What is the value of Wikipedia? Hard to value public goods, because the value of HN comes from its mods. I suppose if one must, start at whatever gains YC has seen on its investments during HN's lifetime, with some discount for the fact that ZIRP is unlikely to occur again and the future will not be like the past wrt the startup ecosystem. There is no guarantee a new owner would cultivate the same forum participants who might consider being a founder or employee of a YC portfolio company. The product is YC portfolio company stock; HN is machine to leverage curious, driven people as fuel for VC gains, with the consumer excess being brain tickles for the rest of us.
I think it would have to include YC itself so in the billions, or if one counts the portfolio then theoretically hundreds of billions but only YC's financial people could really answer that and even then the market would have to decide. HN is just a link aggregator and link discussion site under YC.
Atleast around 1B$, because it is a prime discussion place for tinkerers. It makes sense to be valued at around 2 cents worth compared to what twitter was
I have to disagree. In my opinion, there is no real way to monetize this in a way that the community would embrace. You might run ads or email campaigns for a year but I imagine most users would just go someplace newer or better. No way to monetize ultimately means no value.
I don't know if they're wrong. HN's primary utility is promoting YC's job openings and product announcements alongside the more important industry-wide news. Turn it into a generic link aggregator, and owning/moderating/updating the site might be more trouble than it's worth.
It is, but that doesn't bring value for the owners on its own. Something else has to exist on top, or you'd have to run the service and moderation on donations. The forum on its own has negative value.
What is the value of Wikipedia? Hard to value public goods, because the value of HN comes from its mods. I suppose if one must, start at whatever gains YC has seen on its investments during HN's lifetime, with some discount for the fact that ZIRP is unlikely to occur again and the future will not be like the past wrt the startup ecosystem. There is no guarantee a new owner would cultivate the same forum participants who might consider being a founder or employee of a YC portfolio company. The product is YC portfolio company stock; HN is machine to leverage curious, driven people as fuel for VC gains, with the consumer excess being brain tickles for the rest of us.
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pulling-back-the-curtain-...
https://www.marketsentiment.co/p/the-yc-report
If it were to be sold, how much would HN cost?
I think it would have to include YC itself so in the billions, or if one counts the portfolio then theoretically hundreds of billions but only YC's financial people could really answer that and even then the market would have to decide. HN is just a link aggregator and link discussion site under YC.
Atleast around 1B$, because it is a prime discussion place for tinkerers. It makes sense to be valued at around 2 cents worth compared to what twitter was
I have to disagree. In my opinion, there is no real way to monetize this in a way that the community would embrace. You might run ads or email campaigns for a year but I imagine most users would just go someplace newer or better. No way to monetize ultimately means no value.
exactly
While we're at it, I'd like to propose a valuation of $5 billion for Neogaf. Any objections?
Whoa, hold on! That's a lot of money :D
They must already be earning something from the ads.
$0.02
Haha, you failed.
You failed realise that bookface is of much much more value than HN.
HN is just a free link aggregator, you can't make money from it.
bookface is only accessible to YC founders, which means YC founders have given a chunk of their company away to access it (as a bonus)
You see, the network of bookface (and bookface its self as a part of YC) is more valuable than HN.
I don't know if they're wrong. HN's primary utility is promoting YC's job openings and product announcements alongside the more important industry-wide news. Turn it into a generic link aggregator, and owning/moderating/updating the site might be more trouble than it's worth.
You forgot to mention the great discussions that take place here and that revolve around topics that are very relevant to your readers.
It is, but that doesn't bring value for the owners on its own. Something else has to exist on top, or you'd have to run the service and moderation on donations. The forum on its own has negative value.