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Hard to imagine what's in it for Quora. - Network connections? Their CEO is the former CTO of Facebook. - Help with fundraising? They raised $80mm at $900mm v

Hard to imagine what's in it for Quora. - Network connections? Their CEO is the former CTO of Facebook. - Help with fundraising? They raised $80mm at $900mm valuation not more than a month ago. I strongly suspect Quora is planning a huge pivot which they feel is ambitious but doable in 3 months, and YC believes in the value of this pivot; that is the only plausible explanation I can think of.

toomuchtodo 12y ago
Is there a webapp that lets us take/make bets on things like this? Not for money of course, but purely to gauge sentiment.
- klochner 12y ago
  There's http://longbets.org/ http://longbets.org/
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Thank you! I need to do some sort of HackerNews/Long Bets mashup for 1-click betting.
    - snihalani 12y ago
      I'd be down to help you in making that.
      - rdl 12y ago
        There's a good argument (I think by balajis of a16z) recently for using blockchain type stuff for these long bets. And the recent "truthcoin".
    - morenoh149 12y ago
      if you're serious about this I'd like to help :)
    - riffraff 12y ago
      I'd use that if you make it frictionless enough (i.e. automatic parsing of HN comments, a bookmarklet or something).
- troymc 12y ago
  Or better yet, is there a webapp that lets us ask questions and post answers for others?
  - konradb 12y ago
    Yahoo Answers has been doing ok in this space, there's perhaps room for another solid contender though.
  - morenoh149 12y ago
    jelly app is kinda like that. Except with a focus on pics and maps.
  - torbit 12y ago
    quick pic polls http://polarb.com/ http://polarb.com/
- presty 12y ago
  well I created http://www.startupbets.com/ http://www.startupbets.com/ for fun at the last TC disrupt hackathon, but requires me to create the questions http://startupbets.com/bet/4 http://startupbets.com/bet/4
outside1234 12y ago
Or perhaps YC is the one making the pivot? :)
- 001sky 12y ago
  Or, google? It seems the content-farming biz was killed primarily by Google's algo changes over the years. http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/04/demand.content.farms/ http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/04/demand.content.farms/ http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/08/09/about-com-and-the-slow-decline-of-content-farms/ http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/08/09/about-com-and-the-... http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/12/09/does-facebook-think-virality-mills-are-the-new-content-farms/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/12/09/does-fa...
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- brackin 12y ago
  They've been morphing into a seed stage VC firm for a long time, the new deal and increase in partners reflects this.
lettergram 12y ago
I wonder if YC is not taking any stake (or a very small stake) in Quora. They do not really need it, perhaps it's just beneficial for both parties. Quora gains a large number of connections, possible companies to fund/buyout, a network of founders to answer questions, complimentary services, and some prestige. YC gains a larger network, another large(ish) player in the tech industry, and potentially some money from an investment. OR Perhaps YC put something like $8mm into Quora for a slice of the pie, but I'm guessing the first one.
- ngoel36 12y ago
  Sam said they did invest but did not disclose the terms
- selmnoo 12y ago
  I think that's probably the rationale. Good engineers are hard to find. Quora actually has a lot of smart folks participating -- what better place to find people for your startups and companies than that?
- price 12y ago
  The post says they're "participating in Quora's most recent investment round". The normal meaning of that would be that they're buying at the same price/valuation as that Series C round, so if it's anything like YC's usual size of investment it would be a very small stake. (Ex-Quora employee, but I have no inside information.)
meritt 12y ago
Direction probably. Quora has floundered for nearly 5 years, burned millions of dollars and still has a questionable product. Meanwhile Stack Exchange has been around only a year longer, a fraction of the funding, and pretty well owns the entire question-answer niche.
- ProAm 12y ago
  Ive not used Quora, what is their struture like? SE is fairly fragemented now, is Quora similiar?
  - mbesto 12y ago
    I'm not sure if you were insinuating that SE's fragmentation was a bad thing. If you are, SE actively fragment's itself for a reason. Watch Spolsky talk about it here: http://vimeo.com/37309773 http://vimeo.com/37309773 Quora's non-fragmentation is it's ultimate downfall. I'm all bull on SE and bear on Quora.
    - tyang 12y ago
      K. How do you express those views? Are you buying SE shares via MicroVentures, etc.? How do you go short Quora?
      - mbesto 12y ago
        I meant metaphorically. Both companies are capitalized privately.
    - ProAm 12y ago
      Im not sure yet if the SE fragmentation is a good thing or bad yet. From one perspective I see where they are coming from and why they are doing it. But in today's age of IT where the specialists is dead and people are more-or-less required to be an expert generalist it is very frustrating to use SE. I find myself more or less giving up when a question gets migrated to a SE Im not a 'member' of yet (they should really just make all users IDs members on all their sites whether people use them or not). Whether you are a webmaster, server admin, programmer, general PC user or just want to ask a general question about how SE works, I shouldn't need to go so many places. It's really 50-50 in my mind if they are doing a good thing or bad (and it probably doesnt matter in the end) But I have never used Quora, so I know nothing about it beyond getting the blurred webpage when you are not a member there. Ill check out that video now.
mikeleeorg 12y ago
Very interesting move. I love the concept of Quora and used to lose many hours going "Quora surfing." But as I fine-tuned the categories I followed, I found the fun of surfing random topics less enjoyable as my homepage feed filled with the same ole' topics and content. Recently, I've begun an experiment to see if answering questions within my domain can help with "personal branding." It seems to have netted me a few new followers on Quora and Twitter, but I haven't noticed a substantial benefit yet. I also started using it as inspiration for blog posts, though I'm blogging on my own site and not on Quora (not sure what's in it for me to blog on Quora). In the past, I've seen other blogs (e.g. TechCrunch) use Quora posts as the basis for articles too. In terms of the "is Quora a vitamin or pain killer" question, it's very much a vitamin for me. Stack Exchange is a much better community for getting specific technical answers, which are the most common kinds of questions I hunt for on the web. I tend to ask my personal network for business & marketing questions, since it's difficult to explain my specific situation in a Quora question. (Being too specific sometimes runs the risk of no answers; being too general sometimes runs the risk of unhelpful answers, I've found.) I would suspect this is the foundation for a pivot too. The advice from the YC partners and alumni network could be pretty helpful. So best of luck to whatever they are going to pivot into!
bhaumik 12y ago
Asked the same question on Quora [1]. Adam D'Angelo's answer: There are a bunch of reasons why it's valuable for Quora to be a YC company: >>We'll have Sam and all the other partners to help us. >>We get to be part of the YC community / alumni network of founders. >>We get access to all the resources of YC. We were raising money anyway, so there was no overhead in letting YC participate. And independent of the benefits to Quora, I think it will be fun personally to participate in some of the YC events. I hope my perspective can help some of the other companies. [1] http://qr.ae/y2vdI http://qr.ae/y2vdI
zefi 12y ago
YC is run by some of the smartest people in the valley. Quora obviously see their ability to help with the direction and strategy of their business valuable.
javadi82 12y ago
Regarding the "Why join YC?", Adam has answered this on Quora: here are a bunch of reasons why it's valuable for Quora to be a YC company: We'll have Sam and all the other partners to help us. We get to be part of the YC community / alumni network of founders. We get access to all the resources of YC. We were raising money anyway, so there was no overhead in letting YC participate. And independent of the benefits to Quora, I think it will be fun personally to participate in some of the YC events. I hope my perspective can help some of the other companies. Link - http://qr.ae/yY9x4 http://qr.ae/yY9x4 (does not require login)

toomuchtodo 12y ago

Is there a webapp that lets us take/make bets on things like this? Not for money of course, but purely to gauge sentiment.

klochner 12y ago
There's http://longbets.org/ http://longbets.org/
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Thank you! I need to do some sort of HackerNews/Long Bets mashup for 1-click betting.
  - snihalani 12y ago
    I'd be down to help you in making that.
    - rdl 12y ago
      There's a good argument (I think by balajis of a16z) recently for using blockchain type stuff for these long bets. And the recent "truthcoin".
  - morenoh149 12y ago
    if you're serious about this I'd like to help :)
  - riffraff 12y ago
    I'd use that if you make it frictionless enough (i.e. automatic parsing of HN comments, a bookmarklet or something).
troymc 12y ago
Or better yet, is there a webapp that lets us ask questions and post answers for others?
- konradb 12y ago
  Yahoo Answers has been doing ok in this space, there's perhaps room for another solid contender though.
- morenoh149 12y ago
  jelly app is kinda like that. Except with a focus on pics and maps.
- torbit 12y ago
  quick pic polls http://polarb.com/ http://polarb.com/
presty 12y ago
well I created http://www.startupbets.com/ http://www.startupbets.com/ for fun at the last TC disrupt hackathon, but requires me to create the questions http://startupbets.com/bet/4 http://startupbets.com/bet/4

outside1234 12y ago

Or perhaps YC is the one making the pivot? :)

001sky 12y ago
Or, google? It seems the content-farming biz was killed primarily by Google's algo changes over the years. http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/04/demand.content.farms/ http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/web/02/04/demand.content.farms/ http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/08/09/about-com-and-the-slow-decline-of-content-farms/ http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2012/08/09/about-com-and-the-... http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/12/09/does-facebook-think-virality-mills-are-the-new-content-farms/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/12/09/does-fa...
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
brackin 12y ago
They've been morphing into a seed stage VC firm for a long time, the new deal and increase in partners reflects this.

lettergram 12y ago

I wonder if YC is not taking any stake (or a very small stake) in Quora. They do not really need it, perhaps it's just beneficial for both parties. Quora gains a large number of connections, possible companies to fund/buyout, a network of founders to answer questions, complimentary services, and some prestige. YC gains a larger network, another large(ish) player in the tech industry, and potentially some money from an investment. OR Perhaps YC put something like $8mm into Quora for a slice of the pie, but I'm guessing the first one.

ngoel36 12y ago
Sam said they did invest but did not disclose the terms
selmnoo 12y ago
I think that's probably the rationale. Good engineers are hard to find. Quora actually has a lot of smart folks participating -- what better place to find people for your startups and companies than that?
price 12y ago
The post says they're "participating in Quora's most recent investment round". The normal meaning of that would be that they're buying at the same price/valuation as that Series C round, so if it's anything like YC's usual size of investment it would be a very small stake. (Ex-Quora employee, but I have no inside information.)

meritt 12y ago

Direction probably. Quora has floundered for nearly 5 years, burned millions of dollars and still has a questionable product. Meanwhile Stack Exchange has been around only a year longer, a fraction of the funding, and pretty well owns the entire question-answer niche.

ProAm 12y ago
Ive not used Quora, what is their struture like? SE is fairly fragemented now, is Quora similiar?
- mbesto 12y ago
  I'm not sure if you were insinuating that SE's fragmentation was a bad thing. If you are, SE actively fragment's itself for a reason. Watch Spolsky talk about it here: http://vimeo.com/37309773 http://vimeo.com/37309773 Quora's non-fragmentation is it's ultimate downfall. I'm all bull on SE and bear on Quora.
  - tyang 12y ago
    K. How do you express those views? Are you buying SE shares via MicroVentures, etc.? How do you go short Quora?
    - mbesto 12y ago
      I meant metaphorically. Both companies are capitalized privately.
  - ProAm 12y ago
    Im not sure yet if the SE fragmentation is a good thing or bad yet. From one perspective I see where they are coming from and why they are doing it. But in today's age of IT where the specialists is dead and people are more-or-less required to be an expert generalist it is very frustrating to use SE. I find myself more or less giving up when a question gets migrated to a SE Im not a 'member' of yet (they should really just make all users IDs members on all their sites whether people use them or not). Whether you are a webmaster, server admin, programmer, general PC user or just want to ask a general question about how SE works, I shouldn't need to go so many places. It's really 50-50 in my mind if they are doing a good thing or bad (and it probably doesnt matter in the end) But I have never used Quora, so I know nothing about it beyond getting the blurred webpage when you are not a member there. Ill check out that video now.

mikeleeorg 12y ago

Very interesting move. I love the concept of Quora and used to lose many hours going "Quora surfing." But as I fine-tuned the categories I followed, I found the fun of surfing random topics less enjoyable as my homepage feed filled with the same ole' topics and content. Recently, I've begun an experiment to see if answering questions within my domain can help with "personal branding." It seems to have netted me a few new followers on Quora and Twitter, but I haven't noticed a substantial benefit yet. I also started using it as inspiration for blog posts, though I'm blogging on my own site and not on Quora (not sure what's in it for me to blog on Quora). In the past, I've seen other blogs (e.g. TechCrunch) use Quora posts as the basis for articles too. In terms of the "is Quora a vitamin or pain killer" question, it's very much a vitamin for me. Stack Exchange is a much better community for getting specific technical answers, which are the most common kinds of questions I hunt for on the web. I tend to ask my personal network for business & marketing questions, since it's difficult to explain my specific situation in a Quora question. (Being too specific sometimes runs the risk of no answers; being too general sometimes runs the risk of unhelpful answers, I've found.) I would suspect this is the foundation for a pivot too. The advice from the YC partners and alumni network could be pretty helpful. So best of luck to whatever they are going to pivot into!

bhaumik 12y ago

Asked the same question on Quora [1]. Adam D'Angelo's answer: There are a bunch of reasons why it's valuable for Quora to be a YC company: >>We'll have Sam and all the other partners to help us. >>We get to be part of the YC community / alumni network of founders. >>We get access to all the resources of YC. We were raising money anyway, so there was no overhead in letting YC participate. And independent of the benefits to Quora, I think it will be fun personally to participate in some of the YC events. I hope my perspective can help some of the other companies. [1] http://qr.ae/y2vdI http://qr.ae/y2vdI

zefi 12y ago

YC is run by some of the smartest people in the valley. Quora obviously see their ability to help with the direction and strategy of their business valuable.

javadi82 12y ago

Regarding the "Why join YC?", Adam has answered this on Quora: here are a bunch of reasons why it's valuable for Quora to be a YC company: We'll have Sam and all the other partners to help us. We get to be part of the YC community / alumni network of founders. We get access to all the resources of YC. We were raising money anyway, so there was no overhead in letting YC participate. And independent of the benefits to Quora, I think it will be fun personally to participate in some of the YC events. I hope my perspective can help some of the other companies. Link - http://qr.ae/yY9x4 http://qr.ae/yY9x4 (does not require login)