...but for a "Techcrunch competitor", it's suicide.

Any scoop you get will get leaked to Techcrunch before you can run the story.

This is not about news. It is about analytical, in-depth content.

would you read a 5000 word story on Google Instant right now?

I wouldn't, since that topic has been beaten to death already.

Analytical content covers different topics. Not product launches, deals and executives moves. It is about opportunities, trends and introductions to the new areas. E.g. should the next wave of startups start from China market? How? What is the potential of sell-to-government market? What is a 5-year outlook on TV business?

Here is an example of content (my own writing) that is an analytical alternative to tech blogs: http://bit.ly/PublicGood

stuff like that is fine if you write a big essay once a month...but good luck making that a daily publication.

there are only so many topics you can cover, before you tun out.

I have to wonder if email is almost faster these days than conventional websites. Of course I am going to TechCrunch once I hear on Twitter that something tech-related happened... But couldn't I have already gotten an email on my smartphone instantly?

Email is old and antiquated, but it is the closest thing bloggers have to push access to all their readers. I know my droid buzzes every time I get an email; it might be time for bloggers to take advantage of this.

This might not work as well in a tech market, where the audience presumably uses RSS (or maybe not, as Jason already has a sizable list).

FWIW, I launched Ruby Weekly (a weekly Ruby e-mail newsletter) just over a month ago and it now has 2200 subscribers. It's not quite TechCrunch's audience but one that has heavily used RSS in the past. By comparison, I also own the most subscribed Ruby blog with FeedBurner reporting 25k subscribers but.. I call severe shenanigans on their numbers and the "engagement per capita" from the e-mail newsletter has been very encouraging.

You are on the money, Ryan. Email is extremely powerful and often overlooked by our community. I'm growing what it is essentially a list with http://anynewbooks.com, and loving every minute of it.

This was my epiphany: there are blogs I visited in the past that I really loved, but for some reason I haven't visited anymore (out of sight, out of mind). On the other hand, I still occasionally receive newsletters I signed up with 10 years ago, from sites I barely visited once.

I think RSS will hurt him. I've had a hard time building my email newsletter readership (http://dlewis.net/nik) because I run in tech circles, and we all use RSS. However, I've had a much easier time when I get once step removed from RSS culture.

Calacanis knows a race to the bottom when he sees it. Hell, he practically invented the race to the bottom with Mahalo.com.

Oh please.... we're going great work with millions invested in content and amazing results due to it.

type "how to play guitar" into google or youtube, and watch our videos.

... or check out our halo reach walkthrough http://www.mahalo.com/halo-reach-walkthrough

we're making a lot of good content that is helping our 17m unique users (11m on mahalo.com and 6m on YouTube!) every month. The massive traffic to these pages is creating nice revenue that we are reinvesting 100% of into great content.

So, give it a look.... i think you'll find it solid.

"Once a year my dog shits diamonds." CNR.

Jason is hitting a low point. If he wants a cut of the Aol deal, would he then give Arrington a portion of the launch conf (because just like disrupt, it's a derivative of tc50)? He's a hypocrite and drunk for any attention he can get.

Plus, isn't sequoia peeved about him starting to invest + run a separate video network + new conference + playing poker? I hear a new product is in the pipe but their innovation has slowed since he got distracted.

1. Well, Mike kicked me out of the TechCrunch50 conference. He nuked it--not me.

2. Sequoia is not peeved, they are more excited then ever with Mahalo and the amazing performance right now. We're really crushing it on all fronts including revenue, hiring, content creation and, yes, a really killer version 4.0 that will be out next year. It's not easy to build a top 200 site in under three years... in another three years we will be in the top 50!

3. I spend an hour or two a week on ThisWeekIN.com hosting my show, This Week in Startups. That show has resulted in about five of the last seven developers we hired. It is the ULTIMATE recruiting machine for Mahalo.

4. You might notice I wear a Mahalo logo playing poker on TV along with Full Tilt (which I need to wear since I'm a Full Tilt Red Pro... I'm sponsored, yes). I play maybe five hours a week.

5. 90% of my 100 "work" week is Mahalo. Literally.... I love what I do and I'm 1,000% dedicated to Mahalo.

I'm not distracted... far from it. I'm super focused.

Thanks for the response. I see that you wrote this at around 4:25pm. If you are focused, why are you chatting on HN? Especially when you've publicly commented that you dislike the HN community.

I'm in the UK. It's midnight. I'm still working.

O - okay that's pretty rad.

Email newsletter? Is there some legal non-compete that Calcanis is under after selling Weblogs, Inc to AOL that prevents him from running a blog as a business?

I don't know if you've missed all the stories around here, but e-mail newsletters are resurging in popularity. My own experiments have proven there's certainly a strong audience for them, even in the progressive tech scene.

At first glance, this isn't revolutionary or even newsworthy. E-mail newsletters have been around forever - even those that are authored by a series of writers. I find this interesting because I've heard Jason say things such as "I like to find a new market and blaze my own trail". This certainly isn't trailblazing.

It sounds like he's thinking that he can build off of the success of his personal newsletter. However, the difference will be in the audience. People subscribe and connect with his personal newsletter because they want to hear what he has to say. Also, there is something sort of neat about getting an e-mail from an author in your inbox rather then passivley clicking on a bookmakred blog.

However, this doesn't sound like it will be the individual thoughts of someone like Jason. It will be a series of articles by a number of people - likely low paid people. Some of those people may be interesting and insightful, but unless they have an existing audience coming into the newsletter, the effort won't get large enough for very many advertisers to care.

This newsletter effort will work well in combination with the This Week In network. Hosts will be able to say things such as, "subscribe to our newsletter" or "get the inside scoop via e-mail".

Beyond a complimentary add-on that builds on a tiny bit of personal success, I don't see this effort being a fraction of what TechCrunch is. I think Jason is using this sensational comparison (and the whole Calacanis vs. Arrington thing) as the same word-of-mouth marketing he's well known for.

"Jason's list" (his current email list) has been, on average, excellent. It consists of long writings trying to convey what he thinks in a reasoned (if occasionally emotional) way. It is plished occasionally instead of around the clock, and so avoids most knee-jerk topics. He often responds to well-thought-out user replys.

This sounds like him hiring some more people to have more articles and points of view. If it manages to continue to be thorough and nuanced, it'll be a great resource.

"email newsletter?"

I love steam powered technology.

sarcasm aside, this is a good idea on the whole. just not over email. my inbox is fifth date material. I'm gonna have to create a separate email address that forwards to my rss reader, or something..

It's funny, but email just wants to be a part of my life. Due to the push notification on my phone, it's almost a feed to me.

I mentioned this in the comments on AVC some time ago: I'd like to see an email service where I can modify the submittal (ex: for NAME@email, I could submit NAME-X-@email.com) where the X automatically created a sub-inbox X when replies to it came in.

Gmail has this feature with + tagging.

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/08/gmail-plus-smart-trick-to...

It would be a neat value add for InstaPaper to add this to subscriber accounts.

It seems like that's all I'm reading today, but this is yet another article that I started reading with one idea, and finished having completely rethought it.

My instinct was to make a snide remark, or to say something like "Good luck", not believing there are serious inroads to be made there (at least, not by Calacanis) -- but he speaks of a 'race to the bottom', and in writing deeper, more detailed posts than those made in an effort to be the first to break the news.

I've always felt that was an error on the part of TechCrunch, in that they are so eager to release that sometimes facts just get in the way of a story breaking. Or at least, aren't checked to the degree they ought.

I personally, welcome something like this in the market.

My initial hesitation would be that I wouldn't expect to hit this site every day, but it appears Calacanis has already thought about that as well, intending (at least to start) an email distribution, which I think fits the model nicely.

Perhaps I'll learn to start keeping my prejudices in check.

Subscribe to his email list - you'll be pleasantly surprised. 1-2 per month right now and every one is deep and thoughtful.

Thanks pal. The plan is to convert my www.jasonnation.com newsletter to the LAUNCH newsletter at some point (or fork it, have to discuss with my list members).

Basically, I'm trying to do long form, in-depth profiles of startup companies. Instead of begging TechCrunch to get a profile, only to be mocked in their edtiorial, we will actually get to the know the business model, founders and dig deep into their vision.

It won't be a fluff piece, but it won't be a snarky/venomous TechCrunch/Gawker article.

all the best, jason

(in London for the first Open Angel Forum here!!)

The problem with this is the invisible barrier to entry. Calacanis has a good point - but what does it take for TechCrunch to rebut? Simply ask three or four editors to spend more time putting out Atlantic/New Yorker-esque articles. Instantly.

That is ridiculously easy to do.

How long will it take for...

"tech blogging is a race to the bottom" and we're "going for something that doesn’t exist in the market"

...to turn into...

"tech blogging is a race to the bottom, and we intend to win that race"

The problem is that pot-stirring, half-wrong stories, and superficial snap judgments bring the eyeballs, inlinks, discussions, and ad revenue.

A new online journalism needs specific ideas to break or reverse that entropic cycle -- at least locally (even if it persists globally) -- rather than just high-minded goals.

Depends if you're going for quantity over quality of eyeballs. If Calcanis' newsletter provides engaging content that tech professionals with purchasing power consider a must-read then it's going to achieve much higher CPMs than tabloid-style blogging, which can make up for serving fewer impressions and being unknown to Google and the consumer audience.

The advantage of running it as an opt-in email list is that you find out much more about who your readers are.

The problem is that pot-stirring, half-wrong stories, and superficial snap judgments bring the eyeballs, inlinks, discussions, and ad revenue.

Ars Technica has managed to hold the quality fort quite well, so it's not necessarily a doomed enterprise.

I like the e-mail newsletter idea, but on the type of content that's planned, it just sounds like the sort of work ReadWriteWeb and GigaOm are already doing.

One of the best tech blogs was http://www.startup-review.com. Unfortunately it shut down. I prefer thought-through reviews as opposed to quick post about another investment raised as if that was a milestone.

He's going back to Silicon Alley roots. Plus the ThisWeekIn startup, he's got a pretty good read on the community than TechCrunch.

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