Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

AngelList acquires Product Hunt

techcrunch.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 280 posts

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#171

Post by [deleted] »

CaveTech wrote: post #123
rl3 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recall a podcast interview Ryan Hoover gave some time ago, where he said (if I'm recalling this correctly) that he wouldn't consider offers to sell under $100M, and his goal was 1B or greater. At the time it sounded perfectly reasonable, though he since took the company in a direction that lead to today. The writing on the wall has been evident since at least a year ago. > ProductHunt had no hope of ever becoming a…

I'm really curious to know what strategy you believe could've landed them at 1 billion.

[deleted]

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#172

Post by jballanc »

nostrademons wrote: post #151
visakanv wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You just hit on one of the fundamental reasons why all online communities tend towards toxicity – the people who have the most time and energy to invest in discussions (which eventually snowball into flame wars) are the people who aren't actually doing the actual work. These things then feed off of themselves – in a sociopolitical 'guardian' type community (/r/atheism, /r/childfree, etc etc) it ends up becoming highl…

This is more true of communities built around ideas rather than activities, and there are also moderating tactics you can use to avoid it. For example, online communities based around astronomy, or radio-controlled airplanes, or baking, or other hobbies remain relatively healthy even decades after their founding. Also there are communities around conventionally caustic topics (eg. Lambda: The Ultimate for programming…

I don't understand how people constantly miss the most obvious solution to keeping a community grounded: charge an entry fee.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#173

Post by untog »

Jasber wrote: post #112

Don't understand the negativity. What Ryan and Product Hunt did was incredible. So many people wanted to create an alternative to Hacker News and Reddit for product people. Everyone else failed but they figured it out. That's awesome. Product Hunt personally helped me in my goal of becoming a independent app maker by showcasing my app https://www.producthunt.com/posts/focus . As of tomorrow I'm full-time indie (YES!)…

I don't mean to sound mean spirited, but I know I am about to.

Your post is an example of what frustrates me about Product Hunt (and, at times, HN) - people crowbaring in a reference to their startup/project/idea and throwing in a few links in a very transparent bid to get referral traffic from a popular message board service. On Product Hunt in particular it starts to sound like an echo chamber of people shouting startup names at each other. Worse, it seems like the Product Hunt is the goal rather than the tool - much like TechCrunch back in the day, everyone's success metric is attention from peers rather than customers.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#174

Post by ArlenBales »

Jasber wrote: post #112

Don't understand the negativity. What Ryan and Product Hunt did was incredible. So many people wanted to create an alternative to Hacker News and Reddit for product people. Everyone else failed but they figured it out. That's awesome. Product Hunt personally helped me in my goal of becoming a independent app maker by showcasing my app https://www.producthunt.com/posts/focus . As of tomorrow I'm full-time indie (YES!)…

Question about your Mac app -- these blocker apps seem to be a dime-a-dozen, but I don't understand how people think they're effective. People have so many mobile devices now, just because I block my Macbook doesn't mean I can't waste time on my iPhone/iPad, or use another computer. In the end, it's pure will that is the best means to stop distraction, no app will solve the problem.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#176

Post by bbaumgar »

jballanc wrote: post #172
nostrademons wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is more true of communities built around ideas rather than activities, and there are also moderating tactics you can use to avoid it. For example, online communities based around astronomy, or radio-controlled airplanes, or baking, or other hobbies remain relatively healthy even decades after their founding. Also there are communities around conventionally caustic topics (eg. Lambda: The Ultimate for programming…

I don't understand how people constantly miss the most obvious solution to keeping a community grounded: charge an entry fee.

Could you point to some examples where this has worked? It seems that the entry fee would either 1. limit the community's growth severely (not necessarily a bad thing), or 2. filter out good candidates.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#177

Post by bjelkeman-again »

jballanc wrote: post #172
nostrademons wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is more true of communities built around ideas rather than activities, and there are also moderating tactics you can use to avoid it. For example, online communities based around astronomy, or radio-controlled airplanes, or baking, or other hobbies remain relatively healthy even decades after their founding. Also there are communities around conventionally caustic topics (eg. Lambda: The Ultimate for programming…

I don't understand how people constantly miss the most obvious solution to keeping a community grounded: charge an entry fee.

Good moderation works well IMHO.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#178

Post by dang »

exogeny wrote: post #164
dang wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal characteristics may be irrelevant to the economics, but the comments you're responding to weren't about the economics. Please don't get nasty, as in your last paragraph, when commenting here. It literally adds nothing except bile, and we need less of that. Edit: your several comments in this thread smack of a vendetta. Schadenfreude is human, but I think it's fair to ask people not to go hog wild with it.

The profanity is a movie reference, which if you've seen that movie would perfectly illustrate my personal frustration towards the tacit acceptance of incompetence that this thread signifies. They did very little with an extreme amount of advantages handed to them vis-a-vis A16Z's involvement. It's not intellectually honest to praise them for being able to raise money while simultaneous consider them immune from crit…

Now that you mention it, I have seen that movie! Okay. The rest of your comments, though, including this one, are just the same cocktail of bile and snark, with more than a dash of personal attack. That's not cool. It has nothing to do with how right you are; it has to do with what a jerk you're being on this site. If you want to comment here, please make your points substantively, without that.

I don't care about what you're arguing for or against, or who owns it. What I care about is trying to stave off the toxicity that poisons this community. It really is that simple, as you'd realize if you looked into how much effort we put into doing that all day, every day. There is no energy left for anything else.

Dark insinuations ("I also find myself extremely skeptical") are sure fun, but from my very weary point of view, a little pompous and a lot tedious. I wish I could share with you how this stuff feels on the 10,000th iteration.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#179

Post by brentm »

exogeny wrote: post #103

Why are we applauding Ryan again? This is a saving face bailout from one of their own investors and a particularly embarrassing one at that given his statements of "I wouldn't consider anything under $100mm" and the pedigree of his investors. They raised a shit ton of money and built nothing. No real technology, no significant additions to their platform, no development of community. And now the result is an all-stoc…

I think that's being a little harsh. If you started something and A16Z offered you 7M you'd probably take it on the spot regardless of what it was you built. I'm sure when Ryan launched this thing he never thought it would be more than fun. It ended up spiraling into something much more than that. He was offered an investment from a grade A firm who was willing to let him to try and figure it out so he took it like any of us would have.

Good for them, let them have their moment.

Re: AngelList acquires Product Hunt

#180

Post by rfrank »

bbaumgar wrote: post #176
jballanc wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how people constantly miss the most obvious solution to keeping a community grounded: charge an entry fee.

Could you point to some examples where this has worked? It seems that the entry fee would either 1. limit the community's growth severely (not necessarily a bad thing), or 2. filter out good candidates.

SomethingAwful's forums required a paid membership and have been around a long time. IMO one of the points of a paid model is keeping membership down to people who actually care enough to pay said membership.
Post reply on HN