Josh Constine
Meme Whisperer & Editor-At-Large at TechCrunch
Discussion
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
Ohai, I'm Josh Constine, the Editor-At-Large at TechCrunch. Ask me ANYTHING, from what's its like professionally blogging about startups and social apps for 5 years, the Cybersociology Masters program I designed at Stanford, my predictions on tech trends, or why my hair is called the #Omnibang. Supremely curious to see where this goes!
Update: This has been incredibly fun and thanks for all the questions. I'll try to answer a few more in the next hour, but I sincerely appreciate this community!
upvotesharetweet・
Varun Shenoy
@varunshenoy · Self-taught Developer and Designer
Hey Josh! What is the best way a young entrepreneur can get featured on TechCrunch and get press for their startup?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@varunshenoy Here's the best way to pitch journalists. In either spoken or email form, first explain the problem in the world you're going to solve, then the way your product solves it, and then some evidence that you'll succeed (traction, the right team, great investors). For example "Getting taxis is tough, they don't show up fast enough, there's no paper trail about the driver for safety, and paying cash is annoying. Uber lets you press a button, get a car with a record of your driver, and pay instantly when you finish. It's led by an entrepreneur with a previous exit, initial traction was great, and top investors are lining up." Get a personal recommendation from someone successful if possible. But most importantly, build something important!
Dan Flanegan
@dflanegan · Co-Founder, Butter
@joshconstine @varunshenoy I'm going to print this on a card and hand it to every startup that asks me for advice on this topic
Andrew Galaska
@andrew_galaska · Co-Founder of Anchor
Hey Josh! There are tons of great social apps that fall by the wayside because they can't get a critical mass of users hooked on their product. What are a few key features you've seen that really separate the wheat from the chaff and give an app that x-factor?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@andrew_galaska Social apps can't do something a little better than what already exists. They must provide some fundamentally new value that dictates a whole new behavior pattern. Facebook brought authenticated identity, Twitter condensed big thoughts to digestible nuggets, Instagram made every cameraphone user feel like they could share something beautiful, and Snapchat used ephemerality to mimic the transient nature of our lives + let you pull your favorite stories from friends rather than them pushing into your feed so they never worried about posting too much.
Andrew Galaska
@andrew_galaska · Co-Founder of Anchor
@joshconstine That makes sense about offering something new. Browsing the App Store, there seems to be a new Snapchat-esque sticker app born every minute. How would a new app succeed in breaking through the resistance to changing a behavior? I just started (reluctantly at first) using Snapchat this year and can't quite put my finger on why it hooked me, seeing as I wasn't really concerned about the lifetime of the message.
CarHughes
@carhughes
@joshconstine I find your feedback really insightful when you say that a new social app must provide some 'fundamentally new value' that dictates a whole new behavior pattern." What do you consider as fundamental? I think entrepreneurs’ view of what is ‘fundamental’ will range wildly here, so your two cents will be much appreciated here. :-) Your expectation that the new app must 'dictate a whole new behavior pattern" is also invaluable. What evidence do you want to see to decide whether the startup is onto something, is promising, etc?
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
What are 3 pre-revenue startups that you'd personally invest in?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@tomstocklein Pocket and Down To Lunch are two I believe in. Pocket's read it later service lets you browse the Internet and discover content even if you can't consume it now, and will become a powerful recommendation engine. It's only just starting to show ads and they're working very well. Down To Lunch solve a fundamental problem in that we spend so much time online together but never know which friends are free to congregate in person. It will deliver more happiness to people, and the intent expressed by people about what they want to do once they meet up could power extremely high-converting ads for local businesses.
Capri Galaska
@caprihiggins · Co-Founder @anchorxyz
Hey there! There are a bajillion apps, which lucky 24 apps get the prime real estate of your home screen (assuming you have an iPhone) or what are your top favs? (also, I'm taking the bait... what is an omnibang?)
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@caprihiggins I roll with my favorite apps splayed out from the bottom left corner, with Facebook Messenger, Fb, Twitter, Snapchat, Google Calendar, Vine, Imgur, a bookmark for Techmeme.com, Sporify, Imgur, Slack, Convo, Pocket, Asana, Uber/Lyft folder, and a few others
Capri Galaska
@caprihiggins · Co-Founder @anchorxyz
@joshconstine I had never heard of Asana, looks awesome! Definitely beats sending texts back and forth to my co-founder and guesstimating three weeks later everything we accomplished. Thanks for sharing!
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Hey, Josh! HBD! 🎉
I know you love music and see a tooon of concerts. Who's been your favorite?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@rrhoover Robert DeLong is my favorite performing musician. He's like Skrillex meets The Postal Service in a one-man-band where he plays video game controllers, live drums, synths, and sings. Here's my playlist of my favorite tracks of his https://open.spotify.com/user/jo... and here's one of his most entertaining videos
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
@joshconstine I missed him at the TechCrunch SXSW party. Looks epic.
Todd Tate
@todd_tate · early stage product development
@joshconstine tried to book him for a SXSW party for Live365/Avenue Live in 2012! Saw him 2012? at Empire Garage, love the joystick Dub drops.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
If you could swap lives with a Tech CEO for a week, who would it be and why?
p.s. happy birfday
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@bentossell I'd swap lives with Mark Zuckerberg, because he is in a place to do an extraordinary amount of good in the world using the platform and fortune he's earned. I'd use the time to try to inspire world leaders and 1.65 billion users about the power of love, compassion, and education. Luckily, he seems to already be doing this himself, judging by the inspiring opening to his F8 keynote
Gabe
@gabrielpetrolio
Hi, Josh! 👋 I've got two if you would: What motivates you to write about a new startup or product/service? And what's your advice for teams looking for press coverage when launching a product? Thanks!
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
I like to think of myself as Tron - "I FIGHT FOR THE USER". What motivates me is a desire to help the world embrace the potential of technology without unwarranted fear of things that won't hurt them, while protecting users from companies trying to exploit them. @gabrielpetrolio Check @varun's question for how to pitch.
Thomas Stöcklein
@tomstocklein · FoundersFundersFuture.com
Is there a product/service that you're really excited about that most folks may not be aware of yet?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@tomstocklein I think sponsored creation tools are the next big thing, like Snapchat sponsored lenses. People have become so numb to traditional advertising, but by layering a brand into user generated content -- literally attaching the ad to your friends' faces -- people will not only put up with brands, but be thankful for their help making something cool to share.
Andrew Ettinger
@andrewett · Product Marketing, Twitter (ex-PH)
How do you feel about the future of Twitter?
M
Josh Constine
@joshconstine · Writer, TechCrunch
@andrewett Twitter is an amazing product for some people, but years of poor onboarding combined with no inherent audience of friends made it confusing and feel like yelling into a black hole. I think that will make it extremely hard for it to grow, no matter what it changes. It will remain popular with some and grow a little, and get better at monetizing existing users, and it will have an important impact on how information moves around the world in real-time, but I don't think it's destined to be a billion user juggernaut. I lay this all out in my video rant about Twitter's future here http://techcrunch.com/2016/02/10...