Sorry, but startups should not be relying on TC or any other blog coverage to launch their startup. TC only has power if you give it to them, because the 50k hits they give you are extremely low quality. 99% or more bounce after reading 2-4 words because by definition they are pundits or other founders, not customers of your service.
Remember, if you're in touch with real potential customers who are excited for you to solve their real problem that you've qualified in exchange for actual, bankable money then you don't need to even care that TC exists.
Maybe not rely upon but it is a good one time thing that you can get your name across multiple tech blogs, hard to get that much attention so fast without the blogs writing about you.
If you have something interesting to TechCrunch's userbase (say, a SaaS aimed at developers), then I could see that, but otherwise, I've found it much more productive to get written up on a moderate-traffic blog in the right niche. E.g. 5,000 people who care about, say, cooking, are way better than 50,000 TechCrunch hits, if you have something to do with cooking...
Remember, if you're in touch with real potential customers who are excited for you to solve their real problem that you've qualified in exchange for actual, bankable money then you don't need to even care that TC exists.