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| |  | | A few months ago, former TechCrunch writer Alex Wilhelm returned to the publication as a senior editor to help grow Extra Crunch, though he still writes for the main site as well. His daily columns dig into the financial side of the startup world and have resonated deeply with our audience, so I wanted to talk to him about what’s he’s doing and why more people might want to read his work.
Walter Thompson: I’d like to introduce you to readers. What is your daily column about? Alex Wilhelm: I’m always trying to figure out what’s going on and why. And I think that one thing that the news media does traditionally quite well, is to present everyone with a set of facts. But one thing that the news has always been hesitant to do is to tell people why they might care or why things are happening, because they don’t want to lose their journalistic status. I don’t share that perspective. And so my morning column is essentially me thinking out loud about markets, trends, and news events that I’m trying to piece together into into themes and narratives to help explain the world around me on topics that I find interesting. It’s really just a process of thinking out loud trying to learn, and put the LEGOs together to make something a bit larger than the parts themselves. Who should be reading your daily column? Is it just for Silicon Valley insiders? It’s designed to help people who want to be more on the inside. I’m writing for the people in the world of technology, and the financial world that encompasses startups, to better understand where they work and how their jobs function inside the context of business. If you work for a startup — you know, seed through late-stage — it probably is something that you might want to read, because you’ll better understand who’s doing well, and business models, where money is going, how exits are happening, what your options might be worth and maybe we’ll talk about the company you work for. So if you’re in that area, I would read it, but if you’re not, it’s probably wildly esoteric and not tailored for you. Do you think your column could help someone become a better founder, or are you offering more specialized knowledge? If founders wanted to understand more about the world around them, it is a useful read. You can certainly build a company with blinders on and just run straight forward. And if everything goes well, you’ll look like a genius. But if you did want to kind of maybe look around a bit more — I cover transportation, fintech and venture trends, and you know, the Chinese market and stock market trades — I try to bring all this stuff in to explain what’s going on. If you wanted a broader view, I hope that my column will help. If it doesn’t, I’m failing.
Read the rest of our conversation on TechCrunch. And if you think you might benefit from his insight, use discount code ALEX at checkout to save 25% off the price of an annual or two-year Extra Crunch subscription. Thanks for reading, Walter Thompson
Senior Editor, TechCrunch
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| |  Image Credits: NeONBRAND / Unsplash (Image has been modified) | | To learn more about how concerns over COVID-19 are creating a boom for companies that build services and products for remote workers, Alex Wilhelm looked at data from the following companies: - HiveIO
- Friday
- FreeConferenceCall
- Brandlive
- Kentik
- Bluescape
- LogMeIn
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