Twitter clinches best startup of 2010 at this year's Crunchies awards

January 22, 2011 3:37 AM
Matthew Lynley

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Just about every inside joke imaginable popped up at this evening’s Crunchies awards, an event that honored startups that have performed above and beyond in 2010 — from jokes about TechCrunch writer MG Siegler’s obsessions with Apple devices to ambush interviews between TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington and Groupon CEO Andrew Mason. (Did we mention a trending hashtag discussing the event’s fashionistas? Hint: search #crunchiesfashion on Twitter.)

But the real winners tonight were a nice batch up startups that really did shine in 2010. Whether they turned down a $6 billion offer from search giant Google or just raised around $1.5 billion in funding, the best of the best got a chance to strut their stuff at the award ceremony, which was c0-hosted by GigaOm, VentureBeat and TechCrunch.

Twitter managed to clinch the title of Best Overall Product of 2010 over upstart social deals service Groupon, despite its CEO being selected as the best CEO of the year. Zynga managed to hold onto its notoriety of being the best time sink of all time over Angry Birds, one of the most popular game apps on the Android Marketplace and Apple App Store. And Y Combinator’s own Paul Graham said it was at least a little impressive that startups funded by his firm were still able to qualify as the best bootstrapped startups in this year’s Crunchies.

Here is the list of winners and runners-up in each respective category:

Best Internet Application: Pandora (Runner Up: Rdio)

Best Social Application: Dailybooth (Runner Up: Twitter)

Best Social Commerce Application: Groupon (Runner Up: ShopKick)

Best Mobile Application: Google Mobile Maps (Runner Up: Instagram)

Best Location Based Service: Foursquare (Runner up: Facebook Places)

Best New Device: iPad (Runner Up: XBox Kinect)

Best Technology Achievement: Google’s self-driving cars (Runner Up: Qwiki)

Best Touch Interface: Flipboard (Runner up: Fotopedia)

Best Designs: Gogobot (Runner Up: About.me)

Best Bootsrapped Startup: Addmired (Runner Up: Instapaper)

Best Enterprise Startup: Buddy Media (Runner Up: Millenial Media)

Best Cleantech Startup: SolarCity (Runner Up: Kopernik)

Best Time Sink Application: CityVille (Runner Up: Angry Birds)

Angel of the Year: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham (Runner Up: SV Fund’s Ron Conway)

Venture Capitalist of the Year: Yuri Milner of DST (Runner Up: Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures)

Founder of the Year: Zynga’s Mark Pincus (Runner Up: Square’s Jack Dorsey)

CEO of the Year: Groupon’s Andrew Mason (Runner Up: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg)

Best New Startup or Product of 2010: Quora (Runner Up: Square)

Best Overall Product of 2010: Twitter (Runner Up: Groupon)

http://twitter.com/ikoniqueOS ikonique OS

Twitter, a start-up? Pull the other one… I am not laughingThis PR nonsense has gotten out of hand!Most of these are NOT start-ups by any stretch of the imagination making the 'Crunchies' nothing more than a cynical marketing excercise for the 'chosen few'.Quora? WTF? seriously this is NOT an new idea, poorly executed unless you factor-in their AWESOME PR…Rapidly losing faith in the 'Beat'
http://twitter.com/whyisthere Steve W

I guess my understanding of a start up is mistaken. But I guess Michael Arrignton needs to stroke his ego somehow.Hey why wasn't AOL nominated in any categories?
Manthatufear

Can someone please tell me the definition of startup? Because like ikonique OS most of these are not startups by ANY STRECH of the imagination!
http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/14/qwiki-editor-launch-disrupt/ Now anyone can make a Wall-E style narrated encyclopedia with Qwiki | VentureBeat

[...] 2010 competition for start-ups, winning a $50,000 prize and the Disrupt Cup. Qwiki was also the runner-up for best technological achievement at this year’s Crunchies awards — an academy award-style ceremony for start-ups and entrepreneurs in Silicon [...]
http://venturebeat.com/2011/11/25/gogobot-18-5-million/ That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5m Series B for social travel recommendation | VentureBeat

[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://www.godigitalapps.com/that%e2%80%99s-the-ticket-gogobot-raises-18-5m-series-b-for-social-travel-recommendation/ That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5m Series B for social travel recommendation « Go Digital Apps

[...] the company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://onlinemagazine.pcriot.com/2011/11/that%e2%80%99s-the-ticket-gogobot-raises-18-5m-series-b-for-social-travel-recommendation/ OnlineMagazine » Blog Archive » That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5m Series B for social travel recommendation

[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://onlinemagazine.pcriot.com/2011/11/that%e2%80%99s-the-ticket-gogobot-raises-18-5m-for-social-travel-recommendations/ OnlineMagazine » Blog Archive » That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5M for social travel recommendations

[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://gumpert.jem54.com/2011/11/25/cest-le-billet-gogobot-souleve-serie-b-185-m-pour-la-recommandation-de-voyage-sociales/ C'est le billet! Gogobot soulève Série B 18,5 M $ pour la recommandation de voyage sociales | Gumpert

[...] et en 2010 Gogobot a été choisi comme lauréat de la “Meilleur design” catégorie à Les Crunchies , un programme de récompenses coparrainé par VentureBeat, TechCrunch et [...]
http://rinspeed.parteza4.com/2011/11/25/cest-le-billet-gogobot-souleve-serie-b-185-m-pour-la-recommandation-de-voyage-sociales/ C'est le billet! Gogobot soulève Série B 18,5 M $ pour la recommandation de voyage sociales | Rinspeed

[...] et en 2010 Gogobot a été choisi comme lauréat de la “Meilleur design” catégorie à Les Crunchies , un programme de récompenses coparrainé par VentureBeat, TechCrunch et [...]
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[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://startups-list.com/2011/11/26/that%e2%80%99s-the-ticket-gogobot-raises-18-5m-for-social-travel-recommendations/ That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5M for social travel recommendations | Startups List

[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
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[...] et en 2010 Gogobot a été choisi comme lauréat de la “Meilleur design” catégorie à Les Crunchies , un programme de récompenses coparrainé par VentureBeat, TechCrunch et [...]
http://marketers-network.com/that%e2%80%99s-the-ticket-gogobot-raises-18-5m-for-social-travel-recommendations/ That’s the ticket! Gogobot raises $18.5M for social travel recommendations : Marketers-Network

[...] company, and in 2010 Gogobot was chosen as the winner in the “Best Design” category at The Crunchies, an awards program cosponsored by VentureBeat, TechCrunch and [...]
http://www.buddymedia.com/newsroom/2011/01/venture-beat-twitter-clinches-best-startup-of-2010-at-this-years-crunchies-awards/ Venture Beat: Twitter Clinches Best Startup of 2010 at this Years Crunchies Awards | In The News | Newsroom | Buddy Media

[...] Read the full story at Venture Beat. [...]
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[...] eventually moved to an office in Menlo Park. In November 2010, they launched Gogobot, and won a Crunchie for Best Design that year, beating AirBNB and Flipboard for the [...]