TechCrunch has been staffing up with writers who have worked at top publications in Silicon Valley and around the world — we’re not new to this, we’re true to this. And, Kim-Mai Cutler, our newest hire, is particularly true.
Like Josh and I, she was brought to TechCrunch from Inside Network by Erick Schonfeld. In her last job, she directed coverage of the mobile app ecosystem and became an expert on mobile gaming.
You’ve probably read her stories over the years. But in case you somehow missed them, here are a few of her greatest hits.
Kim figured out how Facebook was likely to build its mobile platform through HTML5 and credits for the web, months before other outlets picked it up. She’s broken key stories for developers on iOS, including Apple’s crackdown on incentivized app installs, and later, developers’ use of download bots. Her incisive coverage of Facebook’s S-1 filing single-handedly took on the rest of the press.
During her world travels — which she’ll be doing more of for TechCrunch — she unearths great stories, like this one about the mobile app ecosystem in China. It’s not her first time writing for TechCrunch either. While she was getting started at Inside Network, she provided a guest scoop on Microsoft’s massive half-billion dollar effort to promote Windows Phone 7.
Kim is an expert in mobile app distribution and monetization, and has focused on the interplay of the social graph with smartphones — and also, she knows finance. Before covering social networking at VentureBeat, she covered bond markets in London during the financial collapse in 2008.
But most impressively, to me, she launched and built up Inside Mobile Apps during her time at Inside Network, starting from scratch in 2011. The site has become a must-read for any mobile developer or publisher with a multi-million dollar marketing budget. (By the way, it is in good hands with up-and-comer Kathleen DeVere)
Kim comes from a strong engineering family based in Silicon Valley, but she’s lived around the world and speaks a few languages. She understands that great entrepreneurs can come from anywhere, and she knows how to find them.