A moment with ... Michael Arrington, publisher of TechCrunch

From Amsterdam and Israel to Silicon Valley and Seattle, TechCrunch Publisher Michael Arrington has made it his mission to spend nearly every waking hour profiling the latest Internet startups.

Since starting the enormously popular TechCrunch blog last June, Arrington estimates that he has reviewed more than 600 Internet companies. The reviews of startups such as PageFlakes, Feedblitz and SuperOyster -- which spark plenty of debate and traffic -- have made Arrington a rising star in the emerging world of online publishing.

The 36-year-old former corporate attorney -- whose parents live in Anacortes -- was in town this week getting to know Seattle's technology scene. Wednesday, close to 500 people showed up for a beer-and-pizza party in Arrington's honor at Consolidated Works in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood.

I spoke with Arrington about the Web 2.0 buzz, a possible bubble and how he keeps track of so many Internet companies. For a more detailed discussion, go to blog.seattlepi.com/venture.

On the differences between Seattle and Silicon Valley:

"There is definitely more pure enthusiasm (in Seattle) and less snarkiness or sarcasm or irony. It is just pure: 'Hey, let's get it done, let's do a new innovative and interesting thing.' It is almost an innocence that is being beaten out of people in Silicon Valley right now, and I like seeing that (in Seattle)."

On what motivates him:

"I get kind of worn down sometimes, because a lot of people say we are in a bubble or they say that all of this stuff is stupid that we are writing about. But when I see the entrepreneurs and see how passionate they are, it re-energizes me."

On the most interesting Seattle startups: "I love (Redfin), because it is disruptive to a pretty inefficient marketplace, Realtors. So I love stuff like that. I think Farecast is on to something pretty interesting. ... But I got to tell you what I am most excited about in Seattle right now is none of those; it is what Microsoft is doing with Live.com. I think there is some real innovation going on there."

On how he stays on top of the new companies: "I keep track of them just because this is what I do. It is my passion, it is my hobby, it is my job, it is everything."

On expansion plans: "TechCrunch only writes about new Web startups, and I think there are a lot of topics out there that are really interesting to people obviously. I would like to hire dedicated and obsessive writers to cover those areas, things like games, gadgets, pure tech news, maybe a wine blog. Who knows? I might try anything for a while and experiment. But I think we can grow a lot of traffic internally by referring readers among the blogs."

On bubble 2.0: "There are a bunch of differences between '98, '99 and today, but that doesn't mean we are not in a different kind of bubble. In '98 and '99, there was a real push to grow revenue in any way possible. ... For the most part, your exit strategy (today) is either build a sustainable business or get acquired, and there is no way that a Google or a Yahoo is going to do an acquisition of a company that is burning a couple million dollars per month. ...

"I see a lot of healthier growth and a lot of cost controls that I didn't see in 1998 and 1999, and that is the biggest thing. What I would be worried about is if the Nasdaq started to explode again and people started to go public, then I think we could be in trouble."

P-I reporter John Cook can be reached at 206-448-8075 or johncook@seattlepi.com.

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