The Best of TechCrunch
20+ most popular TechCrunch articles, as voted by our community.
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Product-led growth and profitability: What's going on?
There are some reasons why PLG companies would be less profitable now that could turn into reasons why they might be more profitable in the near future.
A new tool 'Movetodon' makes it easier to find your Twitter friends on Mastodon
Open-source Twitter alternative Mastodon has seen sizable growth following Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition, topping a new milestone of 1 million monthly active users in just over a week after the deal…
Women-founded startups raised 1.9% of all VC funds in 2022, a drop from 2021
Last year, U.S. startups with all-women teams received 1.9% (or around $4.5 billion) out of around the $238.3 billion in venture capital allocated, according to the latest PitchBook data.
Twitter shuts down Revue, its newsletter platform
Revue, the newsletter platform acquired by Twitter in January 2021, is shutting down. The platform helped writers monetize their Twitter following by integrating their newsletters directly into the…
Airtable, last valued at $11 billion for its no-code software, lays off over 250
Airtable has laid off 254 employees, in its first known round of layoffs in its decade-long history.
TechCrunch on Artificial Intelligence
Digital transformation depends on diversity
We have an opportunity to apply AI and machine learning to propel the future and do good. That begins with diverse teams that reflect the full diversity and rich perspectives of our world.
«One of the myths about digital transformation is that it’s all about harnessing technology. It’s not. To succeed, digital transformation inherently requires and relies on diversity.»
Duplex shows Google failing at ethical and creative AI design
Google CEO Sundar Pichai milked the woos from a clappy, home-turf developer crowd at its I/O conference in Mountain View this week with a demo of an in-the-works voice assistant feature that will…
TechCrunch on Crypto
100 cryptocurrencies described in four words or less
This list describes cryptocurrencies. Each gets four words. There are many. Some are landmarks. Some are scams. Hopefully this provides orientation.
People have spent over $1M buying virtual cats on the Ethereum blockchain
Launched a few days ago, CryptoKitties is essentially like an digital version of Pokemon cards but based on the Ethereum blockchain. And like most viral..
TechCrunch on Ecommerce
Amazon launches Spark, a shoppable feed of stories and photos aimed at Prime members
Amazon today is launching Amazon Spark, a new feature aimed at improving product discovery, which is seemingly inspired by Instagram and its use of shoppable..
Amazon’s share of the US e-commerce market is now 49%, or 5% of all retail spend
Amazon has already been in the crosshairs of the White House when it comes to threats of antitrust investigations, and while some say this is simply Trumpian bluster that has a slim chance of going anywhere, some new numbers out from the researchers at eMarketer could prove to be a fan to the flame…
TechCrunch on Edtech
Edtech is the next fintech
As the world tries to make sense of economic tremors from the Brexit fallout, upcoming U.S. elections and volatile European financial markets, it’s easy to see why investors are becoming less…
EdTech is having a renaissance, powered by the emerging world
So-called ‘EdTech’ has seen many false dawns over the years. After being lauded as the teaching platforms of the future, most MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course platforms) have not quite lived up to the superlatives made for them, and the sector has had trouble coming up with more innova…
TechCrunch on Game Development
Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, raises $1.25 billion
It pays to have the most popular game in the world. Epic Games, the creators of the runaway gaming smash hit Fortnite, have raised $1.25 billion in a new round of financing. via GIPHY It’s been 20…
How Unity built the world’s most popular game engine
What do BMW, Tencent, Pokémon Go creator Niantic, movie director Jon Favreau and construction giant Skanska have in common? They’re all using the same platform to create their products. Founded in a…
TechCrunch on Insurtech
Revolut launches geolocation-powered travel insurance
Fintech startup Revolut is launching international medical and dental insurance. You can subscribe using the company’s app for £1 per day or more depending..
Investors prove that insurtech isn't dead, thanks to e-bikes and pre-fab homes
Startups Boundless Rider and CoverTree raise venture money to grow their specialized insurance products.
TechCrunch on Mozilla
Mozilla announces an open gateway for the internet of things
Apple, Google, Amazon and Samsung have all been working hard to create their own standard to control all the connected devices around your home. Mozilla just..
Mozilla launches its free, encrypted file sharing service, Firefox Send
Firefox Send, Mozilla’s free, encrypted file transfer service, is officially launching to the public today following its debut as a “Test Pilot” experiment back in August 2017. The service allows web…
TechCrunch on Tiktok
Zuckerberg misunderstands the huge threat of TikTok
“It’s almost like the Explore Tab that we have on Instagram” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in leaked audio of him describing TikTok during an all-hands meeting. But it’s not. TikTok represents a…
“Content network effect” makes TikTok tough to copy
Many TikTok videos don’t start from scratch, so neither can its competitors. TikTok is all about remixes where users shoot a new video to recontextualize audio pulled from someone else’s clip, or riff…
TechCrunch on Venture Capital
Contentful raises $175M at a $3B valuation from Tiger for its content delivery service
TechCrunch caught up with Contentful's CEO, Steve Sloan (previously of Twilio and Bessemer), and its comms connect, Brian Spittler (previously of Podium), to dig more into its products.
Ex-Bain investor launches $30M web3 consumer VC fund as solo female founder
Mags Kala is the solo GP behind Double Down, a new $30 million consumer web3 venture fund backed by LPs from a16z, Paradigm, Seven Seven Six
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Why Amazon is eating the world
I co-founded a software startup in December. Each month, I send out an update to our investors to keep them updated on our progress. But the past month was a..
Lessons From A Study of Perfect Pitch Decks: VCs Spend An Average of 3 Minutes, 44 Seconds…
DocSend, a startup that provides people with a secure and private way of sharing files like offer letters or legal agreements, studied more than 200 pitchdecks to figure out the right way to…
Web scraping is legal, US appeals court reaffirms
The landmark case was bounced back to the Ninth Circuit by the U.S. Supreme Court.
How Google Analytics ruined marketing
Marketers in the high-tech world who use phrases such as “social media marketing,” “Facebook marketing” and “content marketing” do not understand the basic…
Blockchains are the new Linux, not the new Internet
Cryptocurrencies are booming beyond belief. Bitcoin is up sevenfold, to $2,500, in the last year. Three weeks ago the redoubtable Vinay Gupta, who led..
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TechCrunch on Social Media
MrBeast explains YouTube’s algorithm at VidCon
At the first VidCon since 2019, YouTube’s top earner in the U.S., MrBeast, got on stage to talk to YouTube’s director of discovery Todd Beaupré about one of the biggest questions on creators’ minds:…
Medium embraces Twitter alternative Mastodon with launch of its own community
Online publishing platform Medium, originally created by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams, announced today it’s embracing the open-source Mastodon platform by creating its own instance to support its…