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I know this is a contentious question, but have you ever considered turning HN into a business with YC as the primary investor? The question is: could you adva

I know this is a contentious question, but have you ever considered turning HN into a business with YC as the primary investor? The question is: could you advance it as a business without killing the magic and the splash benefit to Y Combinator. I think the answer to both is yes.

alexophile 16y ago
In many ways, I think that's already what it is. HN was created to, and still does, serve the purposes of YC. I don't know where the money comes from to keep it up and running, but I would imagine it's part of the YC operating budget. In short, I'm sure the value it represents now is far greater than what one could garner from trying to directly monetize it. Just look at any of pgs posts - people upvote the bejeezus out of them: he can instantly and effortlessly access thousands of high quality eyeballs. There are surely people that would pay egregious sums of money to have this kind of community in any vertical, and tech startups are pretty hot - I struggle to even fathom what could possibly constitute a fair price for jeopardizing that. [edit: Google says it's spelled 'bejeezus']
- jackowayed 16y ago
  It's also amazing leadgen for YC. That's partially because of PG's direct ability to get things like "apps are open" to the top spot, but also just because if you use HN regularly, you get a good impression of YC and are constantly reminded that it exists.
- webwright 16y ago
  I agree HN is super-valuable for YC right now. But it's effectively part-time product of a pretty small team. Could a small full-time team do good things in terms of user joy, loyalty, acquisition, and even monetization? With PG as an advisor/owner, I can't imagine why not.
- alexqgb 16y ago
  I suspect HN is a fantastic ambient resource for actual Y Combinator members. That is to say, I suspect most of them would have a harder time being productive and successful in a world without HN.
pg 16y ago
I haven't thought about it. We don't need or want to. But you probably could if you wanted to.
Kaizyn 16y ago
The only possible way it could be done is if they start charging a subscription for the service. Anything else would pretty much kill it, and adding a subscription probably would too.
- rottencupcakes 16y ago
  That's jumping to conclusions. I bet tons of marketers would pay mad money for their job postings and other things to be seen by all the high quality eyeballs on hacker news.
  - RyanMcGreal 16y ago
    All the more reason not to try and monetize it.
orky56 16y ago
HN would be in the same space as Reddit at that point. Reddit seems to be doing well with YC's help. The audiences are different and clearly as we have seen there is enough space for the both of them. There is something about HN being what it is today without the motive of creating profits. The content and community is what drives traffic and I hope that's how it will always be.

alexophile 16y ago

In many ways, I think that's already what it is. HN was created to, and still does, serve the purposes of YC. I don't know where the money comes from to keep it up and running, but I would imagine it's part of the YC operating budget. In short, I'm sure the value it represents now is far greater than what one could garner from trying to directly monetize it. Just look at any of pgs posts - people upvote the bejeezus out of them: he can instantly and effortlessly access thousands of high quality eyeballs. There are surely people that would pay egregious sums of money to have this kind of community in any vertical, and tech startups are pretty hot - I struggle to even fathom what could possibly constitute a fair price for jeopardizing that. [edit: Google says it's spelled 'bejeezus']

jackowayed 16y ago
It's also amazing leadgen for YC. That's partially because of PG's direct ability to get things like "apps are open" to the top spot, but also just because if you use HN regularly, you get a good impression of YC and are constantly reminded that it exists.
webwright 16y ago
I agree HN is super-valuable for YC right now. But it's effectively part-time product of a pretty small team. Could a small full-time team do good things in terms of user joy, loyalty, acquisition, and even monetization? With PG as an advisor/owner, I can't imagine why not.
alexqgb 16y ago
I suspect HN is a fantastic ambient resource for actual Y Combinator members. That is to say, I suspect most of them would have a harder time being productive and successful in a world without HN.

pg 16y ago

I haven't thought about it. We don't need or want to. But you probably could if you wanted to.

Kaizyn 16y ago

The only possible way it could be done is if they start charging a subscription for the service. Anything else would pretty much kill it, and adding a subscription probably would too.

rottencupcakes 16y ago
That's jumping to conclusions. I bet tons of marketers would pay mad money for their job postings and other things to be seen by all the high quality eyeballs on hacker news.
- RyanMcGreal 16y ago
  All the more reason not to try and monetize it.

orky56 16y ago

HN would be in the same space as Reddit at that point. Reddit seems to be doing well with YC's help. The audiences are different and clearly as we have seen there is enough space for the both of them. There is something about HN being what it is today without the motive of creating profits. The content and community is what drives traffic and I hope that's how it will always be.