4 ms·

It seems pretty obvious why they raised so much -- I don't get the confusion. They're settling in for the long haul. Remember: these dudes are already rich fro

by staunch 15y ago

It seems pretty obvious why they raised so much -- I don't get the confusion. They're settling in for the long haul. Remember: these dudes are already rich from their Facebook days. They wouldn't even be doing this if they didn't truly want to. They raised $50 million so they can keep going on this project until it's solved, which may take 5+ years. The financial resources issue has been solved. It's what most anyone who's truly dedicated would like to be able to do. They just happen to be in the position to do it.

antidaily 15y ago
Which is what - beating out Yahoo Answers and Answers.com? Facebook Questions?
- 46Bit 15y ago
  An everyman's Wolfram Alpha?
- mmahemoff 15y ago
  Well StackExchange, but moreover beating out Wikipedia and Google seems to be more in line with their long game. (e.g. "I ended up going to Quora, because I was even more passionate about the vision and the role. I had a chance to help build what could become the platform for all human knowledge, which I thought could be a revolution of the same magnitude as Google" http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Did-anyone-decline-an-offer-to-work-at-Instagram http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Did-anyone-decline-an-offer-t...)
  - why-el 15y ago
    I don't see how they can center that vision around a question/answer format. To me it seems limited. On a separate note, and given a recent HN discussion about some of the constraints Stack Exchange puts on free flow of discussion, I see an angle Quora can explore.
    - codinghorror 15y ago
      discussion is only tolerated on Stack Exchange insofar as it allows us to get better questions, and better answers to questions. Just that amount, and no more. See also: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-su... (note: I do not disagree that the Q&A format may not be appropriate or even correct for all topics. Particularly and perhaps most of all those with no remotely verifiably "correct" answer possible.)
    - adrianhoward 15y ago
      Quora's Q&A format is a lot more permissive than the SE one though. You're allowed to have questions that don't have correct answers, and are asking much more general questions - discussion is more accepted. Surveys and polls are the only question-types banned on Quora that I can recall.
mikeryan 15y ago
I don't think anyone is confused why a team raised money. I think every startup out there is going to take as much as they can for as long as they can. The confusion is what the VC's saw in Quora which would warrant giving them so much (at such a high valuation).
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- jdunck 15y ago
  "I think every startup out there is going to take as much as they can for as long as they can" No, many startups take calculated risks that they can increase their valuation before needing to raise again, or get profitable before they need to, in hopes of avoiding selling large stakes in the company.
- redguava 15y ago
  Raising more money means giving away more equity. If you think your company is going to get a higher valuation later, it makes sense to raise a smaller amount now and then raise again later when you get more $$$ per % of equity.
- wpietri 15y ago
  Quora is creating a giant collection of well-indexed, compelling bits of content in a format that Google finds delicious. They're already in the top 1000 sites and have been rising steadily. And they're doing it in a way that users are doing most of the work. The obvious comparison is Wikipedia. Whether or not they'll get to that level I can't say, but it's not crazy to suggest that they will, and if they do they'll be worth a lot more than $500m. And even if they don't, they'll have a lot of users, a lot of pageviews, a smart staff, and a solid technology platform. Odds are good they'll find something to do.
  - andymurd 15y ago
    I agree with the Wikipedia comparison. I'm seeing many of those Google searches that have Wikipedia pages as the first result now with Quora gaining ground fast. There are two things that Quora is doing that aren't novel, but they are doing them really, really well: 1. Building an amazing topic taxonomy. A big hierarchy of topics that interest people. 2. PeopleRank. Who is an expert on which topic? Have they linked their Twitter/Facebook? Quora have some amazing data.
badusername 15y ago
It seemed to me that the fundraising is mostly to make a bunch of noise. When your company is growing by leaps and bounds, and the only limiting factor is that you're cash-strapped, a round of this size makes sense - not with the numbers/usage Quora currently has. Most of the reasoning that Adam mentions seem rather frail. Doing a funding round just to post a better-than-you valuation isn't what they should be focused on at the moment.
loverobots 15y ago
Ummm, no. D'Angelo put $20 mil in his own company so it's just $30mil, unless I read wrong. That $30mil is nothing, Thiel is making over $2 Billion on FB so this is just some crumbs as a thank you and "just in case."

by staunch 15y ago

antidaily 15y ago

Which is what - beating out Yahoo Answers and Answers.com? Facebook Questions?

46Bit 15y ago
An everyman's Wolfram Alpha?
mmahemoff 15y ago
Well StackExchange, but moreover beating out Wikipedia and Google seems to be more in line with their long game. (e.g. "I ended up going to Quora, because I was even more passionate about the vision and the role. I had a chance to help build what could become the platform for all human knowledge, which I thought could be a revolution of the same magnitude as Google" http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Did-anyone-decline-an-offer-to-work-at-Instagram http://www.quora.com/Instagram/Did-anyone-decline-an-offer-t...)
- why-el 15y ago
  I don't see how they can center that vision around a question/answer format. To me it seems limited. On a separate note, and given a recent HN discussion about some of the constraints Stack Exchange puts on free flow of discussion, I see an angle Quora can explore.
  - codinghorror 15y ago
    discussion is only tolerated on Stack Exchange insofar as it allows us to get better questions, and better answers to questions. Just that amount, and no more. See also: http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-su... (note: I do not disagree that the Q&A format may not be appropriate or even correct for all topics. Particularly and perhaps most of all those with no remotely verifiably "correct" answer possible.)
  - adrianhoward 15y ago
    Quora's Q&A format is a lot more permissive than the SE one though. You're allowed to have questions that don't have correct answers, and are asking much more general questions - discussion is more accepted. Surveys and polls are the only question-types banned on Quora that I can recall.

mikeryan 15y ago

I don't think anyone is confused why a team raised money. I think every startup out there is going to take as much as they can for as long as they can. The confusion is what the VC's saw in Quora which would warrant giving them so much (at such a high valuation).

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
jdunck 15y ago
"I think every startup out there is going to take as much as they can for as long as they can" No, many startups take calculated risks that they can increase their valuation before needing to raise again, or get profitable before they need to, in hopes of avoiding selling large stakes in the company.
redguava 15y ago
Raising more money means giving away more equity. If you think your company is going to get a higher valuation later, it makes sense to raise a smaller amount now and then raise again later when you get more $$$ per % of equity.
wpietri 15y ago
Quora is creating a giant collection of well-indexed, compelling bits of content in a format that Google finds delicious. They're already in the top 1000 sites and have been rising steadily. And they're doing it in a way that users are doing most of the work. The obvious comparison is Wikipedia. Whether or not they'll get to that level I can't say, but it's not crazy to suggest that they will, and if they do they'll be worth a lot more than $500m. And even if they don't, they'll have a lot of users, a lot of pageviews, a smart staff, and a solid technology platform. Odds are good they'll find something to do.
- andymurd 15y ago
  I agree with the Wikipedia comparison. I'm seeing many of those Google searches that have Wikipedia pages as the first result now with Quora gaining ground fast. There are two things that Quora is doing that aren't novel, but they are doing them really, really well: 1. Building an amazing topic taxonomy. A big hierarchy of topics that interest people. 2. PeopleRank. Who is an expert on which topic? Have they linked their Twitter/Facebook? Quora have some amazing data.

badusername 15y ago

It seemed to me that the fundraising is mostly to make a bunch of noise. When your company is growing by leaps and bounds, and the only limiting factor is that you're cash-strapped, a round of this size makes sense - not with the numbers/usage Quora currently has. Most of the reasoning that Adam mentions seem rather frail. Doing a funding round just to post a better-than-you valuation isn't what they should be focused on at the moment.

loverobots 15y ago

Ummm, no. D'Angelo put $20 mil in his own company so it's just $30mil, unless I read wrong. That $30mil is nothing, Thiel is making over $2 Billion on FB so this is just some crumbs as a thank you and "just in case."