live interview with Mike Butcher Techcrunch UK
July 18, 2008 by moneypenny
Filed under Personal Finance
So by now you know I’m at Tech crunch Zurich blogging live, and sitting in front of me with a beer in his hand is Mike Butcher fresh from a tour across Europe of these startup events for new business. If you have been following the live stream earlier you’d would have seen some of the start ups interviewed on the top floor of the impressive glass tower Swisscom overlooking Zurich.
First Question from me Donna Jackson b5media
D.J. so Mike you’re a Londoner
M.B. Yes, born and bred.
D.J. What were you doing before Tech Crunch UK?
M.B. I was a writer for The Financial Times, The Guardian and The Times.
D. J. How did you meet up with founder Michael Arrington (Founder, Co-Editor) of Tech crunch?
M.B. I heard about a gathering at a pub in London went along to talk to him, at the time I was writing freelance for various publications, and he asked me if I’d like to write some stuff freelance, and so I did, and a while later he asked me if I’d like to set up Techcrunch UK,
D.J. That’s interesting, just from an inpromtu meetup in a bar?
M.B. laughs, Yes, meetups are a good way to network.
D. J. Well this one’s really full and buzzing. How was the Berlin one that you have just come from ?
M.B. Yes. very full and exciting startups there too.
D. J. I heard Peter saying you had a meetup in Istanbul too.
M. B. Yes that too was a success. The problem is now I have to stand still for a while so I can write up all these events on the blog. I have to catch up with myself. You know how it is, you’re a blogger.
D. J. Yes, getting the info onto the blogs needs daily write time that’s why I’m doing this here right now My wireless connection has to work, or the blogging can swallow you.
M. B. Nods smiling takes a sip of his beer.
D. J. So Mike during your talk I heard you mention visiting the founder Mike Arrington his Atherton California home where he runs Tech crunch from, and his dog that he has to protect him from the press? He’s been named as one of the top 50 people on the web?
M. B. Yeah people try to break into his home.
D. J. Why, to find out if he is going to sell the company to Rupert Murdoch?
M. B. Yeh possibly,
D.J. So it’s a rumour, Is it true that you’ve met Rupert Murdoch
M. B. I can’t say if the rumour is true, but yes I met with Rupert.
D. J. So what does your mother and family think of your job as a blogger. I heard Peter Hogenkamp another blogger, ask you this question, and you mentioned that your mom was brought up on a farm in South Africa?
M. B. Yes she was and much of my family still live there.
D. J. Interesting, so does she understand Blogging?
M. B. She thinks I don’t really have a job, I just play around on the Internet, and she doesn’t really understand Blogging.
D. J. Do you enjoy writing and these networking events.
M. B. Yes its great to see all these people making connections, talking about finance, ideas. As a writer I need to get this all down on the blog. So you write with b5media
D. J. Yes, Show me the tech crunch Uk blog.
finds it on my laptop
A photographer from the press comes to take the photo as we surf the net and look at techcrunch site together.
M. B.Take the lens cap off
M.B. Oh there’s the live stream from here, where are they filming now.
we watch it for a few seconds as a CEO is being interviewed live.
M.B. That’s impressive.
D. J. Are you ever in Italy I’d like to keep up with these start ups if you are in Milan?
M. B. Yeah, gives me e mail and number to contact him
M.B. I’ve got to go, they are calling him for a link up. Yes, email me
check out the site http://www.tech crunch.com which has 3 million readers who read the site across the world, and is ranked as a top blog and named in technorati, financial times, and other major publications.
Here’s what tech crunch says on its UK about page
TechCrunch UK & Ireland is a blog covering Web 2.0 and Mobile start-ups. TechCrunch UK is part of the TechCrunch Network, which includes country-specific blogs for France and Japan.
TechCrunch UK & Ireland is edited by Mike Butcher. A former editor of New Media Age magazine, and The Industry Standard Europe. He has written for UK national newspapers including the The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times and magazines including The New Statesman. He has launched or relanched several media web sites and in 2004 he was voted ‘One of the 100 Innovators of the UK Internet Decade’ by GfK NOP, the fourth-largest custom research business in the world. He has appeared on BBC News, Sky News, Channel 4 and Bloomberg, commenting on technology and new media. His personal blog is mbites, while he Twitters here. In July 2008 Mike was put at No. 47 out of the Top 100 people in London’s creative industry the UK by The Independent newspaper and The Hospital Club.
http://www.techcrunch.com/about-techcrunch/
and the stream with photos of the event.
I’ll be doing start up interviews all this week, across Europe so keep it here.
Moneypenny.
Leave a comment ask a question.
Thanks Donna. As you didn’t take live notes, shorthand, or record the interview may I humbly point out that this might be a heavily paraphrased write-up :-). But of course, Rupert Murdoch and I are great pals ;-)
Thanks Mike, I did take shorthand written on the back of the sunmicro-systems/startups write-up I had, which someone nicked, and are you sure I didn’t record it?
Hope you like the picture of you courtesy of
tczh:
20 seconds of fame/shame - benkösblog
Tech Crunch live startups.
moneypenny
Sean info@ideafarm.net unhappyfranchisee.com
Moneypenny:
You are such the jetsetter! Blogging live from Zurich and across Europe. I’m quite impressed. While you’re with the Swiss, try their cheese. I hear it’s most impressive. And you can keep stuff in it.
You are no doubt setting up our Swiss bank accounts for eSean Payment System, correct?
Moneypenny, while you’re in the neighborhood, be a dear and spin by Salzburg and do a quick interview with Red Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz, will you? I hurt his feelings not letting him in on the eSean deal… but he finally made it onto Franchise Pick (after years of trying) and we should get a few sound bytes from him.
He wants in one the eSean deal in the worst way. Tell him he doesn’t have a chance until he’s in the Forbes Top 200.#287 ain’t eSean country yet.