When you see a TechCrunch article about a YCombinator company, it's not there because the company is interesting or innovative (even though some of them genuinely are). No, it's there because of a butthappy relationship between Mike Arrington and Paul Graham.

A source close to TechCrunch tells me that there is a formal agreement between YCombinator and TechCrunch whereby every YCombinator startup will be featured on TC in exchange for the exclusive launch story. I have yet to uncover whether any money is changing hands, but it seems unlikely.

This alone isn't terribly damning, but it shows a pattern of behavior on both sides of the deal. It's always been clear that being featured on TechCrunch isn't a result of merit, so this is a nice validation of my little theory.

It's Not Cronyism When We Do It

I talked to a YCombinator founder about this who told me how he never knew about any formal arrangement, but, as a YC company, when you're ready to launch, you call Paul Graham and he makes shit happen. Mike Arrington fancies himself a king maker, and Paul Graham fancies himself a power broker, so this arrangement is the natural outcome.

This kind of shit is par for the course. The TechCrunch 50 Potemkin village was rigged. Arrington awarded the $50,000 prize to a Twitter clone that was a spin-off of a company founded by a good friend of Peter Thiel, who runs a VC firm that partially funded TechCrunch 50.

Return of the Mack – Watch My Flow

This marks the return of Uncov. There are a few other TechCrunch goings-on that I'm tracking, so as soon as I get some confirmation, you'll read about it here. If Arrington has pissed you off in any way, shape, or form, and you want to run your mouth off to Uncov about it, contact me. I guarantee your anonymity.