
Quora Co-Founder Charlie Cheever Steps Back From Day-To-Day Role At The Company - relation
http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/11/quora-cheever/
======
programminggeek
Quora is great for geeks, but I've always found it off-putting that you have
to sign in with facebook to see all the content. I understand why they do it,
but I just don't much like it. One more point of friction maybe? I'm not sure.

Also, a lot of the best discussion on Quora is too "inside baseball" in the
tech world. It has amazing discussions on frameworks, scaling, interesting
company history on Facebook, Google, etc. but I just can't see people outside
of tech using Quora. Why would my non-techie wife use Quora? Why would people
who already latched on to Stack Exchange sites, Yahoo Answers, and so on use
Quora?

~~~
kinkora
Firstly, you don't need Facebook to login. I signed up with an email account
and I've always been using that to login.

I was also attracted to Quora due to the more "techy" questions and answers
that they have[1] but I've noticed for the past year or so, there are quite a
lot of interesting non-techy questions and answers that people like your non-
techy wife will enjoy.

In example:

1\. What are some news stories that the American mainstream media completely
misconstrued and/or presented out of context that ended up helping change
American laws or culture?
[http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=1&tid&...](http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=1&tid&hash=bd2d5529bd018bc932e7ae2e5390885f&ty=1&url=%2FNews%2FWhat-
are-some-news-stories-that-the-American-mainstream-media-completely-
misconstrued-and-or-presented-out-of-context-that-ended-up-helping-change-
American-laws-or-culture&digest_id=58876238&click_pos=1&ty_data=1512561)

2\. Why is there this belief that the USA is a conservative country?
[http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=1&tid&...](http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=1&tid&hash=bd2d5529bd018bc932e7ae2e5390885f&ty=1&url=%2FPolitics%2FWhy-
is-there-this-belief-that-the-USA-is-a-conservative-
country&digest_id=58876238&click_pos=2&ty_data=1514043)

3\. What are some things that airline pilots won't tell you?
[http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=3&tid&...](http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=3&tid&hash=bd2d5529bd018bc932e7ae2e5390885f&ty=1&url=%2FAirlines%2FWhat-
are-some-things-that-airline-pilots-wont-tell-
you&digest_id=58876238&click_pos=3&ty_data=1509294)

4\. What is the most beautiful number, and why?
[http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=3&tid&...](http://www.quora.com/digest/track_click?source=3&tid&hash=bd2d5529bd018bc932e7ae2e5390885f&ty=1&url=%2FNumbers%2FWhat-
is-the-most-beautiful-number-and-
why&digest_id=58876238&click_pos=6&ty_data=1509647)

I can give you more but they do have a lot of interesting questions (and
answers) about politics, life, science, etc.

[1]disclaimer: I've been a Quora user for nearly 3 years.

~~~
incision
>Firstly, you don't need Facebook to login.

As I recall, Quora did require a Facebook account for a while [1]. I imagine
that someone initially put off by that requirement isn't going to be
particularly inclined to continually check back to see if/when it changes.

Also, since removing the Facebook requirement the means to sign-up with an
email address has gone through several iterations of varying unobviousness.

1: [http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Quora-decide-to-stop-
requiring-...](http://www.quora.com/Why-did-Quora-decide-to-stop-requiring-
users-to-register-via-Facebook-Connect-or-Twitter-OAuth)

------
hoi
Usually a founder steps back when there's either disagreements about the
roadmap/path or if they realize that the product/company will not become as
successful as they though it would be.

~~~
onetimeuse001
_or if they realize that the product/company will not become as successful as
they though it would be._

I'd put my money on this one ^^, if I had to choose. If growth is 50% month to
month founders can learn to "agree to disagree" over a lot of things. Quora
was way too overhyped to begin with and maybe they bought their own hype

------
ericdykstra
Charlie is a really smart and humble guy; I respect him a lot. He's definitely
someone I look up to as a person and as a leader. He is the one that inspired
me to move to San Francisco and join a startup, and I'm grateful for that.

Best of luck, Charlie, with whatever direction you decide to go.

~~~
jblock
When I met him, it took me a few minutes to realize that he was the founder.
He spoke about Quora and the associated technology therein in an amazingly
casual way.

He sold it to me without even really selling it.

------
jval
Ughh, these moments suck. Every startup goes through them but it is just
painful to watch founders getting forced out of the companies they started.

------
arrowgunz
Adam D'Angelo answered a question on Quora regarding this:
[http://www.quora.com/Charlie-Cheever-1/What-is-Charlie-
Cheev...](http://www.quora.com/Charlie-Cheever-1/What-is-Charlie-Cheevers-
status-at-Quora-as-of-September-11th-2012)

~~~
theorique
It's kind of a vague, press-release style answer that is short on details
though.

------
confluence
As negative as people are on Quora (oh lookz bubblez!) - I honestly think that
they are onto something (as is Google+).

They are both interest based social networks - rather than geographically
constrained ones (i.e. Facebook and people you know IRL). Think of all those
disparate niche forums we all frequent around the web lumped into one easily
usable, easily searchable, real-time and real-name network - that's what
Quora/Google+ are becoming.

Quora/Google+ are essentially specialist forums reimagined - topical
discussions based along interest lines with real-time feedback by people you
can actually see (instead of geographical/friendship ones and pseudonyms on
forums).

I go to Facebook (rarely) to catch up with people I know IRL - but with whom I
don't really share that much in common (apart form going to school/living
nearby). Indeed, outside of Facebook's instant messaging utility - I really
have very little use for it (yes I understand that "normal" people differ).

I go to Quora/Google+/specialist forums/HN to discuss things I'm interested in
with people who are like me. They do have something here - and the fact that
they have such a strong hold on so many smart people (see how prolific some
are) illustrates this fact. I think reports of Quora's death are greatly
exaggerated (especially with their war chest).

For more, see here on (you guessed it!) Quora:

[http://www.quora.com/Hypothetical-Questions/Imagine-its-
Janu...](http://www.quora.com/Hypothetical-Questions/Imagine-its-
January-1-2016-and-look-back-and-answer-this-Why-and-how-did-Quora-take-over-
the-web)

------
ActVen
As a Quora user this seems to be a big setback for the company. Charlie has
always been more engaged in actually using the product and interfacing with
the community. Adam has picked it up a bit lately, but their stats below show
who was more engaged with the product.

Charlie: Users They Follow - 3474, Topics - 578, Questions - 1240, Answers -
1524, Edits - 36951

Adam: Users They Follow - 587, Topics - 338, Questions - 890, Answers - 848,
Edits - 24374

This could certainly just be a result of their focus at the company, but it is
interesting.

------
samstave
I am actually really interested in knowing if his departure is in any way
fueled by the recent changes in privacy policies that had some backlash from
users.

I, for example, deleted my account when I decided I was not trusting of their
handling of my data. I refused to continue to participate and quit.

I would be really interested if these canges fed this leaving in any way.

~~~
ryanglasgow
Since it said he was leading the Android app development (which was released a
few weeks ago), I doubt he was involved in the privacy policy changes.

~~~
gojomo
He's one of two founders in a company with under 50 employees; he wouldn't be
nose-down on a single project unless there'd already been some devolution of
roles.

~~~
ryanglasgow
It's certainly signals that. The Android app is more or less a port of the iOS
app and isn't a project you'd expect a founder to be heavily involved with.

~~~
gojomo
If that was his _only_ project, yes. But I've not seen evidence of that; I was
suggesting that even if he'd stewarded that Android app project he'd also
still, as a founder, be weighing in on things like the "who viewed this"
feature and policy.

------
k33n
Good for him. Looks like he's going to enjoy the fruits of his labor. There's
no reason to assume he's being forced out.

~~~
vaksel
isn't there? From what I understand Quora has been pretty stagnant. It failed
to go mainstream. Sure the valley people know of it's existence...but most
people? not so much

~~~
fruchtose
You have to wonder then why Paul Ryan submitted a question to Quora. Was it
coordinated, or was Ryan already a Quora user?

~~~
theorique
The Republicans had to show they were also hip to social technology after
Obama did an AMA on Reddit.

------
ipince
techcrunch has been down all day for me (on mobile). anyone else experiencing
this?

~~~
newman314
Same here.

~~~
Katelyn
Yup, all day.

------
rhizome
Time for the business people to take over.

