I. Me. You.

Six years ago, me and my cofounder Phil were sleeping on mildewy mattresses in a cold Mountain View garage, trying to start a company on a shoestring budget. Five years ago, WriteWith, our online group writing service, made it into Y Combinator’s third class of startups. Four years ago, we failed and I stumbled into a writing job at VentureBeat. Two years ago, I became the editor and cofounder of Inside Network. Six months ago, we got acquired.

I’m starting at TechCrunch today not just as a blogger-journalist, but as someone who’s been an entrepreneur. I can relate to your failures and successes because I’ve had my own.

I’m here now to help continue the traditions that have made this site a destination for me since 2005: offering a forum for frank conversations about tech, and a platform for startups. Why? Because I believe that innovation is what’s going to help this world become a better place, I believe that Silicon Valley is (at its best) in the middle of making this happen, and I believe that meaningful coverage can help everyone get better.

Okay, enough with the “I, me, Hello World” stuff, it’s time to write about you. Get in touch: eldon (at) techcrunch (dot) com.

[Photo by Carol Kast, Phil’s mom, circa 2006. I’m the shorter guy on the left.]