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Quora collects $80 million in funding

cnet.com

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Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#71

Post by Smudge »

techwatching wrote: post #58
webwright wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The visual design, the interaction design, the writing and reading experiences, the social incentives, the notification system: all of it is top notch." I SO disagree here. It's a mess. It's 10x more complex than it needs to be. And it's horribly unapproachable for new/non-geeky users. I've had non-technical relatives sit down and try to use it who were positively baffled by the user-experience. I think Quora is an…

Agreed. Its always felt spammy to me - "Register to see more than the first answer." Why??

Growth. It's spammy, but it works.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#72

Post by Detrus »

webwright wrote: post #44
wpietri wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is a really good Q&A site. I was a Quora Top Writer in 2012 and 2013, and I've also built a lot of web stuff and spent a lot of time studying web communities. Purely from a craftsmanship perspective, they've done an incredible job. The visual design, the interaction design, the writing and reading experiences, the social incentives, the notification system: all of it is top notch. That said, I have never understoo…

"The visual design, the interaction design, the writing and reading experiences, the social incentives, the notification system: all of it is top notch." I SO disagree here. It's a mess. It's 10x more complex than it needs to be. And it's horribly unapproachable for new/non-geeky users. I've had non-technical relatives sit down and try to use it who were positively baffled by the user-experience. I think Quora is an…

As a power user I really liked the early iterations of the UI. But it went downhill for me around the time they added posts. They added a lot of spammy follow crap too.

The quality of content is hard to manage. There's no granularity in rating content, but when the content persists, isn't meant to be forgotten like HN comments, that's a serious flaw. Answers and wikis should be gradually improved, voted on per edit, etc.

I agree that when you're not in editor/contributor mode there is too much going on. There should be a separate browsing and contributing UX.

Simplifying all UIs for the lowest common denominator is not the way. Bicycles vs tricycles argument of Doug Engelbart and Alan Kay.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#73

Post by return0 »

wpietri wrote: post #30
hitchhiker999 wrote: post #16

I have a q&a site with 4 million visitors a month - an ESL learning site. We have 2 employees, total cost https://siteanalytics.compete.com/quora.com/ they have only a million visitors a month??? - I'm guessing that must be wrong. My question: What in pickled f*s are these people doing with 80 million on a Q&A site? How far out of the reach of reality is this industry?

It is a really good Q&A site. I was a Quora Top Writer in 2012 and 2013, and I've also built a lot of web stuff and spent a lot of time studying web communities. Purely from a craftsmanship perspective, they've done an incredible job. The visual design, the interaction design, the writing and reading experiences, the social incentives, the notification system: all of it is top notch. That said, I have never understoo…

Am I the only one who sees none of this "top notch system"? Last time i used it it felt clunky* , now every time i get a search result to them on a random computer, they ask me to login to read the answer, experts-exchange-style. Thanks, but no thanks.

PS. I guess the people who find this useful live in San Francisco, and enjoy the "insider" feel.

*: Right now, while viewing any question while logged out, the "Continue with facebook" button text wraps outside the button.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#74

Post by rrrazdan »

My experience with Quora has been pretty bad, but that has mostly to do with my topic selection and network being Indian.

Quora got popular in India because of widespread adoption in IIT circles, who by virtue of being influencers spread it across India. So much so that, I saw a statistic which said that most visits on Quora are from India.

However for me what that has meant is that a rash of new registrants have appeared who have destroyed any topic related to my alma mater and India.

EDIT - Also shouldn't this 'Indian Invasion' have had an effect on the valuation?

EDIT - I am also an Indian and mean no disrespect. But the fact is that one of the side effects of Quora getting popular so fast is that it is often the first Internet forum for many students. I know it because I have talked to them. And that ends up in usual newbie mistakes.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#75

Post by droogie »

My Quora experience has been a sad one. I created an account just to be able to see answers to a question I was interested in. Then I tried to delete my account and their account removal policy stated that you have to send them an email for them to delete your account. Really, who still does that in 2014.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#76

Post by Smirnoff »

hitchhiker999 wrote: post #16

I have a q&a site with 4 million visitors a month - an ESL learning site. We have 2 employees, total cost https://siteanalytics.compete.com/quora.com/ they have only a million visitors a month??? - I'm guessing that must be wrong. My question: What in pickled f*s are these people doing with 80 million on a Q&A site? How far out of the reach of reality is this industry?

Here is my theory:

Most likely this huge investment is a way for investors to get their money from their previous investment, which might be locked up due to some contract rules.

Basically, in order to free their funds (or avoid taxation) from their first investment (let's say from some portfolio company of Benchmark/or other participated investors), they will transfer funds from the big company to the small company aka Quora (in which these investors got a better contract).

I am not going to be surprised if Quora gets acquired from the bigger company, which happens to have the same investors ;)

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#77

Post by return0 »

hitchhiker999 wrote: post #16

I have a q&a site with 4 million visitors a month - an ESL learning site. We have 2 employees, total cost https://siteanalytics.compete.com/quora.com/ they have only a million visitors a month??? - I'm guessing that must be wrong. My question: What in pickled f*s are these people doing with 80 million on a Q&A site? How far out of the reach of reality is this industry?

Great tech people often make mediocre or bad investments, or invest in things that are not really worth their time in the end. Things like, Max Levchin creating slide.

It's just that the amounts being available to invest are so staggering in SV compared to other places, that any movement of money will look huge in comparison. That makes news like this sound infuriatingly irrational. Also, i guess the facebook link is important.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#78

Post by mbesto »

My thoughts on the success of Quora are consistent with that of Joel Spolsky's take on cultural anthropology: http://vimeo.com/37309773

Watch from 9:30 on. "The idea of Stack Overflow is to attract anyone who is an expert programmer and repel anyone who's not"

My prediction - Google/Facebook (someone in that arena) will buy Quora.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#79

Post by Retric »

fidotron wrote: post #21
hitchhiker999 wrote: post #16

I have a q&a site with 4 million visitors a month - an ESL learning site. We have 2 employees, total cost https://siteanalytics.compete.com/quora.com/ they have only a million visitors a month??? - I'm guessing that must be wrong. My question: What in pickled f*s are these people doing with 80 million on a Q&A site? How far out of the reach of reality is this industry?

I've wondered along these lines too. There is clearly something else going on in the VC business beyond strictly evaluating company value based on ability to generate it directly. One factor I'll project (since I can't tell where you're based) is that companies with proven engineering staff in the Bay Area get a boost in inherent value just from acquihire potential. Bonus points for famous and connected founders, as…

Most VC'S take ~20% of the money invested at the time of the investment. They also get a cut of the returns but there better off investing in crappy company's than sitting on the money. Sure, they do have to have some justification and can't say donate it to charity but as long as the fit is reasonable and there are no good options there going to pick something.

This is also on of the reasons they do separate funds. If 9/10 funds lose 50% of the money and one get's 500% returns they take a bug cut of that return despite only breaking even on average. It also explains why they don't care about small returns if a fund does not break even they don't care if it loses 1% or 99% they already have there cut and are not making any extra cash.

Re: Quora collects $80 million in funding

#80

Post by taybin »

mbesto wrote: post #78

My thoughts on the success of Quora are consistent with that of Joel Spolsky's take on cultural anthropology: http://vimeo.com/37309773 Watch from 9:30 on. "The idea of Stack Overflow is to attract anyone who is an expert programmer and repel anyone who's not" My prediction - Google/Facebook (someone in that arena) will buy Quora.

Isn't Stack Overflow the opposite of that though?
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