A year ago, KillerStartups bought the killer domain name Startups.com for a few hundred thousand dollars. The company didn’t do anything with it other than redirect to the KillerStartups blog. Today, it realunched as a Q&A site for business questions.
Want to know “How to edit a business video before uploading it to YouTube”, “What is the typical annual income of a freelance webdesigner”, or “How can I copyright an idea?” (Answer: You can’t. Ideas aren’t protected by copyright). Well, you might not find the answers quite yet on Startups.com, but KillerStartups CEO Gonzalo Arzuaga is hoping that you will soon. You can also ask questions via Twitter, by sending a Tweet to @askstartups, or you can follow different tags such as taxes, advertising, and management.
Questions are placed in the queue, and visitors can vote them up or down. Each one is also tagged so you can see all questions about marketing or copyright. Users earn reputation points and badges for filling out a profile and answering questions. The site was built on StackExchange.
Everyone and their mother seems to have a Q&A site these days, so why not have one aimed only at the startup community? (Update: Actually, as pointed out in comments, there already is one that is almost exactly the same, even built on the same technology, called Answers OnStartups). At bottom, many of these sites are SEO plays. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
Seems to be using the same software as the more popular: http://answers.onstartups.com/
What the bull…Who’s going to answer my questions? It would have at least made sense if it were like JustAnswer.com where you pay money to get answers from industry experts..
Anand,
We don’t believe in paying people to answer questions. We bet on the power of the community, like “wikipedia for business” in a way. I know it’s really ambitious, but we’re dreaming big here. We’re gonna start inviting more and more industry experts that feel Startups.com is the right place for them to answer questions related to their area of expertise.
There are obviously 2 models, pay to play or free. Free most def. has a more community feel to it.
Gonzalo.,
I am still very skeptical..For basic FAQ questions, it makes sense. Otherwise, I would rather pay a few dollars to hear from a seasoned expert than get it for free from a crowd, and still remain unsure if what was said was right or not..
Sure, you can always go paid. But I still believe in the power of the wisdom of the crowds (that remain free.) We believe there’s room for a wikipedia for business (pretty ambitious, huh)
A community feel is great, but it is a bit misplaced here. Firstly, Wikipedia, for all the volumes of information that it has built is still not accepted as a source of reference at many institutions. Why? Because it is prone to error. And the audience of Wikipedia is different – they are primarily students and small-time researchers. Would you advice a budding scientist to base his research on Wikipedia? No, because he/she might go wrong at the premise itself.
With a startup community, let’s be frank, the purpose of visit is more self-centric..A serious entrepreneur would visit the comm. if they need to know something for their business (no time for bonding). Once they get the info, it is very likely that they shall quit. The only crowd that keeps coming back are the small time entrepreneur-wannabees (wannabee in a positive sense) who do not have much idea of the ground realities.
Over a long run, it can come to haunt the community itself, bring a negative PR about the answers not being credible enough, which can stunt growth.
A more realistic approach would be to split the Q&A part and community part into two. Let the main site be a Q&A with strictly experts (maybe pay to get answer kind), and have a Ning sort of social network for entrepreneurs as a sub domain..So, once people bond in the community, it is likely many more go ahead to ask an expert in the main section of the site.
I think you really got a point. At this time, to think about adding a community in the traditional “social networking” style would be really more than what we can chew. Believe me, we have more than enough having to take care “only” of the Q&A side of the business. But certainly you have a very good point.
P.S. Started following you on Twitter.
this think looks like it is powered by Pligg
No, it’s the same software that runs the Stackoverflow family.
No, it looks like it is powered by StackExchange.
Dave, as Erick mentioned in his post “The site was built on StackExchange.”
““How can I copyright an idea?” (Answer: You can’t. Ideas aren’t protected by copyright).”
wow. shows the intelligence of the average writer for techcrunch right here. Here’s an idea, if you have no idea what a copyright can cover, then NEVER write an article about the music industry and copyrights ever again.
Indeed, it is using the same software (the kick-butt StackExchange software).
I’m the guy behind http://OnStartups.com, and I’m all for trying their own variations of existing sites — all the better for entrepreneurs. I’m hoping they’ll so something innovative.
Erick: As noted below, it would be good for your readers if you also linked to http://answers.onstartups.com — I think it’s relevant for the topic at hand.
Two sites for the same niche, with the same purpose, running on the same platform, looking essentially copycat.
I know that http://OnStartups.com was there first, is featured by the StackExchange guys themselves, and has a better feeling as a quality blog on the main site.
So, what’s the USP for this new site? How is it any different? Does the domain make the difference?
@Darmesh, you mean it would be good for you. I linked anyway
Thanks Eric, and yes, it’s good for my site too, but I feel no guilt in my selfishness as the site is a labor of love and I’m all about the community there.
Seems like a waste of a great domain name.
I personally don’t think so. In the US alone there are more than 30,000,000 businesses and 75% of those are 1 man show (besides that 15MM people work from home). That’s a huge market out there, even without considering the world, just US stats. We’re looking at the business question market and feel that’s a good target market for us.
they followed the idea of onstarups.com by Dharmesh
Exactly.
This is a ripoff, TC. OnStartups was actually the first one (and better imo).
Because there is room for only one Answers site, yes?
Too early to make a call which one is better, I like OnStartups but this is a good example to check who will execute better in providing more value to the entrepreneur community, http://startups.com is a nice domain
It’s called competition.
It looks like a StackOverflow SAAS-powered site, much like http://answers.onstartups.com which launched a couple of weeks ago. I’m all for them though, and the fact that search engines love them is for good reason – they provide highly relevant answers. Great domain, too, but I question how KillerStartups.com has that kind of money (and why their site is so simple/ugly).
Brock,
When it comes to design, I think it’s a very subjective issue. Maybe what it’s beautiful for you, it’s ugly for other people. Just FYI we tested with over 10 design alternatives (kind of A/B testing) and we stuck with the one that got the best appealing for most of the users that tested. It was a private test with over 100 people. Wisdom of the crowd as they say.
Good luck with this new site GOnzalo!, greetings from Mendoza, Argentina. …
Mariano
http://startups...nce-webdesigner
Some of the answers are dreadful. He asked about FREELANCE and they’re giving copy+pasted answers about being employed with a company. All the questions seem to reflect this, poor show.
Also yeah, it’s using the stackoverflow site.
Not terribly surprising that they basically used Twitter’s color scheme… seems like a rather useful site, though.
Is it me or Killerstart up rarely makes any post for people who submit Start Up’s without paying that $50 express payment they want.
Arfan,
At KillerStartups.com started almost 3 years ago coverting 30+ internet startups per day but most of the RSS subscribers complained a lot. They said it was too much for them to take, and started unsuscribing from our RSS feed. That was it for us, and then we decided to cut it to 15, although we had the manpower to do more than 50 every day. The thing is, it seems we hit a need in the market, because we’re getting more than 90k visitor per day. I guess based on the positive results it brings to startups to appear on KillerStartups, everyday we get hundreds (yes, hundreds) of submissions of new startups for us to cover. We try to review them all, and we offer some startups that are in a rush to buy a premium submission, for them to cut the cue and for us to take a look at them first. If, for any reason, we don’t review them, we give them their money back.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but if you can’t get a site on KS then you’re really doing something wrong. In my experience they’ll take anything you submit.
Did not have that problem. Killerstps was free and quick to capture the promise and potential of our stArtup and put their money where here mouth is. This is something TC will not do but is essential to guage and rank startups and the scout bloggers that claim an ability to find them.
Wow! Lots of resentful comments from India! It’s a similar concept, but much nicer to look at and with people that are not necessarily from the India IT industry.
So cut some slack…
It’s not just India.
This is a shitty ripoff. TC knows nothing about the better, earlier stackoverflow clone OnStartups.com apparently. Doesn’t even mention it or put it in the widgets box.
Fail.
Fail? Maybe…
But you’re reading and commenting on TechCrunch.
comments are just as poor as y! answers…
As I posted a few weeks ago on Twitter, if it hasn’t been done already, someone needs to build a Q&A aggregator – post a question to all your Q&A accounts at once and receive answers back in one stream.
Great site/domain.
I will be releasing my question & answer platform once things stabilize, hopefully some competition for SE
I’m currently running on the rackspacecloud so it will be cloud compatible.
Contact me if interested.
I have one for fashion/style:
http://www.styleguidance.com
Basically if you want to know what shirt to buy or want to know what shoes go with an outfit, you can get the help there.
Looks to me like it is based on http://stackoverflow.com/.
I always wonder whats the deal here.
How can spending thousands of dollars on a domain name and building a crappy site be profitable? I see this everyday and it keeps happening…what I am missing?
You’re missing the $$$$ Paul…
I call you Paul. I don’t think you’re missing anything…The concept is simple: you build a community site where people can go and ask business questions. The business model is also simple: you have advertisers that pay you to reach your website visitors. It’s the execution that’s extremely complicated and where most startups fail. We like to take baby steps. Today we’re launching and we’ll see how it goes. It’s far from being a guaranteed success. Q&A sites have been around forever, agreed, it’s just we think there’s a space in the market for a website that’s all about business questions.
I like how their own review of the site on killerstartups, doesn’t mention ONCE that they own the site. Talk about lack of journalistic ethics.
The fact that techcrunch is giving coverage to these guys is just sad. I bet the onstartups guy contacted you too, probably a few weeks before these guys, but you didn’t cover him because he is small fry.
Does anyone remember the time when techcrunch was actually a place for the little guy to get some coverage?
Thank you Kevin for pointing out our fault, we added it. It’s been hectic today, but that’s a bad excuse. You’re totally right, thanks again.
It is stated, Kevin.
They’ve covered my company a few times, because we pitched them with interesting data. We ain’t exactly Golaith over here, either.
Seems like a mee-too site that could be so much more with a category owning name like this. Although I wish Gonzalo and his team success, I can’t see how this would be monetized to recoup their investment.
Congrats to Startups.com! Nice and useful tool. Needless to say, an amazing domain name too. Ladies and gentlemen…We have a winner!
Truthfully, I don’t know what the fuss is all about. Yes, it is based on StackExchange, which is, as I recall, SaaS. What does that mean? They paid, they get to use it. I think it’s a marvelous idea and wish them my best. What better domain name for a Q&A site on business than Startups.com?
Thanks a lot Gavin. I loved your last line “What better domain name for a Q&A site on business than Startups.com?” My thoughts exactly.
I used it and it´s great they answered my question right away!
Come on guys, the site works great and it looks better than onstartups. I don`t care if these guys are big or not, Startups.com is good. That is also stated.
This site is now on my favorites toolbar. I plan to flood the site with my endless dumb questions. Warning: I’m serious. I have a ton of questions most will think are dumb, but I need the info for my tiny start up. NOOB ALERT!
Mark, any question is welcome. Keep them coming. We didn’t create this website for Steve Jobs, or top business people. Actually, we’re planning to involve them in the community as a Statups.com Hosts. In the coming weeks we’ll be inviting top business people and successfull entrepreneurs to offer their advice and jump in to answer some questions. What ya think?
Essentially a verticalization of Twitter / Groups / Answers / Lists yadda yadda. And makes alot of sense. Business owners need questions answered all the time and can be hard to get.
Scott,
I agree. Business owners need peers to answer their questions, to give them a hand. Sometimes they don’t have who to ask. The idea behind Startups.com is that business people can ask any business related questions, and you’ll have others there to help you answering them. Ideally, within minutes.
This is a good concept to create a good knowledge base by crowd sourcing.
Almost at the same time as when Answers.Startups.com launched, I launched (with a very different approach) StartupToDo.com. There’s plenty of room for different approaches to helping startups.
What I don’t understand is why take exactly the same approach as Answers.Onstartups.com. It’s like opening a bakery next to… a bakery.
Already, I see questions first asked at AOC on your service. While I’m happy to answer questions at AOC, I can’t see the benefit (except to you) of me spending time at startups.com answering the same questions.
Bob,
You’re right, there’s no point for you in answering the exact same questions in both places. Hopefully both sites will grow apart and you’ll see which one gives you the most satisfaction, and where do you feel more comfortable. That’s how historically websites (and societies in general) evolve over time. Time will tell if we did the right thing or not.
P.S. Last week I finished reading your book “the web startup success guide”, particularly liked Chapter 4 and six wise people.
@Gonzalo I think you have done a wonderful job responding to folks today. I probably would not have been motivated to check out the newly designed site had you not spent the time and effort to respond to all you faceless critics today. You did it with poise. I commend your efforts and found the updated site interesting and useful.
Don’t forget Business.com has a B2B answers site too, answers.business.com…
Yeah, they do, as many other sites have. Have you tried to use it though?
isn’t techcrunch an SEO play?
This is a good idea, I think interviews with leading industry figures whould also useful or option interview each other. Also a LinkedIn based on starups could be very useful.
We, financeanswers.com, are really glad to hear about a site such as this as we decided against having a startup category in our questions and answers platform. We thought it would be best to stick solely to our core competency – financial questions and answers. I would be interested in seeing if there was a way we could work together and send those interested in startup q&a to startups.com
Sure thing, let’s do that!
@garzuaga Congrats on the launch! We look forward to checking out the site. (And, great job with responding to all these posts, positive and negative.)
Maybe you can get some of these industry experts to feature answers on your site–I like the way Inc. magazine has a panel of three experts answer a question each month.
Great idea Tim! I personally love that particular section at Inc. Let’s go for it.
Similar to what Dharmesh Shah did with OnStartUp ? He took stackoverflow code from Joel Spolosky This looks similar to that.
I believe it’s a good idea to do this with the domain. One of the critical aspects of a Q&A site is having a large audience. Not only the easy to remember (and pass on) domain will help… They already have a similar audience on their other sites.
What I am afraid of, is that people aren’t tagging their questions good enough for others to find them. What I see on other business forums is that people usually don’t know how to name what they are looking for.
We believe in the power of the community, so the initial problems will be fixed by the community when more and more people join in. Thanks for the feedback.
I also feel that it’s a case of a gr8 domain name wasted. You guys have the absolute domain name and i think you can provide more authentic value than just using the domain name so that it doesn’t sit around unused.
I think you can do alot with the damn domain name that aims to help entrepreneurs and startups more than just copying the wikipedia model.
We considered several options until we found the right fit for the domain. We both agree that startups.com is an awesome domain name, and we believe the power of a business Q&A will show itself in the future. I don’t think it’s evident today. The wikipedia model you refer to it’s just one part of the Q&A model we launched. Just curious, what do you think would be a better use, that offers “more authentic value”? Thanks,
I’m stunned. HOw can people slag off a start up at start up. HOw can you commment on the usefulness and useability of a site before it’s even gott going?
Q&A are big and attract a gazillion uses. It fits the wikipaedia concept weel. And you can’t dismiss all of Wikipaedia just because some of the info is iffy. It’s widely used for basic background research. And no good reason why this shouldn’t as well.
The power of the crowd is huge. It’ll deliver some factual infomation, some experiential information and and sme straight opinion. SOme of it from experts and some from people who simply have a view. It’s what we do everyday in business. This just gives people more volume and a wider rage of information to consider ADN EVALUATE! Evaluate is the key and that’s why the clever business people get the big buck. For evaluating and then acting.
To onsider if this will work or not, if it will compete or not, if Gonzalo will get richer or poorer you need to think like business people not petulant students and geeks.