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The article makes me quite worried for Quora. First it's the same old 'users first, monetize later', a distinct problem from monetization strategy: it's a fail

The article makes me quite worried for Quora. First it's the same old 'users first, monetize later', a distinct problem from monetization strategy: it's a failed mindset where every day you're not charging people is a day you're not learning what you can actually get people to pay for, that is, what constitutes your business. Secondly he doesn't event start addressing the hard problems of Q&A sites: 1) How to keep the quality of answers high. As soon as more people get on the site, the quality will drop unless there is a smart mechanic to prevent it. All he has is assertion that 'You’re answering questions because ...' as if he knew the answer to that question for the next 100k users who aren't early adopters! 2) How to monetize a Q&A site in the face of approaching commoditization, on a scale that warrants investment. Ads? Really?

BenSchaechter 16y ago
Many very successful sites/businesses are able to monetize just fine off of advertisements. I'm pretty positive people wouldn't pay to use Quora when it launched -- or at least Quora wouldn't have had nearly the same rate of growth had they charged their users initially.
- mikeryan 16y ago
  I'm not being snarky - but outside of Google and Facebook - who is doing really well with a pure ad model? Every time I see this now I think of Digg and Reddit, both which seem to be having issues supporting themselves with pure ads. I actually think those two businesses and Quora could likely support a small(ish) staff and make enough revenues to make a decent profit, but I'm not sure that would get them into the decent exit category.
  - krohrbaugh 16y ago
    The Stack Overflow guys seem to be building a healthy, if modest, business around Q&A based on an advertising + services (job boards, etc) model. Granted, I'm not sure this could grow into a billion dollar business, but it may be profitable. It also seems that Quora is aiming squarely at Stack Exchange, and both companies seem to be holding their long-term strategies close to their chest. Perhaps they see some monetization strategy that the rest of us are failing to grasp?
  - mlinsey 16y ago
    I think that Quora's advertising model could be similar to Google in that there is potentially a high degree of purchase intent associated with asking or even browsing certain questions. It will probably never achieve the same scale, but I can see their CPMs being comparably high. One of the big reasons I think investors are excited about Q&A is that the model can be seen as a better replacement for search engines for long-tail, high-expertise questions. This is probably the reason Quora is trying to keep question and answer quality as high as possible. So far I think they have succeeded, although this will always be a tough thing to balance with growth.
  - jonknee 16y ago
    About.com (acquired for $410m). Last.fm was all advertising supported until last year (well after the $280m buyout). Hulu has done really well with advertising. Demand Media. How Stuff Works ($250m). Pet Holdings (Cheezburger Network). Etc etc. Plenty of web companies do just fine with advertising dollars.
    - mikeryan 16y ago
      Quick note - it looks like About is profitable (50M) it seems like one of the most profitable arms of NYTimes model. Can't find specifics on HowStuffWorks yet. Pet Holdings I like, but is it profitable? Hulu the jury is out, they're just cash flow positive - but they just moved to a pay model. I actually categorize last.fm and hulu slightly differently in my head then the pure, text based web plays, but that's okay. Demand media I was going to actually use as a counter example since they're not yet profitable (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/08/12/where-did-demand-medias-profits-go/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/08/12/where-did-demand-medi...) Last.fm was "hoping" for profitability this year (http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-interview-cbs-thinks-last.fm-will-turn-a-profit-this-year/ http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-interview-cbs-thinks-la...)
      - jonknee 16y ago
        Well you counted Facebook as a big success in terms of advertising, but they aren't exactly raking in cash. To me that puts it similar to Hulu and Demand--making significant revenue, but the real money comes from an IPO. For the most part we're not talking public companies, so it's hard to be completely accurate. But I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of online advertising funded businesses who are providing strong returns to their partners/investors.
  - BenSchaechter 16y ago
    Just a few off the top of my head: Any major blog (TechCrunch, Mashable, Gizmodo) or media website, Stackoverflow's entire network. Most well-trafficked websites take advantage of advertising in some form and support a number of employees. However, Quora probably doesn't have to stick with "pure" ad models -- and I don't expect them to. Just because they say they aren't focusing on monetization right now doesn't mean they're completely blowing it off. The Quora team is full of some pretty smart people who I'm sure know a bit about what they're doing.
physcab 16y ago
I've actually been pretty impressed by the quality of the answers on Quora. I was fairly skeptical at first, but its almost become just as good as wikipedia, but for local knowledge instead of global. Opening it up will pose risks, but right now I'm sold on the implementation.
secret 16y ago
Can't one problem solve the other? I know Google Answers flopped, but people were paying for research. What if instead you had to pay for membership like Metafilter? Granted, I don't think that would end up being a huge business, but it's one possibility.

BenSchaechter 16y ago

Many very successful sites/businesses are able to monetize just fine off of advertisements. I'm pretty positive people wouldn't pay to use Quora when it launched -- or at least Quora wouldn't have had nearly the same rate of growth had they charged their users initially.

mikeryan 16y ago
I'm not being snarky - but outside of Google and Facebook - who is doing really well with a pure ad model? Every time I see this now I think of Digg and Reddit, both which seem to be having issues supporting themselves with pure ads. I actually think those two businesses and Quora could likely support a small(ish) staff and make enough revenues to make a decent profit, but I'm not sure that would get them into the decent exit category.
- krohrbaugh 16y ago
  The Stack Overflow guys seem to be building a healthy, if modest, business around Q&A based on an advertising + services (job boards, etc) model. Granted, I'm not sure this could grow into a billion dollar business, but it may be profitable. It also seems that Quora is aiming squarely at Stack Exchange, and both companies seem to be holding their long-term strategies close to their chest. Perhaps they see some monetization strategy that the rest of us are failing to grasp?
- mlinsey 16y ago
  I think that Quora's advertising model could be similar to Google in that there is potentially a high degree of purchase intent associated with asking or even browsing certain questions. It will probably never achieve the same scale, but I can see their CPMs being comparably high. One of the big reasons I think investors are excited about Q&A is that the model can be seen as a better replacement for search engines for long-tail, high-expertise questions. This is probably the reason Quora is trying to keep question and answer quality as high as possible. So far I think they have succeeded, although this will always be a tough thing to balance with growth.
- jonknee 16y ago
  About.com (acquired for $410m). Last.fm was all advertising supported until last year (well after the $280m buyout). Hulu has done really well with advertising. Demand Media. How Stuff Works ($250m). Pet Holdings (Cheezburger Network). Etc etc. Plenty of web companies do just fine with advertising dollars.
  - mikeryan 16y ago
    Quick note - it looks like About is profitable (50M) it seems like one of the most profitable arms of NYTimes model. Can't find specifics on HowStuffWorks yet. Pet Holdings I like, but is it profitable? Hulu the jury is out, they're just cash flow positive - but they just moved to a pay model. I actually categorize last.fm and hulu slightly differently in my head then the pure, text based web plays, but that's okay. Demand media I was going to actually use as a counter example since they're not yet profitable (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/08/12/where-did-demand-medias-profits-go/ http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/08/12/where-did-demand-medi...) Last.fm was "hoping" for profitability this year (http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-interview-cbs-thinks-last.fm-will-turn-a-profit-this-year/ http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-interview-cbs-thinks-la...)
    - jonknee 16y ago
      Well you counted Facebook as a big success in terms of advertising, but they aren't exactly raking in cash. To me that puts it similar to Hulu and Demand--making significant revenue, but the real money comes from an IPO. For the most part we're not talking public companies, so it's hard to be completely accurate. But I think it's safe to say that there are a lot of online advertising funded businesses who are providing strong returns to their partners/investors.
- BenSchaechter 16y ago
  Just a few off the top of my head: Any major blog (TechCrunch, Mashable, Gizmodo) or media website, Stackoverflow's entire network. Most well-trafficked websites take advantage of advertising in some form and support a number of employees. However, Quora probably doesn't have to stick with "pure" ad models -- and I don't expect them to. Just because they say they aren't focusing on monetization right now doesn't mean they're completely blowing it off. The Quora team is full of some pretty smart people who I'm sure know a bit about what they're doing.

physcab 16y ago

I've actually been pretty impressed by the quality of the answers on Quora. I was fairly skeptical at first, but its almost become just as good as wikipedia, but for local knowledge instead of global. Opening it up will pose risks, but right now I'm sold on the implementation.

secret 16y ago

Can't one problem solve the other? I know Google Answers flopped, but people were paying for research. What if instead you had to pay for membership like Metafilter? Granted, I don't think that would end up being a huge business, but it's one possibility.