Disqus - Latest Comments for yegg

Re: A Brand New DuckDuckGo

Gabriel Weinberg — Wed, 21 May 2014 11:47:30 -0000

Thanks so much!

Re: 15 sites track Healthcare.gov visitors

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 15:48:19 -0000

CEO & Founder of DuckDuckGo here.

We have absolutely no connection to healthcare.gov and I have no idea what this is about. Seems like a mistake.

We don't collect or store any personal information as per our privacy policy: https://duckduckgo.com/privacy

We do have an open API (https://api.duckduckgo.com/ ) that anyone could call, but that is also completely anonymous on our end like everything else. That said, I don't even see them using that so again I have no idea what this is about.

Re: Union Square Ventures

Gabriel Weinberg — Sat, 28 Dec 2013 19:22:31 -0000

Thanks so much!

Re: favico.co

Gabriel Weinberg — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 08:44:21 -0000

Please email bd@duckduckgo.com and we can fill you in!

Re: A Private Search Engine?

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 12:42:36 -0000

Our access logs don't store IP addresses, see http://duckduckgo.com/privacy/. Additionally, we don't run third-party code on our front-end that isn't proxied through our back-end so that your ip address is never exposed.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 13:20:49 -0000

Really struck a chord I suppose, but like I pointed out I think their negativity is misplaced.

Re: The Bullseye Framework

Gabriel Weinberg — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:55:50 -0000

Great point.

We've seen all of these verticals used by startups, but certainly some are more used than others. However, some of that is really due to bias, which leaves even under-used ones sometimes good targets, e.g. blogging. That said, it is pretty clear different business models are better suited for some.

Incidentally, here's a good article on marketplaces: http://brianbalfour.com/pos...

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:08:29 -0000

How exactly do VCs ruin thing for bootstrappers? That's the part I'm confused about.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:07:24 -0000

Wow, what a nerve struck -- but seemingly completely unrelated to this post as far as I can tell, as I explicitly encouraged finding a sustainable business model and only otherwise said you would probably HAVE to raise money to go on.

From the post: "It's a little better if you have some monetization so at least you can afford all those CDs... Otherwise, you better raise a boat load of money..."

However, you two seem to be fundamentally against Venture Capital for any reason. This seems completely misguided. You can have a great business model and be super profitable and still want to raise capital to expand further and faster, to develop a better moat (and protect your interests), to defend your IP, etc.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:04:02 -0000

I agree with you, partially. You need a sustainable business model, but there are plenty of those where there are lots of customers that don't pay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:15:44 -0000

No.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:22:26 -0000

I'm confused. If you have a mass-market app and you want to change the world as much as possible, don't you want to spread that app to as many people as possible?

Yes, you can settle for a decent business at a smaller level, but why? I never said you had to take VC money to do it. In fact, the opposite.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:20:36 -0000

I think you are misunderstand me. I haven't ascribed value judgements to anything.

All I said is if you wanted to change the world and you believe in what you are doing then you'd presumably want your userbase to be as big as possible. Period.

This is all independent of the sustainability of the underlying business, which I cautioned about in this article and in many many others I've written, including the two referenced in the comment you replied to! I also explicitly try to personally invest in things that don't need VC financing, as I've also said many times: http://ye.gg/angel

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:09:31 -0000

I've said many times that path is great for many people and businesses, e.g. http://www.gabrielweinberg.... and http://www.gabrielweinberg....

BUT, if you're truly trying to change the world with a mass-market consumer facing app, then I don't think you want to settle with <1 million user base.

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:15:58 -0000

Agree. Here is some good app retention data: http://blog.flurry.com/bid/...

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:08:40 -0000

I think you're right but the probability that you'll just figure it out does goes up the more active users you have, though it can still be a painful process (e.g. Foursquare, Tumblr).

Re: The depressing math behind consumer-facing apps

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:06:56 -0000

You are right, it does vary. At the highest level, I'd say whatever means an active user for that company. So more than just signups.

Re: Some ideas matter, just not the ones you think

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:28:30 -0000

I apologize if the process wasted your time. I know it doesn't help you now, but we have made changes and are working so that we don't waste anyone's time in the future. And in the vast majority of cases there is a path to putting it up.

You have an edge case, however, which yes is related to privacy.

Again though, I'm really glad you are doing well.

Re: Some ideas matter, just not the ones you think

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:27:16 -0000

Great to hear you are doing well. What plugin was it? We really really don't want to reject any plugins. We'd much rather launch something vary narrowly and improve it over time, but the basic requirement is that it has to be better than the links.

Re: Some ideas matter, just not the ones you think

Gabriel Weinberg — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:28:58 -0000

What reactionary methods are you talking about? I wasn't aware of describing any.

Re: The Bullseye Framework

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:10:51 -0000

I think I'm so resistant because I'm not much of a sports fan, though that isn't really a good reason :).

The scout/magor/minor leage things works. At the very least maybe I can add a metaphor paragraph.

Re: The Bullseye Framework

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:35:32 -0000

Thanks. I do not have a lot of experience with that situation, sorry.

Re: The Bullseye Framework

Gabriel Weinberg — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 06:19:12 -0000

Definitely not too late, and appreciate the thoughts. We do go into more depth in the book. We thought about some of the things you mentioned, and will revisit, but they seemed a bit too contrived for me.

What I like about the bullseye is that you end up with one in the center but the rest is somewhat flexible, which is how the process is described. We were going for separating the verticals where there is an almost visceral drop in excitement around the traction ideas, and ultimately the results from the parallel tests.

Another metaphor that fits this model would be some kind of filtration one, where everything passes through something but only some amount continue down the path.

Re: Go talk to founders who failed at what you're doing

Gabriel Weinberg — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 08:58:35 -0000

I've seen this as well (and done it myself). You get excited and just working on your prototype. I appreciate that and it is what I was referring to when I was talking about having a fresh perspective.

However, this initial phase is different than when you're a bit more established in your vision and are going for investment and/or traction. At that point, talking to others as I suggested is still well-advised.

Re: Go talk to founders who failed at what you're doing

Gabriel Weinberg — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 17:06:26 -0000

Industry news sites/blogs is a good place to start. For example, in search engines that is searchengineland.com and there was a blog called altsearchengines. Crunchbase is another good place to scour. For recent stuff AngelList is becoming better.

Another tactic I've used is to search the Web for combinations of competitors together, like in search Cuil Hakia. Doing so often finds lists. A similar tactic is to search "like competitor" (in quotes), e.g. "like Cuil," which is an attempt to capture reporters comparing similar services.