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Seems like they were going to split directions at one point or another. Sad to see this happen as I love Quora but unfortunately, investors are in the business

Seems like they were going to split directions at one point or another. Sad to see this happen as I love Quora but unfortunately, investors are in the business of making money, not building amazing user-friendly webapps. Is Quora a great service? Absolutely. Is Quora something I would be incredibly sad to see die? Without a doubt. Is Quora ever going to make enough money to cover costs? Probably not. This leaves a sale as the only possible exit. Adam is taking the unsexy role of being the business guy that drives Quora towards this conclusion. Great product and engineering minds will quit (especially with the departure of Charlie). People will cry out about how "the Quora I loved is dead" and new features will prompt blog posts like this one: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2012/09/10/the-misstep-of-quora-and-the-importance-of-trust-amongst-your-community/ http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2012/09/10/the-misstep-of... . But Adam has no choice, either he does this or the company dies and everything that is good about it is lost.

yo-mf 14y ago
That blog post by Mark was 100% on point. There are legitimate growth tactics, and then there are growth tactics that go over the line. Quora recognized they crossed the line on that one. That being said, they will sell, probably by year end or early next year.
- hkmurakami 14y ago
  The question is, who's going to buy a Q&A site with a small user base for $400MM+?
  - samstave 14y ago
    As RDL said, Yahoo is the best likely acquirer and IMO specifically because they need to hedge against Google and FB grabbing up everything in their path.
- marcos123 14y ago
  As a former quora user, I definitely did not get the impression that they "recognized they crossed the line on that one." The impression I did get however was that the "views feature" was very much a consciously thought out decision, as I would assume most decisions are that are made in the context of building a company with millions of invested dollars in it. I also got the impression that they clung for dear life to that ill-intentioned decision, until their folly was making headlines for one-too-many days, and they made another decision to feign like they had no idea people wouldn't like strangers and friends knowing what they read in their private time. That's just my impression though. As a former quora user.
- deleted 14y ago
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yo-mf 14y ago

That blog post by Mark was 100% on point. There are legitimate growth tactics, and then there are growth tactics that go over the line. Quora recognized they crossed the line on that one. That being said, they will sell, probably by year end or early next year.

hkmurakami 14y ago
The question is, who's going to buy a Q&A site with a small user base for $400MM+?
- samstave 14y ago
  As RDL said, Yahoo is the best likely acquirer and IMO specifically because they need to hedge against Google and FB grabbing up everything in their path.
marcos123 14y ago
As a former quora user, I definitely did not get the impression that they "recognized they crossed the line on that one." The impression I did get however was that the "views feature" was very much a consciously thought out decision, as I would assume most decisions are that are made in the context of building a company with millions of invested dollars in it. I also got the impression that they clung for dear life to that ill-intentioned decision, until their folly was making headlines for one-too-many days, and they made another decision to feign like they had no idea people wouldn't like strangers and friends knowing what they read in their private time. That's just my impression though. As a former quora user.
deleted 14y ago
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