Predicting Which Start Up Will Win Techcrunch50

Prediction market startup Hubdub is running a market on which of the 50 companies launching at the TechCrunch 50 conference in San Francisco will win. Although Hubdub is based in Scotland, they are actually a news prediction market aimed largely at the US. In fact, CEO Nigel Eccles recently wrote a great guest post on how to aim your startup at the US, without leaving Europe.

Popularity: 6% [?]

With all the furor around the battle of the launch conferences (that we kinda got involved with too) let’s remind ourselves what it’s all about: the start-ups. They’ve slaved away for months for this important moment, and every company can only launch once so it’s hugely important to get as much from all that effort as possible. We know, we’ve done it.

Several awards will be given to lucky members of the 52 hopefuls judged by impressive panels of the industry elite (including Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, Mark Cuban, Om Malik and Marissa Mayer amongst others). The top award is the TechCrunch50 Best in Show winner, and all 52 companies are eligible.

Think you know what makes a good start-up? Can you predict who the judges will pick? Make your predictions here. The current forecast is shown below.

TechCrunch50: Which company will win Best in Show?

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TechCrunch50, the start-up launch conference brought to you by Mike Arrington and TechCrunch, kicks off this Monday. From the 52 hot technology companies that will unveil themselves to the world there, only one can win the $50,000 Best in Show prize. Despite sounding more like a dog prize than a coveted industry accolade, all 52 companies will be clamoring to be the chosen ones and join Aaron Patzer, last year’s winner with Mint, on the Internet start-up A list.

Who will win? Hubdub will be forecasting it live from when the companies are announced on Monday morning (PT), throughout the pitches, right until the winner is announced. You’ll be able to make your predictions and see whether you’ve got an eye for a hot start-up.

If you’re a company launching at TechCrunch50 who thinks you’re in with a chance, or an armchair tech pundit who thinks they can predict who the judges will choose, watch this space. The Hubdub prediction market on the winner will be live from Monday morning and linked to from this post.

Update: Question is live here: http://www.hubdub.com/m15609/TechCrunch50_Which_company_will_win_Best_in_Show

In the meantime, check out how the war of the launch conferences is going with TechCrunch50 taking on DEMOfall08 head to head:

DEMOfall v TechCrunch50: Who Will Win?

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