WITN: European Boosterism, And Rules Of Thumb For Pitching Silly Claims To TechCrunch [TCTV]

German VC firm, Earlybird caught some flack last month with their nonsense presentation claiming that European VC was outperforming the US.

Sarah Lacy and Mike Butcher comprehensively dismantled the claims here and then Bessemer Venture Partners’ David Cowan followed up, highlighting the amusing fact that the report was actually based on the work of Earlybird’s summer intern.

Still, the report got a surprising amount of attention on both sides of the Atlantic; perhaps a symptom of Europe’s continuing obsession with beating the Valley, and the Valley’s continued puzzlement as to why Euro entrepreneurs don’t just get on with building killer companies.

In this week’s episode of Why Is This News, Sarah and Paul discuss all of the above, with Paul once again expressing frustration with his fellow Europeans while Sarah gives some advice on how not to look foolish when sending news to TechCrunch. (Sarah’s unborn child remained silent on the issue for now.)

Video below.