Many a post has come before this one on the special adventure that is pitching TechCrunch. And while most of our writers have their own preferences (Please don’t call my cell before 7 a.m. PDT unless you’re Google, and you’re buying Twitter. And you’ve made and will bring me breakfast in bed.) there’s definitely a right and wrong way to ping tips@techcrunch if you’re a startup hungry for coverage.
The following email thankfully fit into the former category.
On Jul 29, 2010, at 11:00 PM, Mark Nielsen wrote:
TechCruch Team,
Another late night, we’re tired, hopped up on caffeine, malnourished and could probably use a shower…but man do we love this startup S#!T. We are sitting here with the launch of our productivity tool rule.fm ( http://rule.fm – screenshots attached) around the corner and we figured hey, we dig a good read on the CRUNCH, wonder if they’d be interested in what’s been brewing in a garage somewhere in So-Cal. 6 months ago we were code heavy, experience freaks that just weren’t satisfied having to use Basecamp (or any other productivity tool) to manage our client projects. We decided we’d rather not see the light of day for awhile than have to live with knowing that with just a little bit of creative (ok, maybe a lot), a pinch of logic (more like a boat-load) and a dash of sexy (we’ll leave that one to your imagination), we could revive the productivity software world with a tool that would even make Apple cry. What’s happening — people, projects, documents, and more…under one rule. What’s brewing — wikis, CRM/opportunities and Money (intense accounting with style).
We are not
* Funded
* Backed by a PR firmWe are
* Virtually completely unknown to the blogosphere
* Literally in a garage right now (see attached picture)
* Underpaid
* Overworked
* Chomping at the bit to show the world what RULE is made ofWhat we want
* To give you the first taste. The only thing out there is our splash page and we want you to have the first peak at our product before we release the tour this week just prior to going live on Aug 3rd. This is last minute, so you guys may not be able to move on this before the tour, but we wanted you to have it anyways.
* To be notified before you release anything to the publicWhat’s on tap
* Friday July 30th, our tour goes live on our website still able to request an invite
* Tuesday August 3rd, we would like to give the public access to RULE unless someone gives us a better ideaThank you for your time and dedication.
Cheers,
Mark Nielsen and Patrick Carmitchel
–
Step 1. BE INTERESTING
You know, just like with almost everything else in life, once you’ve got the “be interesting” thing down, that’s pretty much it. Hell, you don’t even have to spell the name of our blog right (Hint, it’s not “Techcruch”). Sure it helps if you do part of our job for us by providing screencaps, funding info, possible competitors, current functionality, future plans and launch dates, etc … but first and foremost don’t bore us. We’re business reporters, not robots.
Yes, sometimes there’s a fine line between “being creative” and “being a stalker” but the truth is that if you’ve done more than just copy and paste a press release, you’ve already surpassed about 70% of our inbox. So we want to hear that you’re hopped up on caffeine, malnourished and could probably use a shower… (So could we, actually). Despite the fact that our imaginations might be too vivid for your “dash of sexy,” anyone, I repeat ANYONE who thinks the words “work productivity” and “sexy” even remotely belong in the same sentence deserves some consideration.
We’re looking for stories, so have one. There is no Step 2.
Extra credit: Make sure to read this post. Also, it’s totally cool if you send us a picture of yourself in your garage, as long as you are fully clothed.
Garage photo, courtesy Mark Nielsen and Patrick Carmitchel.
You can read our RULE.fm coverage here.
Helping people, projects, documents and more coexist with total transparency online – so you can successfully manage your business assets under one rule. We’re redefining collaborative business with the only integrated SaaS business management suite and the new RULE is “Pay less…share more”. Now all your business assets can have an independent lifecycle so you can instantly share, track and mange permissions asset to asset. It’s time for all business assets (people, projects, documents, tasks, discussions and more) to...
Mark Nielsen is the co-founder and Managing Director of Fusion Monarch, a privately-held San Diego based online business development firm focused on harnessing online technologies to creating aesthetic, modular, scalable frameworks to build, manage & promote valuable online assets. Mark is an entrepreneur and technologist with a background in enterprise content management systems, infrastructure technology, small business startups, productivity tools, product development, and business development. Jumping into the technology arena as an early teen, working with startups to maintain...
Patrick is an entrepreneur, with a background in online technology, ideas, strategy, user experience, product development, productivity tools & startup management. As the Co-founder and CEO of Fusion Monarch Patrick is the fuel that drives Rule, team collaboration software. Patrick is passionate about and responsible for workflow management, product management, marketing and cultivating passionate geeks & creatives that produce ten times more than the average bloke. Patrick received his BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Online Technology from Cal...
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