Michael Arrington, Founder/Co-Editor of TechCrunch.com announced the new partnership earlier today. The event marks change at both ends of the agreement. Mainstream media is one click closer to reading and learning about Web 2.0 startups. In turn, an underrepresented market with billions of dollars worth of investments annually will gain traction among the populations of people that matter most to their success.

This events represents a critical link in connecting early-adopters to the mainstream users who will ultimately determine the best services. The reality is early-adopters do not always select winners and the sooner a startup is identified by the masses to be a loser: money, time, people and ideas are saved and the company can translate existing resources into a new endeavor.

While the impact of the agreement will be seen over time, I think TechCrunch is the larger winner here. For months I’ve watched TechCrunch struggle to break 1 million subscribers. Now, I think it’s only a matter of time before this feat is achieved. When you find an outlet the size of the Washington Post to pull in new readership, I think the only way to go is up.

The current setup is a feed of the 25 most recent headlines from TechCrunch. Cross-syncing comments between both locations of TechCrunch news will bring greater depth to the conversation and strengthen the Internet startup arena. It will be interesting to watch what happens. Will this event help social media turn mainstream and increase the adoption rates of new services?

Congratulations to everyone at TechCrunch!