
Ask HN/YC: Does HN Pay for Itself? - akavel
Given there are reportedly numerous moderators working hard, and thus most certainly getting paid for it by someone, and also obviously there being some hosting &amp; dev costs, I got curious — does HN bring some profit? Is it a practical business decision to keep it alive, or more of a goodwill community service?<p>If it&#x27;s claimed profitable, then how? Is it accounted as a &quot;promotional channel&quot;, thus more of an expense, but with some claimed&#x2F;perceived ROI? If yes, is the ROI measured&#x2F;measurable to some extent? (This last one I suppose is some general knowledge in advertising, which is totally not my domain, so I&#x27;ll accept if you just send me the RTFM way on it.)<p>Was this matter maybe answered already on HN or some other public venue?
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navd
It could be argued that YC wouldn't be as popular as it is today without HN.
Also it seems to be a great recruiting source for YC companies. It doesn't
have to literally __bring in money __to be considered profitable when the
profits could be in the form of more intangible things.

