They care more whether the site has been covered by someone.

There's always some exclusive story that can be spun, at any stage of a company's life. It just takes creativity.

TC is great but is waiting for TC coverage worth waiting on getting users? Esp since there is no guarantee you'll get TC coverage.

I don't think so.

TC Coverage < Real Users

It's also important to consider if TC readers are your target audience. I've seen big pageview spikes from TC and other widely- (or poorly-) targeted press coverage that didn't convert very well, whereas coverage in much smaller but better focused publications resulted in more overall conversions.

I'm not waiting; I have users. But I don't have 1000 users and would like to. The only suggestions in the list I haven't implemented yet are TechCrunch coverage and a (good) demo video.

they used to be like that, but these days they seem to be morphing more into tech business news. Topics are generally acquisitions, funding, the occasional plucky newcomer and long-time sweethearts like twitter.