(TechCrunch's Erick Schonfeld explaining their new video upload section, via Beet.TV)

If you're in technology PR, you know by now Michael Arrington's TechCrunch is to startups, as Orpah is to books. If you don't nail coverage early, you'll hear "what about TechCrunch?" on every client call for eons.

Now you can get some attention on the megablog by uploading a one minute elevator pitch of your CEO explaining their company in plain terms.

Props are ok and encouraged (see this Ugobi pitch where the CEO makes his robotic dinosaur "angry"), slideware is discouraged. TechCrunch vets the videos for authenticity before airing them. Readers can then comment, and give up-or-down votes.

Our take is a big yes. The videos don't look expensive. This is especially good coverage and SEO if you're already in the CrunchBase. If you don't get selected, you're still on YouTube along with the others tagged pitches.

At the time of this post, Techmeme was the top source on TechMeme, and ranked third on Technorati.