tyang

Wasn't aware one could ask archive.org to delete one's content, so thanks for that.

Still worth it for me to have Quora be somewhat "closed."

Because my initial answers aren't so public and the signal to noise ratio in the comments to my answers is higher than other places.

I get a lot of reverse inquiry from folks who find me on Twitter, where I share a lot of Quora content.

So I don't care that much that Quora isn't that searchable on Google, etc.

Quora works great for some of us.

Quora's not for everyone.

Neither is Facebook (teens dropping like flies), reddit (low percentage of women), etc.

I write a lot on Quora and respectfully disagree with OP here.

I like the fact that I can delete my questions or answers from time to time.

It's my content. Not the Internet's.

If I change my mind about something I wrote, I want to be able to edit it and delete it.

Some of my best answers are ones I edited many times over time. I use Quora and its readers to help me improve and correct my answers. The first draft is often not that great. Quora reduces the risk for me to submit my answer and post it.

I understand there are other sites where my content would be more public and permanent and I share on there too. But I often write and re-write on Quora before sharing my content to other sites.

Unless the giver was highly entertained?

Maybe Mark meant a bank one would have heard of? :)

Next time pay using a credit card. :)

AAMCO, Larry David

Or a CEO who can run a lemonade stand.

Maybe this is for folks who already see a lot of Medium articles on Twitter, etc. and want less saturation of Medium articles.

Hilarious.

As a lawyer, I approve this message.

K. How do you express those views? Are you buying SE shares via MicroVentures, etc.? How do you go short Quora?

If true, thanks for disclosing. Amazed commenter failed to disclose. Transparency and conflicts, people!

Selling ads isn't cool.

You know what's cool?

Giving your user info to Facebook to mine and monetize.

Good for Google.

Bots and fake followers abound on Twitter and Facebook.

The followers on Twitter are particularly useless.

Don't believe me? Just unfollow all your Twitter followers en masse and see how many unfollow you within 72 hours.

These folks are following you only because you follow them. They don't value your content.

Far too many tweets are tweeted by narcissists, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

What is the other half? Defense and intelligence related research?

The issue is 99.9% of startups don't have these traits and 100% of them fail. Having these traits greatly increases your odds.

The key part is "Make something a few people love." PG said as much, and he's right as usual (though not always).

This is a great essay for any startup person who's actually serious about creating, advising, or investing in the next Waze in Tel Aviv, Oculus Rift in Orange County, California, or Dropbox in the Bay Area.

Of course we'd prefer a deep dive, but that requires a lot more thinking, data, reasoning and work.

You're talking about a book versus a blog.

I really liked this essay.

Yes, some of the stuff is redundant, but there's enough modifications and it is compact enough that this is a very useful list.

HN folks:

If you can do better, do it.

I see a lot of whining and complaining on here and no alternative solutions that are better. If you have something better to say, say it. If you've read something better, provide the link.

Otherwise, be a little more appreciative that someone who knows a lot more than 99.99% of the folks in startups is sharing his insights concisely for free.

So you play a lot of games? :)

PG only suffers from trust/naivete in dealing with reporters. Here are some ways to avoid the tricks reporters play on those they interview:

1. Keep the interview short and stick to the script. This is what Laura Bush does better than almost anybody. Don't give reporters any "gotcha's" to their tricky line of questions.

2. If possible, do the inteview by email, not phone, videochat or in person. This way, you can give a considered response to their questions, which is what folks like PG excel at.

PG is not a professional interview giver. It shows.

And I'm no PG fan boy. I think his Startup = Growth article is flat out misleading w/r/t startups that start from a base of one user or one cent in revenue (to take extreme examples) and then say a startup is growing if it has 5% weekly growth.

Bitcoin amateur hour continues.

A big problem with TEDx is lack of quality control.

I know one TEDx event that asked a top ten website cofounder to apply as a speaker and then rejected him.

I attended the cofounder's talk at a top university renowned for innovation, and it was awesome.

I also attended the TEDx event this cofounder was rejected from, and it was horrible.

We left after a couple hours, uninspired and none the wiser.

Here's a time and money-saving tip: Go on Quora.

As a general rule, Keith Rabois is correct.

Look at the CEOs of AirBnB, Dropbox, SpaceX, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. when they were really growing or fighting to survive. None of them seem to blog.

There are exceptions.

But to be clear: if you're a CEO doing something big, chances are you don't blog much. If at all.

Just like you don't go to a lot of conferences and become a "conference ho", as one of your better CEOs once wrote.

I would argue blogging is not a big value add to the startup itself or the CEO.

Someone wise once said, Startups = Growth.

Startups should focus on 5%+ weekly organic growth in revenues or user engagement well after Demo Day when it is much, much harder to grow at that rate.

The rest is not important. Including blogging.

Good post, Alex.

Most VCs delegate diligence to 22 year olds that don't really try the site or startup of the startup they invest in.

This should not be surprising.

VCs deliver risk-adjusted returns way below the S&P 500Most

http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2013/02/venture-capital-returns.html

http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/institutional-limited-partn...

And VC's subtract value from the startups they invest in.

http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/11/vinod-khosla/

This is great. The best way to see if someone can do the job is to give them a job to do and pilot test. Introducing variables, like interviews, logic games, etc. reduces the likelihood that a potential employer can figure out whether or not you can actually do the job.

Stop using Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon and Apple?

And how's that Baidu filter working for ya?

Thanks ddw! Another HN user pointed out in the comments here that TomTom has carpool lane option. And I'd be another passionate founder who can't program or do development.

Wow, thanks! Going on Amazon to buy.

Please tell us what you REALLY think. :)