
StackOverflow for Startups - jmonegro
http://startups.com/
======
j_b_f
I'm not sure why I'd use this instead of <http://answers.onstartups.com/> \-
I'm much more likely to participate in a community founded and managed by
intelligent individuals that I respect. The site makes no mention of who's
behind startups.com, why I should trust them, and how I know they won't
violate that trust.

That said, it's cool that someone has based a megabucks domain name on Stack
Exchange.

~~~
notauser
A quick dig shows that these folk are behind it:
<http://www.killerstartups.com/>

I'd say that not having their blog linked all over the home page earns them a
credibility point.

(The TC post linked from their FAQ says the domain cost 'mid-six-figures'.
Ouch.)

~~~
garzuaga
Our thoughts exactly. We didn't mention the killerstartups.com name because we
thought it was more appropiate (mabye it wasn't a good idea.)
KillerStartups.com was launched in January 2007 and it's getting a good number
of visitors per day (90k). And yes, we did pay mid-six figures for
Startups.com (ouch :)

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garzuaga
Thanks Joel for posting about Startups.com. Awesome to make it here, and it
seems there are quite a few people interested on the site. When it comes to
design, it's really a subjective issue. We ran some tests and this one came
out as the winner. We're tarteting a broad group of people interested in
"business" in general, not only on startups. We'll see how it goes. We're the
people behind KillerStartups.com, internet entrepreneurs at heart. Matias de
Tezanos, currently founder and CEO of HealthCare.com (sold Hoteles.com to
Hotels.com back in the day, raised $10M for HealtCare.com, Inc. and funded
several other startups), and Gonzalo Arzuaga, who sold GauchoNet to
Terra/Lycos in 1999, and wrote 5 books about business on the internet
(unfortunately, in spanish)

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pxlpshr
StackOverflow benefits from two things: 1) started by Fog Software who has a
reputation, and 2) there's a natural filter in place with its content. Perhaps
just perception bias but I think it helps weed out an overload of questions
like "how can i get listed on search engines".

At some point there needs to be moderation to maintain quality and define the
scope of the site, otherwise I think it will struggle to have merit, IMO. The
first question I clicked on is regarding "social media" by a hotel owner.
Certainly a valid question but how is this related to startups? Are you
assuming that any business getting started = startups?

[http://startups.com/questions/1447/how-can-i-define-my-
strat...](http://startups.com/questions/1447/how-can-i-define-my-strategy-to-
get-maximum-results-out-of-the-social-media)

~~~
brown9-2
This is not StackOverflow. This is a hosted website that is powered by the
same software as StackOverflow. The content here has absolutely no direct
relation to StackOverflow.

~~~
stanleydrew
I think pxlpshr is making a comparison here between Stack Overflow and
Startups.com, saying he thinks the latter will struggle to have merit since it
lacks a couple of crucial traits that make SO successful. He only
unintentionally conflates the two.

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PStamatiou
Constructive Criticism: use a softer background color and consider retweaking
the logo: glossy, over-stroked, drop-shadowed site logos imply that startups
don't know better and are the epitome of bad design that many associate with
"web 2.0"

~~~
there
i would also make the "# views" text lighter. it is distracting when quickly
scanning the left column for answer counts since it's the same size.

~~~
julio_the_squid
I agree, the number of views is less important than the number of answers. The
font for both of them is too large.

To be honest I think Stack Overflow needs a bit of a redesign. The fonts are
all a bit too large, and it's the same on this new site. The size of the font
for the questions titles is too large for me to read the titles comfortably.

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makmanalp
On the right "panel", serif font and sans serif font right after it clash
terribly. The thumb tack on top is too corny and cliche, you don't need it.
The ad is very distracting and even disregarding that, it breaks the flow of
the design.

~~~
sunir
I don't know if I would say it's corny. I would have said it's too tacky.

(Sorry; it's Monday.)

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dbr
Isn't it a waste of money to run AdWords that point to your own site? Or is
something else going on here? <http://imgur.com/0RaUa.png>

This is with the pointer over the banner at the top.

~~~
eli
I think there's a way to cycle in house ads if the space would otherwise be
given to those free government ads.

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eli
Doesn't quite seem like it's reached that critical mass needed to be really
useful

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icey
This looks like one of the rare stackexchange.com sites that might actually go
somewhere. It's a hell of a domain name to use too.

The only real question is if the answers are any good. It looks too soon to
tell to me.

~~~
gommm
Yes but I think they have some serious competition by the
answers.onstartups.com which has quite some momentum too

~~~
garzuaga
Competition is great for users, and for competitors too IMHO.

~~~
gnoupi
I'm not sure if competition is great on such sites. You want one place to find
answers for one topic, like programming-> StackOverflow, sysadmin ->
ServerFault.

How is community going to benefit from two sites based on the exact same
framework, on the exact same topic ? It will only be duplicating eachother.

~~~
garzuaga
Ideally, Programming Questions -> StackOverflow | Business Questions ->
Startups.com. Online communities are, in a way, like physical spaces (bar,
restaurants, etc). You like one over the other for different reasons: maybe
the music, the drinks, the food, the host, maybe your friends hang out there.
We'll see how this plays out. Competition is always good because it forces you
to think more and more about how to server your customers/visitors better.

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therealbob
If I were Spolsky, I'd be a little bothered by the fact that someone called
this "StackOverflow for Startups" and also by the fact that it looks so much
like StackOverflow. When I went there, the first thing I thought was that the
StackOverflow/ServerFault folks had created a third website which isn't the
case.

~~~
jmonegro
Ummm, they license the software to anyone who wants it for about $120/month to
$2000+/month (?) or something.

Seriously, you can go and get a site like StackOverflow; the software is
called StackExchange (<http://www.stackexchange.com/>)

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jmonegro
Just FYI, it isn't my site.

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justlearning
view source gave me this (for <noscript>):

Startups.com | Your Business. Your Questions. works best with JavaScript
enabled

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FreeRadical
please test it in IE6

~~~
pxlpshr
I meant to downvote that but accidentally upvoted it. Anyhow, I thought it was
a bit ridiculous that a startup technology site support IE 6.

~~~
mixmax
I think you might be surprised. My blog, which is about technology and
startups, has a fair share of IE6 users.

