Are you thinking of submitting your company to TechCrunch20 conference? Think again! | Hacker News Reader

Are you thinking of submitting your company to TechCrunch20 conference? Think again!

techcrunch20.com

17 pointsnickb6 comments

This seems a bit overblown. Do you really think that you've come up with an idea that one of the thousands of minds at Google hasn't already thought of and dismissed (or back burnered)?

This is a great opportunity. The likeliest responses by Google when evaluating applicants are (in order):

1) That's a really stupid idea. 2) That's not a terrible idea. 3) That's a pretty interesting idea. We should keep an eye on these guys. 4) That's a really interesting idea. We should talk to these guys and maybe hire/buy them. 5) That's a REALLY interesting idea, but a lousy implementation. We should clobber these guys. 6) That's a fabulous idea, and they seem to be doing it right. Let's buy 'em.

Check out the app here: http://techcrunch20.com/wp-content/Submission_Form_TC20.doc

(Word doc?!)

They ask for no information you shouldn't be happy to discuss with just about anyone IMHO. And they have a disclosure limitation section.

I think it's fair to imagine that Google or Yahoo might put more effort into an area if they see some promising startup working on it. If for no other reason than to hedge their bet. I wouldn't be especially paranoid about it, but it's worth taking into account.

"They ask for no information you shouldn't be happy to discuss with just about anyone IMHO."

The big one is funding. That's not something I'd share with anyone just for the sake of it. Why do they even want to know? It seems likely to skew their perspective.

I was thinking it was Markus Frind from PlentyOfFish, but the writing doesn't seem to match his usual style. Anyone know who that is?

I think it's a pretty big risk giving those guys lots of details anyway. Jason Calacanis is on the team and as much as I really like that guy (unlike many others) he does like to talk about the secrets he knows. We can't be sure some bad guy won't get access to one of the reviewers email accounts either.

You can't keep everything secret and still hope for investment/acquisition/partnerships.

That said, it seems like they'll have too much info for too long.

Did they change the application deadline? I could have sworn the deadline to submit the startup was end of May, now it's July 6?

arrington's response:

http://www.techcrunch20.com/blog/2007/05/18/answers-to-a-few-frequently-asked-questions/#comment-45

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