CrunchBase - Frequently Asked Questions

CrunchBase is the free directory of technology companies, people and investors that everyone can edit.

1. Our company name is taken. And when I search it does not come up.
2. When I make a submission to CrunchBase, it says "Company name is blank".
3. Why have my edits/profile not gone live?
4. How do I know the data is accurate?
5. There are 2 versions of a company page/a personal profile.
6. How can I add a link within the overview?
7. How can I add a link for photo attribution?
8. What types of information can I add to a CrunchBase profile?
9. Guidelines on entering data in CrunchBase

Our company name is taken. And when I search it does not come up.

Send us an e-mail at feedback@techcrunch.com and we will add the company name and reply to let you to edit it further. The company profile could be in our moderation queue and it will go live within 24-48 hours. You can make further edits, once it has gone live.

When I make a submission to CrunchBase, it says "Company name is blank".

This indicates that one of the fields most likely the competitor field or subscriber field has been left blank. Click on remove for the appropriate field and then submit your entry.

Why have my edits/profile not gone live?

All changes to CrunchBase profiles go through a moderation queue before going live on the service. Entries will go live within a 24 to 48 hour time period. You will be able to make further edits once an entry is live.

How do I know the data is accurate?

You do not know if the data is accurate. As multiple people edit CrunchBase profiles of companies, financial organizations and people, some mistakes might be added. Information might also be out of date. If you notice anything that needs changing you can go ahead and edit the page.

There are 2 versions of a company page/a personal profile.

Please send CrunchBase an e-mail at feedback@techcrunch.com citing both names and we will remove the duplicate.

How can I add a link within the overview?

Use the following formatting for e.g. [TechCrunch](http://www.techrunch.com) will create a link to TechCrunch without showing the URL.

How can I add a link for photo attribution?

Make sure to use photos that are either in the public domain or have a specific free use license like CC-BY or GFDL. For free use licenses you need to provide attribution. Attribution should be linked back to the page you found the image on. If you find an image on a social networking site give credit to both the site and the individual. For e.g. Attribution: [Bill Johnson / LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/pub/0/20/694)

What types of information can I add to a CrunchBase profile?

• General information: Company name, URL, Blog, Blog feed, Phone, E-mail, and Founding date
• Logo
• Overview of a company
• Tags: - Categories a company is in
• Offices
• People
• Competitors
• Products
• Funding
• Acquisitions
• Service Providers – Legal and pr service providers to a company
• External Links

Once an entry is approved you can add Videos and Milestones.

Guidelines on entering data in CrunchBase

The Overview
The tone should be 3rd person i.e. "company x" rather than "our company". The overview should start if possible with one good sentence that describes the company. Then add more detail on the company. Avoid marketing language like “best” “most comprehensive”. Avoid language that will date for e.g. "yesterday", replace with "launched April 2008"

General Information
Put in as much of the general information as you can. The Blog and blog feed is useful, as CrunchBase will display blog titles on CrunchBase pages.

E-mail
It is best not to use personal e-mails for companies but rather info@, contact@.

Founding date
Founding date is useful as we use it for structured search.

Tags
Add categories that a company is in. If the service is an app for twitter, facebook add these company names here as well.

Offices
Address details down to street level and zip, is useful for our mapping & search service. If you are not able to provide a street address, then city and country at least is useful for search.

People
Add the management team. The entries will first need to be approved before you can add more information and a picture. Click 'Past?' for any person no longer with the company.

Note: We have an auto-complete function which helps prevent duplicates. As you are typing names will appear and you can select the appropriate entry. If none match and you'd like to create a new entry, click on the 'Create' option at the end of the auto-complete dropdown.

Competitors
Add competitors. You will be simultaneously added to their pages.

Note: We have an auto-complete function which helps prevent duplicates. As you are typing names will appear and you can select the appropriate entry. If none match and you'd like to create a new entry, click on the 'Create' option at the end of the auto-complete dropdown.

If a company has one product, the product and company name can be the same. Send us screenshots at feedback@techcrunch.com including the company name in your e-mail.

Products
Product names should not be generic. If a product name is generic add a company name in front.

The product entries will first need to be approved before you can add general product information and an overview.

Funding
Please include all previous funding rounds.

We aim to be comprehensive on funding. Please add as much information as you can, the round, amount, date and source title and source URL. Typically a good source URL is an article about the funding round or a press release, which outlines the funding. Add the investors.

Note: We have an auto-complete function which helps prevent duplicates. As you are typing names will appear and you can select the appropriate entry. If none match and you'd like to create a new entry, click on the 'Create' option at the end of the auto-complete dropdown.

Acquisitions
This section is for any acquisition the company has made.

Service Providers
Enter legal, PR & marketing firms that provide services to this company.

External links
Add any important links here. Well-written articles about the company are of interest.

Milestones
Once your entry is approved you can add milestones to the company. This could be number of employees, key hires, launch of a product, number of users, number of monthly page views, exit, acquisitions etc.

Moderation queue
A CrunchBase profile will be placed in a moderation queue before going live. Entries will go live within a 24 to 48 hour time period. You will be able to make further edits once an entry is live. Anyone can edit an entry so it is important to check back to make sure the information is up-to-date.