Let’s be honest, nobody’s ever heard of Techcrunch...

Sure, you and I in the start-up world have. We tweeters, checker-ins, likers. But in the real world, most people have no idea who or what Techcrunch is and they’re just fine with it. With some sophisticated sampling (i.e. I asked everyone at a recent NJ wedding and everyone at the HBS One-Year reunion) the # of people who could correctly identify Techcrunch was less than 1%. For the most part I wouldn’t even consider these people luddites – just people who consume information differently from you and I. Which is to say…most people.

This doesn’t mean Techcrunch is totally irrelevant. It’s highly relevant to self-proclaimed tech tastemakers, other journalists, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs but none of those people are really going to matter to your start-up over the long-term. There’s been much written about the “Techcrunch bump” and how to “handle it” and “manage it.” It’s all shit frankly. If you don’t have it together enough to make sure your site doesn’t crash or that you can manage follow-on demand then you probably shouldn’t be in TC anyway. I digress.

Stay off the crack

Recently thredUP was set to be profiled in Techcrunch and for a moment it got us in a nice tizzy. We’d be big time! There would be 300 tweets about us, 250 FB shares. Those little Ts and Fs (like Woopra) are like crack for young entrepreneurs. Not only is it a high, but it’s a bit of an ego stroking.

The thing is: nobody cares. The people who are going to buy what you’re selling (beyond the super-early adopters) are not reading Techcrunch so stop optimizing for Techcrunch and start optimizing for places where the people who will buy your product will see it. Side note: We didn’t end up in TC but in the WSJ – it’s a long story but not an interesting one.

We learned the “don’t get drunk on your own PR” the hard way at thredUP with our launch of our Mens and Womens line back in late September 2009. UrbanDaddy, NY Times, Glamour, the Today Show, Daily Candy, CocoPerez, E Network. You’d thought we were geniuses. We weren’t and we aren’t, but we had a good story. And that’s not enough.

Good stories aren’t always good businesses

Three guys from HBS who start a used-clothing start-up using Netflix as the model with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings as a close advisor. That’s a good story! The thing is that in terms of being a great business – we didn’t have it figured out yet. If a start-up is the search for a sustainable business model. A start-up launch is game 1 of an interminably long 162 game season and you got Andy Pettite on the mound. I digress.

Only “dumb money” invests in a start-up because of PR

I think a lot of start-ups care so much about PR because there is a widespread misconception that notoriety and awareness will “get you funded.” We certainly were ensorcelled by this. While PR raises your profile a bit, if you have a good business with a differentiated approach in a big space you’ll get noticed. The VCs who are quick to call after the NY Times story are also probably the ones you don’t want – easy come, easy go.  And if you can get in the NY Times, you’re probably savvy enough to end up in front of some top-notch VCs.

Until you no longer consider yourself “a start-up”, don’t buy PR services. Ever.

I have now fired 1 PR firm and 1 PR person (sometimes you need to get smacked in the face twice to learn the point). Both of them over-promised and under-delivered in the same way that Techcrunch feels like a promise of something great and yet fails to deliver. They get you stories in places your customers aren’t – and because “the coverage” makes you feel good, you overlook the fact that it’s not paying off.

Money Saving Moms vs. the Wall Street Journal

What the hell is Money Saving Moms? It’s where thredUP customers live. It’s a blog/email digest of ways for savvy moms to save some money on quality products. It drove 10X as many customers to thredUP as the WSJ.

So I guess my point is this: stop worrying about Techcrunch, stay off the drugs, don’t hire a PR firm and go find your own personal Money Saving Moms. You’ll be glad you did. And when your entrepreneur buddy across town wants to know why TC hasn’t covered you, remind him “none of my customers read Techcrunch.”