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I had an opportunity to attend TechCrunch50 this year (like TC40 last year but 10 louder). This new conference, in its second year now, gives startup companies a chance to pitch their business, get evaluated by an expert panel and potentially win $50,000.
Mint.com, last year's winner, is a successful personal finance money management site that a number of bloggers now use. This year's winner is a twitter-like service for businesses called Yammer.
What will bloghers be using from the TC50 lineup? I spotted a few possibilities.
First is iThryv which is money management and financial literacy software for kids and schools. Charlene Li hopes they succeed if for no other reason than their plans to give the software to schools for free.
One that parents might be avoiding though is (the cute and extremely charming - women, men and dogs were all breathlessly following him around) Ashton Kucher's offering, Blah Girls. Charlene Li has already decided that this mashup of South Park and Perez Hilton with animated, rude, gossip hungry tween girls is going on her home's ban list. It's too bad that this show is so parent-unfriendly because the product placement/integrated advertising business model is, I believe, the future of digital entertainment.
Miss Olive says that Closet Couture is "going to make social shopping a reality online."
Miss Olive also believes Causecast.org will change the world. Heather Snodgrass thinks it looks good, too.
Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth watched the live stream from home rather than brave the crowds (though, other than the non-functioning internet day one, I am always surprised at how much I enjoy this event). Her pick is FitBit which is a gadget that tracks your fitness.
My only disappointment is that since I am not an actual girl reporter on the go and just play one occasionally on the internet, I couldn't hang out for the entire time. That meant I missed Joss Whedon speaking on the Hollywood Goes Silicon Valley panel. Fortunately one of my favorite real life girl reporters on the go, Jessica Guynn, has a writeup for the Los Angeles Times' Technology blog.
More reports from Jessica Guynn can be found here.
I also sat next to (and commiserated with over the internet woes) the charming Orli Yakuel of Go2Web2.0 and she has several posts from TC50 on her blog.
Did you check out TC50? Did you spot any must try services or products? Do any of the ones I mentioned looked intriguing? Let me know what you think in the comments.
