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I'd love to hear more about why. It makes sense for YC (and is probably being treated as a normal investment rather than "Adam filled out a YC application and d

I'd love to hear more about why. It makes sense for YC (and is probably being treated as a normal investment rather than "Adam filled out a YC application and did a 10 minute interview"), however I feel like it makes Quora seem weak.

sama 13y ago
Clearly makes a lot of sense for us :) I think the other companies in the batch will get a ton out of this. I'm hopeful Quora will too--as the YC community grows larger, we can help companies in lots of ways, including with things like hiring that are particularly important for later stage companies.
- kkhire 13y ago
  What do you think were the qualities that helped Quora rise above the many other similar Q&A websites? The layout and UI doesn't really seem too immersive.
  - putlake 13y ago
    Something that Facebook and Quora have in common is that the initial set of users were cool enough to prime the pump of viral growth. With Quora, you had awesome people giving answers only they had. Like a startup co-founder talking about the early days of their now successful venture. So starting with awesome people creating awesome content helped. Over time, Quora has done a few things really well: (1) growing the community while keeping it fairly high brow, (2) their topic taxonomy, and (3) their email digests. My problem with Quora is that it's more entertainment than useful. SE/SO is more functional. Who really cares what are the things about San Diego that most people don't know?
- waterlesscloud 13y ago
  I'm reading this as implying that a potential benefit to Quora is using YC as a hiring filter, presumably from failed startups. Seems like there could be some potentially misaligned incentives for YC founders there...
- dmoney 13y ago
  I'm guessing 5k + 5k per founder for ~6% of the company wouldn't work for a later stage company. Would this be more like a Series A investment?
jfoster 13y ago
Usually deals are all about the capital/equity/valuation balance, right? Perhaps YC was able to make this a better deal for themselves and Quora by getting them to take part in a YC batch. The hypothesis may be that the other YC startups are so much more likely to succeed after being heavily exposed to an already quite successful startup.
frabcus 13y ago
Right! Quora is before product market fit - it has no revenue, and its core product seems to have stalled (given the valuation its investors need). YC seems ideal for this. Just because they've spent millions, doesn't mean they aren't stuck, and need that magic juju sauce help to do the perfect pivot, which YC can perhaps help with.

sama 13y ago

Clearly makes a lot of sense for us :) I think the other companies in the batch will get a ton out of this. I'm hopeful Quora will too--as the YC community grows larger, we can help companies in lots of ways, including with things like hiring that are particularly important for later stage companies.

kkhire 13y ago
What do you think were the qualities that helped Quora rise above the many other similar Q&A websites? The layout and UI doesn't really seem too immersive.
- putlake 13y ago
  Something that Facebook and Quora have in common is that the initial set of users were cool enough to prime the pump of viral growth. With Quora, you had awesome people giving answers only they had. Like a startup co-founder talking about the early days of their now successful venture. So starting with awesome people creating awesome content helped. Over time, Quora has done a few things really well: (1) growing the community while keeping it fairly high brow, (2) their topic taxonomy, and (3) their email digests. My problem with Quora is that it's more entertainment than useful. SE/SO is more functional. Who really cares what are the things about San Diego that most people don't know?
waterlesscloud 13y ago
I'm reading this as implying that a potential benefit to Quora is using YC as a hiring filter, presumably from failed startups. Seems like there could be some potentially misaligned incentives for YC founders there...
dmoney 13y ago
I'm guessing 5k + 5k per founder for ~6% of the company wouldn't work for a later stage company. Would this be more like a Series A investment?

jfoster 13y ago

Usually deals are all about the capital/equity/valuation balance, right? Perhaps YC was able to make this a better deal for themselves and Quora by getting them to take part in a YC batch. The hypothesis may be that the other YC startups are so much more likely to succeed after being heavily exposed to an already quite successful startup.

frabcus 13y ago

Right! Quora is before product market fit - it has no revenue, and its core product seems to have stalled (given the valuation its investors need). YC seems ideal for this. Just because they've spent millions, doesn't mean they aren't stuck, and need that magic juju sauce help to do the perfect pivot, which YC can perhaps help with.