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Quora goes permanently remote-first

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Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#51

Post by albntomat0 »

JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #32
threeseed wrote: post #13

There's an insightful series of comments from Sid, CEO of Gitlab about why this is not likely to work over the long term: https://twitter.com/sytses/status/1264341436138270720 It might be different for Quora given that their CEO and SLT will be remote. But I still believe that whenever you have an office you are creating a community of employees who will have a different relationship to those who are working remotely…

The question is, does that 'community' effect offer a measurable, competitive advantage to businesses with offices vs those that don't? If no competitive edge is present, it is wasted spending that could be redirected into more fruitful efforts: growing R&D, etc.

The parent comment isn't comparing fully remote with fully in the office. The issue they see (and discussed in the linked twitter thread) is in a company with some office, and some remote, remote workers will be left out from activities that take place in the office, and those physically present will do better career-wise.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#52

Post by adventured »

ragona wrote: post #35
solidasparagus wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't throw out a comment like that and give no follow up. In what way is it a hobby business?

I’m guessing they’re referring to the fact that the CEO is very wealthy [1] and has self-funded the company, and suggesting that he’s not as concerned with the financials. 1: https://www.forbes.com/profile/adam-dangelo/#657861427cb4

It's not self-funded by D'Angelo. Quora has raised several hundred million dollars, the overwhelming share of that from traditional venture capital firms.

They also don't have the luxury of treating it like a hobby business, which is why they've been focused on quantity over quality for years now. They have to scale up the concept massively or find another business.

In contrast WikiHow is an example of a successful knowledge service that is operated with more of a focus on quality and less on quantity. They're not owned by venture capital firms and don't have to seek an exit or try to force growth at any cost. It's a route Quora could have taken if it weren't for the VC firms, now they have no choice. Their former competitor, eHow, took the paid spam content route and got destroyed for it.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#53

Post by chongli »

threeseed wrote: post #13

There's an insightful series of comments from Sid, CEO of Gitlab about why this is not likely to work over the long term: https://twitter.com/sytses/status/1264341436138270720 It might be different for Quora given that their CEO and SLT will be remote. But I still believe that whenever you have an office you are creating a community of employees who will have a different relationship to those who are working remotely…

a community of employees who will have a different relationship to those who are working remotely

Which makes it sound like a bad thing. I would turn that around and say that remote work changes the relationship an employee has with their family and neighbourhood.

Now what sounds better? I think it’s time we revived our relationships outside of work and started building communities to live in, not just to work in.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#54

Post by edw »

preommr wrote: post #50

I made an honest effort to read that and I just couldn't. I actually can't imagine any kind of reading medium that's worse. There's chunks of text interlaced with a bunch of visual noise, random images, links to separate threads which are huge images and bigger than the surrounding text.

Amen. Not to mention the non sequitur replies from randos trying to insert themselves, grasping for fifteen milliseconds of microcelebrity.

I recently read HG Wells’s Island of Dr Moreau; the protagonist describes one of Moreau’s creatures, who specialized in Big Think: big-worded, incoherent rambling intended to confuse and impress in equal parts. The argot of Twitter, in other words.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#55

Post by warent »

preommr wrote: post #50

I made an honest effort to read that and I just couldn't. I actually can't imagine any kind of reading medium that's worse. There's chunks of text interlaced with a bunch of visual noise, random images, links to separate threads which are huge images and bigger than the surrounding text.

Formatted thread version: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1264341436138270720.html

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#56

Post by zoolander2 »

dmurray wrote: post #14
zoolander2 wrote: post #3

With so many companies going WFH permanently even after COVID, how will this impact Uber/Lyft revenue?

Positively, perhaps. If you don't need a car to commute, you're more likely not to own one and use ridesharing when you do need to go somewhere by car. Most people don't use Uber/Lyft for their daily commute (yes, no doubt some on HN do). It can't make economic sense compared to driving yourself.

a ton of people I know who live in metro cities (sf, nyc, chicago, etc) used rideshare daily for commute, it's slightly more expensive than public transit and many employers either pay for or subsidize for it.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#57

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

albntomat0 wrote: post #51
JMTQp8lwXL wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question is, does that 'community' effect offer a measurable, competitive advantage to businesses with offices vs those that don't? If no competitive edge is present, it is wasted spending that could be redirected into more fruitful efforts: growing R&D, etc.

The parent comment isn't comparing fully remote with fully in the office. The issue they see (and discussed in the linked twitter thread) is in a company with some office, and some remote, remote workers will be left out from activities that take place in the office, and those physically present will do better career-wise.

The parent isn't, but considering the full range of options is still a useful discussion to have, which is why I added my comment. It all comes down to money. The twitter thread prophesied losing all of your best talent in a half office / half remote setup. Your best, most skilled talent sticks around first and foremost for their premium compensation, above all other factors.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#59

Post by edw »

jfengel wrote: post #48
solidasparagus wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that bad?

Yeah, it's pretty bad. Questions that they pay for are generally of poor quality. When you pay for something, people rush in to produce as much quantity as they can. Even if they are also attracting good ones, they can be hard to find in the onslaught.

My intuitive understanding of Quora, formed about five years ago, is that it’s a WikiHow with VC mojo.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#60

Post by nbardy »

threeseed wrote: post #13

There's an insightful series of comments from Sid, CEO of Gitlab about why this is not likely to work over the long term: https://twitter.com/sytses/status/1264341436138270720 It might be different for Quora given that their CEO and SLT will be remote. But I still believe that whenever you have an office you are creating a community of employees who will have a different relationship to those who are working remotely…

Wholeheartedly agree I worked remotely for the first 6 years or so of my career and hybrid approaches turn the remote team into second class citizens more like contractors.
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