We last updated our submission guidelines for TechCrunch+ guest posts in June 2021, but things have changed a lot since then.
As public companies slashed valuations, many startup founders began accepting funding rounds that they might have scoffed at a year ago.
Entrepreneurs who don’t have two years of runway in the bank are having uncomfortable conversations with friends they hired at generous salaries just a few months ago. In quarterly board meetings, investors are likely to spend more time dissecting the sales pipeline slide than recent hires.
These are uncertain times, but workers are the ones who stand to suffer the greatest economic harm. According to Crunchbase, more than 21,000 tech workers in the United States have been laid off since mid-June.
Experience is the best teacher, which is why we’re looking for guest articles that can help others navigate this downturn. Since the stakes are so high, we are not looking for articles that share “thought leadership” about general challenges people in the tech industry are facing right now.
We’re only interested in posts offering actionable advice that are written by authors who have experience working under adverse economic circumstances.
If you have an idea, please email guestcolumns@techcrunch.com. Here are the topics in which we’re most interested:
Fundraising and budgeting
Deconstructing successful pitch decks, calculating valuations, tips on extending runway, down rounds, financial modeling, tax advice, cap table management, and first-person articles written by investors who want to state their theses and discuss what opportunities they’re looking for at the moment.
Growth
Granular advice for optimizing tactics, SEO, zero-party data, product-led growth strategies, email and social marketing, DTC, landing pages, retention, managing sales teams, driving early-stage growth, and other marketing-related topics.
Management
Tactical suggestions for improving the recruiting process (including interviewing and setting compensation), overseeing remote teams, improving founder/investor relationships, managing layoffs, and expert advice on how to pivot a startup.
We’re looking for actionable strategies and tactics readers can try out for themselves as they build and scale companies in an inhospitable climate, not inspiration.
Before you submit your idea, browse the TechCrunch+ How To section to make sure we haven’t published something similar recently.