As a non-Silicon Valley non-American this is unbelievable to me. It would take a lifetime and you still wouldn't get this kind of investment money in Europe for a site like ProductHunt.
After having a product - Traction (book) - hit #2 on PH a few weeks ago, I can say that PH drove more and higher quality traffic than several other well-known blogs we were mentioned on.
PH is great and Ryan is awesome - really excited to see where PH goes after the raise!
Congrats on raising money, I'm not sure what Product Hunt will do with $6 million and how it will get a return on that investment, but I guess while a gold rush is on you sell pickaxes right?
I'm sure what they are doing is valuable and they certainly have an interesting audience, I just don't have the imagination to understand what they plan on doing with it.
Well I think it's well known that Ryan plans on splitting it into many different communities "subreddit" style, I believe he even discussed the move with a co-founder of Reddit on his podcast. $6 million is a lot of money though, so you'd think there was something more.
It is definitely US centric. It is also very Apple-centric. Many times I see a blurb "New app X that does Y" which sounds interesting only to click on it and because they use url shortener/redirect find out it is either a direct link to the ios store or that it is an ios app. It would be nice if they would indicate that something was only for one platform or at least directly link to the page so you could see that it was a link to apple or google or whatever before clicking on it.
It makes sense when a community starts with a group of people from smaller community and later on expands to other areas and communities. It has been what, 6 months since PH's launch? Its a great MVP refactored out of Show HNs!
Wow, congratulations Ryan. It was probably quite easy (relatively) for PH to raise, since top tier investors have been sourcing potential deal flow from PH for months. Also, it does not hurt that they are a YC company, increasing their social proof.
Product Hunt has an audience of tech enthusiasts and is at least marginally useful to every VC and Angel investor out there. This by itself is sufficient to easily justify the valuation.
In addition Product Hunt is also focused on email, which is a relatively easy to monetize medium. The job board, podcast, and the data they're collecting has additional potential.
Once you take into account that investment money is plentiful and valuations are a back-of-the-envelope practice anyway then backing this YC startup is a financial no-brainer.
$6m is not a lot of money. It's big for the average series A for YC, and $6m is a 4 year runway for a 30 person team if they don't blow it on a fancy office. High quality traffic + a job board. The $22m valuation seems high though when you think about what they think that company will be worth.
Congrats PH team.. The PH Philly Meetup was a great time, and I love the direction you guys are moving in. Looking forward to seeing the next evolution!
[+] [-] higherpurpose|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justinmares|11 years ago|reply
PH is great and Ryan is awesome - really excited to see where PH goes after the raise!
[+] [-] programminggeek|11 years ago|reply
I'm sure what they are doing is valuable and they certainly have an interesting audience, I just don't have the imagination to understand what they plan on doing with it.
[+] [-] capkutay|11 years ago|reply
Translation: anything that doesn't seem useful or profitable can be analogous to selling pickaxes during the gold rush
[+] [-] bramgg|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cyphunk|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jccalhoun|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xiepie|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nodesocket|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BillFranklin|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brianstorms|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gizmo|11 years ago|reply
In addition Product Hunt is also focused on email, which is a relatively easy to monetize medium. The job board, podcast, and the data they're collecting has additional potential.
Once you take into account that investment money is plentiful and valuations are a back-of-the-envelope practice anyway then backing this YC startup is a financial no-brainer.
[+] [-] swartkrans|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rokhayakebe|11 years ago|reply
1) Moms: Well, since they make "all" the buying decisions for the family.
2) Small businesses: Sadly enough, your local dentist, or local mechanic, still need to know what are the latest, shiny tools for their trade.
Software engineers and product makers, I just do not see their monetary value, other than testers for PH.
[+] [-] acoyfellow|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|11 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] bobsil1|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] craigmccaskill|11 years ago|reply
I know there must be more to the plan (in addition to divide and conquer), can't wait to see what's in the works.
[+] [-] shirazi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] garysvpa|11 years ago|reply