As someone who goes to a large number of local tech events here in Boston, last Friday night’s party with the people behind TechCrunch was definitely one of the most buzzed about events this year. Perhaps not to the casual observer, but for those who have been involved in - or keep an eye on - the local startup scene, many web startup entrepreneurs note that industry coverage of Boston-based startups (and East Coast startups in general) is relatively weak when compared to the buzz about startups along the West Coast. Therefore, having the web tech industry’s largest and most popular blog, TechCrunch, come to town to throw a party might be a sign that things are slowly changing for press about startups in Boston, and that the rest of the industry is taking notice. Well good for us, first the World Series and perhaps now Boston 2.0.
The event itself was held at The Estate, a club located near the Boston Common referred to as “The Alley” and most well known under one of it’s previous names, The Big Easy. With around 700 people in attendance and an open bar, the dance floor/demo area was packed with all kinds of VCs, entrepreneurs, bloggers and industry observers (watching demos, not dancing). Demos were given by a number of startups present at the event including Moola, WineLibrary, and SnapYap, among others.
Having been a TechCrunch reader for the past couple of years now, I was always on the lookout for when TechCrunch would stop by to hold a party/event over here, as they do so frequently out West. Although we have our own variety of tech events seemingly gaining more and more popularity over the last 18 months (WebInno, Ignite, TastyBytes, TechCocktail, etc.) having Boston play host for another future TechCrunch event would be fantastic.
Check out some additional coverage of the event from Jeff Bussgang, Don Dodge, Chris Herot, and Doug Levin, as well as some party photos on Flickr.
Thanks go out to hosts Michael Arrington, Michelle Harde, and Erick Schonfeld of TechCrunch for putting it all together, and IDG Ventures Boston for sponsoring the event.
UPDATE: Michael says TechCrunch Boston may become a yearly event.