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Quora in the next YC batch

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#131

Post by caw »

bashinator wrote: post #116
gedrap wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Quora is a totally different product, content wise. You don't go to Quora for programming help unless it's hello world in php. You go there for /r/iama type of questions. Or it's just my usage, largely influenced by the weekly email.

Reddit has semi-anonymous, unverified accounts. Quora requires FB. Kind of makes it a no-brainer for me.

You can still sign up for Quora accounts without a social network OAuth. I just did. It asked for my email, firstname, and lastname.

When you post questions or answer, you can also click the "anonymous" checkbox to remove your name.

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#132

Post by putlake »

kkhire wrote: post #22
sama wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly makes a lot of sense for us :) I think the other companies in the batch will get a ton out of this. I'm hopeful Quora will too--as the YC community grows larger, we can help companies in lots of ways, including with things like hiring that are particularly important for later stage companies.

What do you think were the qualities that helped Quora rise above the many other similar Q&A websites? The layout and UI doesn't really seem too immersive.

Something that Facebook and Quora have in common is that the initial set of users were cool enough to prime the pump of viral growth. With Quora, you had awesome people giving answers only they had. Like a startup co-founder talking about the early days of their now successful venture.

So starting with awesome people creating awesome content helped. Over time, Quora has done a few things really well: (1) growing the community while keeping it fairly high brow, (2) their topic taxonomy, and (3) their email digests.

My problem with Quora is that it's more entertainment than useful. SE/SO is more functional. Who really cares what are the things about San Diego that most people don't know?

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#133

Post by beagle3 »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #109
meritt wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direction probably. Quora has floundered for nearly 5 years, burned millions of dollars and still has a questionable product. Meanwhile Stack Exchange has been around only a year longer, a fraction of the funding, and pretty well owns the entire question-answer niche.

There are 20 million programmers in the world, that is the maximum S.O. can get. There are billions of people looking for just the type of answers you find on Quora. Also you go to S.O. to find a specific answer than move on, on Q you stick around and read other stuff, go back for discovery. I am not saying which one is more valuable, perhaps S.O. is more monetizable.

That's a strawman. Don't compare Quora to Stack Overflow (which is, indeed, limited to programmers). Look at the entire Stack Exchange network.

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#134

Post by mkempe »

sama wrote: post #13
ivankirigin wrote: post #9

Wow, what a great experiment. How can Quora employees get involved? What percentage of the company does YC get? Did you even make an investment? Given their huge fundraising and valuation, getting even 1% and giving them around $100K both seem odd.

we did invest. as a general rule, i think investors shouldn't disclose terms, but if the company wants to, fine w/me.

Hasn't the premise of YC --since the beginning-- been to explicitly state the investment amount and percentage? This move feels like dilution of both purpose and brand.

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#135

Post by mbesto »

tyang wrote: post #120
mbesto wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if you were insinuating that SE's fragmentation was a bad thing. If you are, SE actively fragment's itself for a reason. Watch Spolsky talk about it here: http://vimeo.com/37309773 Quora's non-fragmentation is it's ultimate downfall. I'm all bull on SE and bear on Quora.

K. How do you express those views? Are you buying SE shares via MicroVentures, etc.? How do you go short Quora?

I meant metaphorically. Both companies are capitalized privately.

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#136

Post by GrinningFool »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #109
meritt wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Direction probably. Quora has floundered for nearly 5 years, burned millions of dollars and still has a questionable product. Meanwhile Stack Exchange has been around only a year longer, a fraction of the funding, and pretty well owns the entire question-answer niche.

There are 20 million programmers in the world, that is the maximum S.O. can get. There are billions of people looking for just the type of answers you find on Quora. Also you go to S.O. to find a specific answer than move on, on Q you stick around and read other stuff, go back for discovery. I am not saying which one is more valuable, perhaps S.O. is more monetizable.

" There are billions of people looking for just the type of answers you find on Quora"

And how many of them are going there? Every indication is "not many".

"Also you go to S.O. to find a specific answer than move on, on Q you stick around and read other stuff, go back for discovery."

By "you" you mean?

I've visited quora maybe a dozen times, usually by following a link from an aggregator like HN. I didn't feel compelled to poke around once I got there, and the comments and replies (though they came from the people with higher reputation) generally ran the same gamut as everywhere else.

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#137

Post by GrinningFool »

jedberg wrote: post #100
johnrob wrote: post #16

Keep a link to this for the initial office hours ;) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4503910

PG isn't always right you know. :) He told the reddit guys that the logo was a distraction and if they must have it it should be at the bottom out of view. Sometimes he does make a mistake. This previous statement of his could be one of them.

Here, in the very temple of PG, you speak such blasphemy?

;)

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#138

Post by jonathanjaeger »

I still think all the Quora bashing about their signup interstitials is overstated. They've determined the optimal experience is for people to sign up to see an answer. I know that seems antithetical to an open and "easy-to-use" Internet, but this isn't Wikipedia. Quora is about answers but also about opinions. Their email newsletters, although tweaked recently in a not-so-favorable way, are still amazing. You get a ton of value becoming a user, but unless you sign up (or are semi-forced to sign up) you'd never know that.

While I keep saying I'm not sure if it'll be a good business, I love Quora. They've done something truly unique in the Q&A space and I'm happy they have so much funding that they'll be around for years to come regardless of whether it's a "business".

Re: Quora in the next YC batch

#139

Post by vishnugupta »

namenotrequired wrote: post #95
codinghorror wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure -- you're right that the SE engine is definitely only good at specific things (namely, fact/data/science based questions), but it is arguably the best in the world at those particular things. What is the Quora engine the best in the world at? I'd look at growth, too. Even the less popular SE sites grow at very respectable rates. How much is Quora growing?

Since neither his comment nor his profile mention it, I'll mention here for those unaware that this guy is co-founder of Stack Exchange.

"coddinghorror" gives it away though :-)
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