4 ms·

Ark (YC W12) raises big seed round

37 points by priley 14y ago

derwiki 14y ago
Anyone know why they pivoted? As of last summer, they were doing Cause related stuff (like we do at Causes.com). It was a little weird -- I saw a few cartoons on their site of a cute penguin (their logo) standing triumphantly over a dead polar bear (with the Causes logo). They also became the Mayor of our office on 4sq. So.. seeing that they're doing people search right now is a bit of a departure.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- kloncks 14y ago
  Seems they still have this Cause related stuff, accessible via link in footer. http://ark.com/fund/ http://ark.com/fund/
  - priley 14y ago
    We were just messing with you guys (Causes). ;) You can have your 4sq mayorship back. We initially were trying to enable people to connect based on similar charity interests. It's still available and people still use it. We just broadened the focus.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
2pasc 14y ago
Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting. But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-roost.html http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...) I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...
- alexandros 14y ago
  Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.
  - 2pasc 14y ago
    Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)
    - priley 14y ago
      I can certainly see it both ways. Thanks for the link and discussion guys. It's valuable for those just starting to make these kinds of decisions.
      - 2pasc 14y ago
        You are welcome. Really looking forward to test the product though. Do you intend to take on Intelius and Companies like that? Is that your goal?
- ianedwards 14y ago
  The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.
  - 2pasc 14y ago
    Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...
dmbaggett 14y ago
Part of what’s hard about social search is that Facebook prohibits outside crawlers. But Riley said he’s confident that he can get Facebook data, because he has gotten advice from Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and has worked with Facebook’s legal team to make sure everything’s kosher. This would seem to be a key point. Can anyone provide further details? Facebook hasn't historically shown much inclination to let others into the walled garden: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-got-sued-by-facebook.html http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-go... Why would Facebook allow this?
- ianedwards 14y ago
  Because they're not using a crawler, that's why. Or, at least, that's my sense of things.
  - dmbaggett 14y ago
    Wait, so now anyone who wants to index Facebook can, as long as they don't crawl? Obviously, that's not true. So what's the deal? Does Facebook now have warrants in ark.com or something? There must be some quid pro quo.
    - compsciphd 14y ago
      they are probably using the graph api. Which doesn't give you access to much data for most people (As we're all trained to limit what other people's apps can see of us)
      - priley 14y ago
        Absolutely correct. We are using the Graph API. The magic comes with you do link analysis and cluster it with other public data.
34code 14y ago
Ark is "already" doing massive things for sure. It already has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet
- priley 14y ago
  Thanks! But we feel like we are only 1% done. Our team has confidence in what we can accomplish... now it's just a matter of execution and having smart hackers on the team.
sytelus 14y ago
Does anyone has invites to check out Ark?

37 points by priley 14y ago

Anyone know why they pivoted? As of last summer, they were doing Cause related stuff (like we do at Causes.com). It was a little weird -- I saw a few cartoons on their site of a cute penguin (their logo) standing triumphantly over a dead polar bear (with the Causes logo). They also became the Mayor of our office on 4sq. So.. seeing that they're doing people search right now is a bit of a departure.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
kloncks 14y ago
Seems they still have this Cause related stuff, accessible via link in footer. http://ark.com/fund/ http://ark.com/fund/
- priley 14y ago
  We were just messing with you guys (Causes). ;) You can have your 4sq mayorship back. We initially were trying to enable people to connect based on similar charity interests. It's still available and people still use it. We just broadened the focus.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

2pasc 14y ago

Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting. But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-roost.html http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...) I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...

alexandros 14y ago
Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.
- 2pasc 14y ago
  Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)
  - priley 14y ago
    I can certainly see it both ways. Thanks for the link and discussion guys. It's valuable for those just starting to make these kinds of decisions.
    - 2pasc 14y ago
      You are welcome. Really looking forward to test the product though. Do you intend to take on Intelius and Companies like that? Is that your goal?
ianedwards 14y ago
The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.
- 2pasc 14y ago
  Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...

dmbaggett 14y ago

Part of what’s hard about social search is that Facebook prohibits outside crawlers. But Riley said he’s confident that he can get Facebook data, because he has gotten advice from Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and has worked with Facebook’s legal team to make sure everything’s kosher. This would seem to be a key point. Can anyone provide further details? Facebook hasn't historically shown much inclination to let others into the walled garden: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-got-sued-by-facebook.html http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-go... Why would Facebook allow this?

ianedwards 14y ago
Because they're not using a crawler, that's why. Or, at least, that's my sense of things.
- dmbaggett 14y ago
  Wait, so now anyone who wants to index Facebook can, as long as they don't crawl? Obviously, that's not true. So what's the deal? Does Facebook now have warrants in ark.com or something? There must be some quid pro quo.
  - compsciphd 14y ago
    they are probably using the graph api. Which doesn't give you access to much data for most people (As we're all trained to limit what other people's apps can see of us)
    - priley 14y ago
      Absolutely correct. We are using the Graph API. The magic comes with you do link analysis and cluster it with other public data.

34code 14y ago

Ark is "already" doing massive things for sure. It already has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet

priley 14y ago
Thanks! But we feel like we are only 1% done. Our team has confidence in what we can accomplish... now it's just a matter of execution and having smart hackers on the team.

sytelus 14y ago

Does anyone has invites to check out Ark?