Missing This...

...but this is also pretty cool.

I met Gang Lu of TechNode on my very first trip to China years ago and he's been one of many God-sends who has gone over and above to make Disrupt Beijing a success.  Like a lot of people who've helped us out, his biggest motivation has simply been believing TechCrunch's presence here could help some startups and wanting to do anything he can to support that. He's an awesome guy.

Including me, eight members of the TC staff landed in Beijing last night to join our events wizard Tanya Porquez here on the ground. You could spot us on the plane because we were all reading the Jobs biography. (NERDS!) I should note, everyone flew coach except the woman who's supposed to be on maternity leave and had to pump milk every three hours. (I still had major business class guilt.)

When we arrived, everyone checked into the hotel, threw their bags down and hit the ground running, working late into the night-- exhaustion and jetlag not withstanding. I went to bed around 1 am local time, and I think the rest of the team was still hard at work. At times like this, we still work very much like a scrappy startup without big corporate backing and with everything to lose. 

Sitting around at dinner last night listening to our amazing team of eight tick through their to-do list and action items, I was incredibly humbled at the talented folks who jumped in and have made this conference something so much larger than my original vision. Our internal drama not withstanding, this staff is just phenomenal.  The writers tend to get the attention, but there are so many people at TC -- like Jon Orlin, Heather Harde, Tanya Porquez and Jeanne Logozzo-- who are the best people I've ever worked with at the core thing they do.

I've definitely been swamped with editorial and agenda concerns, but it's amazing to know I don't ever even have to think or worry about things like sponsorships, live streaming, or logisitics and can know it'll just get done. I'm so grateful to the team for ignoring all the distractions, focusing and executing on such a challenging event. I hope everyone can take a moment in the next five days and be proud of what we're pulling off here. 

PS: I'm here, so pay up on our bet, Andreessen!