Semen-Like Startup Snack Now Selling for $115 a Pouch

Sam Biddle · 05/12/14 03:59PM

If you want to buy three servings of a nutritional powder than can be combined with water to create a synthetic "meal" with the exact appearance and consistency of semen, you're going to pay a lot for the privilege. Soylent is really in demand.

Nitasha Tiku · 05/12/14 01:52PM

Om Malik says the "gold rush mentality" of the dotcom days has turned into "gross entitlement." Then there's this: "Yes, I have overheard a conversation that combined wisdom from Jesus and Ben Horowitz."

The Lost Children of TechCrunch Disrupt

Sam Biddle · 05/10/14 05:09PM

The biannual TechCrunch Disrupt conference series is only about money. There are interviews, the exchange of opinions, software presentations, questions, answers, and lots of visuals. But the entire production is a pyramid of money, at the bottom of which are the residents of Disrupt's "Startup Alley," a completely perfect metaphor.

Nitasha Tiku · 05/09/14 04:44PM

Y Combinator, which has been going through an identity crisis, just welcomed Quora (a $900 million, 7-year-old company) into its summer batch of early-stage startups. The accelerator will also invest in Quora's latest round, which happened one minute ago and was supposed to keep the Q&A site independent "forever and ever."

Goodbye to Katie Cotton, the Queen of Evil Tech PR

Sam Biddle · 05/08/14 02:28PM

After 18 years of spin, Katie Cotton, Apple's magnetically ruthless vice president of worldwide corporate communications, has left her job, and tributes from the tech press are pouring in. What no one will admit is that we were all afraid of her.

Airbnb Lobbyist Is Charging $800 for Tickets to a "Sharing" Conference

Nitasha Tiku · 05/08/14 12:30PM

It's time to draw a line in the (shared) sand. Technocrats can have "disrupt" and "pivot." Bury those words in a PowerPoint pitch deck; they are lost to us now. But startups must not be allowed to co-opt "share." Just look at the twisted things they want to do with it.

Nitasha Tiku · 05/07/14 05:05PM

The founder of NastyGal, the online retailer, has a new book out called #Girlboss. One reason to forgive the hashtag? This story about an investor who left her a voicemail while he was "messed up on Percocet and Jack Daniels." His words.