Alexia Tsotsis

"“The cost of doing business has declined dramatically, and traditional media companies have also woken up to the opportunities of the Web."

Tue, 01 May 2012 04:40:17 -0400

2007 Roelof via parislemon …

Thank You Michael Arrington

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:01:00 -0400

Everybody always says this, but TechCrunch and CrunchFund founder Michael Arrington, if you get to know him beyond the faux brusque exterior, is actually an exceptionally kind person.

MG managed to capture what is so unique about Arrington last night in this post about covering Instagram’s rise.

“I was always happy about the way we treated entrepreneurs with their delicate plans. Big companies are different — they can take hits. Outing young companies before they’re ready: not cool. When in doubt, defer to the entrepreneur. Michael taught us well. “

Whether he tries to be or not, Mike is one of the world’s best mentors/teachers …

Early on at TC I remember sitting in a Sequoia conference room, on a break from watching Disrupt pitches, when suddenly Mike looked at me (who was fresh off the alt-weekly boat at the time) and said, out of nowhere, “Write a post. Get a post up on TechCrunch in two minutes.”

He might have been joking (I am actually really bad at telling with him) but I followed his instructions, quickly searched my email, and came up with this. I think then I knew I could probably survive anything TC threw at me.

Beyond that, it was Mike’s special brand of of creativity and humor that made almost every day at TechCrunch, even the bad ones, a worthwhile experience — even now that he is “gone,” there are so many things about TechCrunch that are still resolutely “Mike.” And should stay that way.

After a little under two years at TechCrunch I feel like I have gone through the world’s most rigorous (and fun) MBA program, and come out a better person for it. So thank you Mike, for giving me a chance.

Image via.

Chanel No. 5 Eau Premiere Vs. YC Demo Day

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 04:21:00 -0400

12:06: Alexandra Tsotsis So I bought Chanel No.5 today

12:07 Friend are you smelly?

12:07 Alexandra Tsotsis it’s a younger toned down version

12:07 my aunt used to work there

12:07 at Chanel

12:07 Friend younger + chanel = oxymoron

12:07 Alexandra Tsotsis and smelled of it

12:07 I know!

12:07 Friend reminds me of rodeo drive

12:07 Alexandra Tsotsis my dead aunt

12:07 Friend turn off

12:07 big black glasses?

12:08 Friend Yes, and tons of jeweled pins

12:08 Friend i don’t like non-human odors

12:08 Alexandra Tsotsis like she actually worked for Coco in Paris

12:08Friend dope

12:08 Alexandra Tsotsis as a seamstress

12:08 Friend that’s cool

12:08 Alexandra Tsotsis which is why I love fashion

12:08 LOVE

12:08 Friend i am fairly obsessed in my own silly amateur way

12:08 Alexandra Tsotsis Grew up around it, because I was raised by my awful grandma

12:09 Friend i think it’s design that appeals to me tho

12:09 and i think good design is influenced by culture

12:09 and fashion is at the epicenter of culture and design

12:09 same with music

12:09 it’s a very alive space for creative expression

12:10 because it changes so quickly

12:10 the web doesn’t really have a concept of seasons

12:10 in fact demo day might be the closest we have to fashion week

12:10 or the silly conferences

12:13 its important to have milestones and events

12:14 and its important for seasons to turn over

12:14 as students we have natural containers

12:14 but as we age they dissappear and its easy to drift, without a schedule most people do lower quality work

JANUARY 20 1992

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:51:00 -0400

JANUARY 20 1992:

Some nerd actually found the exact date of Ice Cube’s “Good Day” /via murkavenue

Perfect.

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:58:29 -0400

Perfect.

Everything, Everywhere, All The Time

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:34:05 -0500

Everything, Everywhere, All The Time

I see “Eames Lounge,” I think...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:23:42 -0500

I see “Eames Lounge,” I think “douchebag.”

/Via fuckyournoguchicoffeetable

What's Great About Jason Kincaid

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:42:00 -0500

My colleague Jason Kincaid left TechCrunch about a week and a half ago, because of a lot of reasons. His departure sucked, namely because our newer writers will probably never have the opportunity to work side by side with him.

Both at work and in life, I take a lot of risks, and sometimes the consequences of those risks are super-painful. Over time I’ve learned various strategies to mitigate those risks: I distinctly remember Kincaid telling me to “be careful” one night before I posted an article to TechCrunch that eventually ended up getting pulled.

I wasn’t at all careful. And like I said above the post got pulled.

Since then, I’ve asked myself WWJD? (“What would Jason do?”) with nearly everything I’d write. Obviously I don’t always adhere to the answer, but when I don’t and end up hurting for weeks/months over a ill-thought out post, I remember his original dictum, “Be careful.”

Kincaid taught me the importance of constant vigilance, and how nothing matters more than getting a story right for a writer. I’d say I miss him, but he’s so cool he’s still around on Skype, still helping me navigate the difficult process of figuring out what’s true.

TechCrunch Hires Alexia Tsotsis; Thank Us Later

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:09:00 -0500

TechCrunch reader Elliot Darvick has mocked up what my TC hiring announcement post might have looked like, since I never got one (TechCrunch was a little different back then).

“Hope you like your tech news with a lot of bass and a parent advisory sticker.”

July 26, 2010, a.k.a the birth of #WTFJournalism.

Like everyone else for everything else, I blame Michael Arrington.

The Oatmeal, Deconstructed

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:42:00 -0500

Via unfunnythings:

What I've Learned About Smart People.

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:18:30 -0500

What I've Learned About Smart People.:

“Smart people are different. If they don’t understand something, they’ll ask questions …”

Failing Is Actually Pre-Winning

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:26:00 -0500

The best part about this amazing Failcon talk by Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is that he eventually had to take VC money from a firm called Chaos Ventures for his previous — and very troubled — startup, Scour. The firm was started by a Korean family named Chao, who just added an ‘s’ to the end of their name.

You know what I think of when I think of printers? A big...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:46:13 -0500

You know what I think of when I think of printers? A big strawberry.

With more people covering startups, more startups will get covered. Everybody wins.

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 19:25:00 -0500

With more people covering startups, more startups will get covered. Everybody wins.:

Congrats Sarah on the launch! Looking forward to seeing you guys out there.

Trollem Ipsum

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:18:29 -0500

Trollem Ipsum:

parislemon:

Hard to argue with this:

Dumbest thing that Google has ever done at the end RIM jokeshop, hardly douchebag, all in all Android is a total fucking mess, moreover fuckwittery on fuck.

People are stupid naturally fuck but also douchebag fuckwittery, in the main dickhead, consequently jackassery.

Fuck, what is more fuck, for this reason iPhone copy, why TouchWiz nonsense after fuck nevertheless dickhead for instance fingergate prior to TechCrunch.

Yadda, yadda, on the one hand fragmentation, finally TechCrunch.

My 12 Tech Resolutions For 2012

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:56:00 -0500

My 12 Tech Resolutions For 2012

Greek New Year's Cake

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:00:00 -0500

Every year Greek families bake a Vasilopita, or for lack of better English words, a Greek New Year’s cake. On New Year’s Day, families gather round to cut the crumbly almond cake into large pieces representing each member of the family, and the Holy Trinity.

You see, there is a coin baked into the cake (!), and the family member who “gets” the coin is said to have good luck for the rest of the year.

Today, my Mom called me internationally from Athens just to tell me that … our family’s coin was in my portion of the cake.

Image and recipe via: Honest Cooking

Changed My Google+ Profile Pic

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:41:00 -0500

In homage to MG Siegler.

"Nikki Rasmussen was arrested for lighting her friend's house on fire because her friend defriended her on Facebook."

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:24:16 -0500

"Nikki Rasmussen was arrested for lighting her friend's house on fire because her friend defriended her on Facebook."

“If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?”

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:34:50 -0500

“If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?”