In the six weeks since we launched Extra Crunch, we’ve seen that readers and subscribers really want the latest practical tips and warnings about building a company — from the people on the cutting edge.

So we want to feature subject-matter experts, writing about what they learn from working with startup clients.

You may remember, however, that the Crunch Network for contributors came to a necessary end a couple of years ago, in favor of an invite-only process for guest columns. It “had gotten a bit overrun,” as my colleagues memorably wrote at the time, “with pieces that we strongly suspected were ghost-written by PR or really had no business being given the platform.”

Today, we are inviting people who do key work with startups to apply — if you are one of those people, and if you have ideas for articles that might be a great fit for Extra Crunch and/or TechCrunch.

Just get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com

Successful columns will include a big, actionable insight that is derived from the author’s professional experience and reinforced by data and anecdotes they can provide. A good test of an article pitch is whether the reader could implement your idea and get quantified results.

Here are some of the many insidery topics that we want to go deeper on:

Growth marketing

Recruiting

Fundraising and M&A

Legal issues

HR, company culture and inclusion

Testable predictions about where market sectors are heading

Here are early examples to illustrate what we are looking for:

Key details:

There is no word-count limit, although we encourage you to go long if you have a lot to say — take your readers as seriously as they take you. The range is typically 1,000-2,000 words.



Come prepared to go through an editing process with us. Our goal is to be significantly better than what you can find elsewhere on the internet.



We are happy to discuss providing you with full syndication rights to your work.



While our focus is the Extra Crunch audience, we’d like you to write for all of TechCrunch from time to time as well (if you become a regular columnist).



There is usually no deadline on our end. We typically schedule articles once they’re in good shape, and we’ll publish them soon after that.

If all this sounds right for you, please get in touch at ec_columns@techcrunch.com