4 ms·
DDG is a great success story, I wish the whole team the best. I wonder how an exit will play out though. A big factor with DDG is user trust - that seems to l
by WhitneyLand 10y ago
DDG is a great success story, I wish the whole team the best.
I wonder how an exit will play out though. A big factor with DDG is user trust - that seems to limit the list potential buyers to the few that could credibly maintain that trust.
Then there is the IPO route, but that has it's own challenges. You could argue that up until now DDG has had no competition because Google doesn't think it's worth raising its hand to swat a fly. But there is no flying under the radar after an IPO. What if Google promoted a new "no track" feature which matched DDGs benefits without having to do dumb things like append query arguments, modify location, and run plugins?
You might say Google would never give up this much tracking control, but there are two caveats. First, if it's just an option buried in settings there will be limited uptake yet DDG's ability to claim differentiation would be nullified. Secondly, as DDG itself says, search can still be a great business without having to track people.
If I were lucky enough to be in DDGs position I would push for a Microsoft acquisition. MS has kept enough promises in recent years that they just may be able provide DDG users enough guarantees to maintain the trust. People have mentioned Apple but that seems like a lower probability for a variety of reasons. An MS deal would avoid the massive hassle of an IPO and enough resources to chip away at Google indefinitely without being pressured into short term decisions.
For now I'm just glad DDG is here trying to do some good.
- boomboomsubban 10y agoWhat promises has Microsoft kept that would make me consider trusting privacy to them? A sale to Microsoft would mean the decision to use duckduckgo would rely solely on search performance, and as much as I love bangs it's not a better search engine.
- WhitneyLand 10y agoNo big company is perfect, so trust is a relative judgement. It's also somewhat based on values, so we may think have different opinions. For example, I would trust MS more than Oracle, or one of the big cable companies.
- boomboomsubban 10y agoWhy? When has Microsoft ever done anything that gives you the impression they respect your privacy?
- panic 10y agoWhy would DuckDuckGo need to exit? Are they losing money?
- adanto6840 10y agoA quick Google search indicates that they've taken on ~$3M in funding. Depending on their revenues & expenses, that may mean that their investors aren't clamoring for quick returns. But at some point most investors do want to see a ROI/exit.
- akiselev 10y agoNot if it's a vanity investment (I don't know if there's a better term for it). If some VCs know that their fund will ride on one or two unicorns (or network effects like in YC's case) and that the rest of the investments will fail or barrly return 1-5x, once it's clear what the unicorn is there's a little room for investments that aren't expected to have a financial ROI. Perhaps the investment gets the investors a foot in the door for future ventures by the team or into a field where they might not have deal flow, or they might just want the extra "street cred" and publicity. YC regularly gives slots with funding to nonprofits now, which by definition can't have a financial ROI.
- jackcosgrove 10y agoMoney can corrupt, but so can poverty. There is a financial sweet spot where the contributors to DuckDuckGo are fat and happy and there aren't greedy investors wanting to monetize all that trust. Google has already occupied the greedy investor niche. DDG has carved out a niche where, I fear, the greatest threat is a lack of money for the people building and maintaining DDG. If they feel underappreciated, they may start to monetize that trust. The DDG team should be rewarded for their hard work.
- AdamSC1 10y agoNo concern here. While we don't disclose the figure our CEO has publicly noted that we are indeed profitable: http://fortune.com/2015/10/09/duckduckgo-profitable/ http://fortune.com/2015/10/09/duckduckgo-profitable/