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Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by adventured on Sunday March 18, 2018 @09:10PM (#16615515)
I agree generally speaking. Quora has raised $452 million in venture capital. It's incredible frankly. There's no actual sound business model there and never has been (which is why eight years later they still don't have a functioning business and are living on VC, while being subsidized by Google abusing its own search policies).
Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by jjeaff on Sunday March 18, 2018 @11:19PM (#16616010)
No sound business model? Quora has a sound business model. The same model as many VC backed SV companies.

No, it's not to simply sell ads. You build something slick and shiny, then you pump VC money into it and you keep hyping (otherwise known as "pumping") until you can get numbers that look good. You can just spend that sweet, easy VC money to buy users and spend a dollar to make 10 cents because of that "growth" you are buying.

Then, when those numbers you are buying (and also all those fake accounts you are ignoring) start looking really good, you go public, the VCs make out like bandits and all those institutional and private suckers buy those bloated shares, trade places with the VCs and slowly ride the shares back down to zero where they belong.

Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by creato on Monday March 19, 2018 @01:07AM (#16616282)
Do you have an example? You speak as if this is a very common pattern, but I can't think of any good examples. I can think of some that look like they might fit this pattern if they were to IPO, but that's a big if.
Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by jjeaff on Monday March 19, 2018 @11:06PM (#16625704)
Groupon IPO'd at $28 a share. Currently trading at around $4

Zynga IPO: $23. Now around $3

Snap $22 ... ~$16 (LA not SV)

Blue Apron $10 ... ~$2

Box plummeted more than 50% before coming back up closer to the IPO price but has almost never exceeded the IPO price since inception.

And there are a lot more that are newer and still riding the capital injection from the IPO (like twitter).

Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by rjeli on Monday March 19, 2018 @03:11AM (#16616602)
snap
Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by distances on Monday March 19, 2018 @05:09AM (#16617019)
> Quora has raised $452 million in venture capital

Wow, really? I figured they're a bit fancier, more serious version of Yahoo Answers. I wouldn't have thought they'd have any venture capital at all.

Re:“Pinterest needs to be removed from Google IMO” by ggg9990 on Sunday March 18, 2018 @10:25PM (#16615810)
A lot of their funding is from Adam D’Angelo’s personal piggybank.