In the six weeks since we launched Extra Crunch, we’ve seen that readers and subscribers really want the latest practical tips and warnings about building a company — from the people on the cutting edge.
So we want to feature subject-matter experts, writing about what they learn from working with startup clients.
You may remember, however, that the Crunch Network for contributors came to a necessary end a couple of years ago, in favor of an invite-only process for guest columns. It “had gotten a bit overrun,” as my colleagues memorably wrote at the time, “with pieces that we strongly suspected were ghost-written by PR or really had no business being given the platform.”
Today, we are inviting people who do key work with startups to apply — if you are one of those people, and if you have ideas for articles that might be a great fit for Extra Crunch and/or TechCrunch.
Just get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com
Successful columns will include a big, actionable insight that is derived from the author’s professional experience and reinforced by data and anecdotes they can provide. A good test of an article pitch is whether the reader could implement your idea and get quantified results.
Here are some of the many insidery topics that we want to go deeper on:
- Growth marketing
- Recruiting
- Fundraising and M&A
- Legal issues
- HR, company culture and inclusion
- Testable predictions about where market sectors are heading
Here are early examples to illustrate what we are looking for:
- Everybody wants to know how to make their product big, so Julian Shapiro of premier growth marketing agency Bell Curve has begun sharing what he’s based on his client data. His first article was “Which types of startups are most often profitable?” and his second was “What’s the cost of buying users from Facebook and 13 other ad networks?
- Anyone raising early-stage funding these days is thinking about the choices and problems that can come with term sheets. We’ve had a series of lawyers sharing their perspectives, including Mital Makadia of Grellas Shah LLP on “What to watch for in a VC term sheet,” Jared Verzello of Atrium on “Pre- and Post-Money SAFEs: Choosing the right one for your startup” and José Ancer of Egan Nelson LLP on “Why convertible notes are safer than SAFEs”
Key details:
- There is no word-count limit, although we encourage you to go long if you have a lot to say — take your readers as seriously as they take you. The range is typically 1,000-2,000 words.
- Come prepared to go through an editing process with us. Our goal is to be significantly better than what you can find elsewhere on the internet.
- We are happy to discuss providing you with full syndication rights to your work.
- While our focus is the Extra Crunch audience, we’d like you to write for all of TechCrunch from time to time as well (if you become a regular columnist).
- There is usually no deadline on our end. We typically schedule articles once they’re in good shape, and we’ll publish them soon after that.
If all this sounds right for you, please get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com