Comments on: StackOverflow gives up a hope of making money, goes to VCs instead http://blog.olegkokorin.com/2010/02/16/stackoverflow-gives-up-a-hope-of-making-money-goes-to-vcs-instead/ by Oleg Kokorin Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:37:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Enloop: Automated Business Plans and Forecasts http://blog.olegkokorin.com/2010/02/16/stackoverflow-gives-up-a-hope-of-making-money-goes-to-vcs-instead/#comment-423 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:26:57 +0000 http://blog.olegkokorin.com/?p=109#comment-423 [...] But even these slide shows are better than some. The popular South Park ‘Profit’ meme better resembles the business plans of many start-ups. The meme pokes fun at the sometimes ludicrous actions of companies and the distant correlation they have with the bottom line. I remember one aspiring entrepreneur who I questioned about how he planned on making money. His reply? Eyeballs! Just get enough eyeballs on the screen and it would equal profit. This is sometimes true. Sometimes. [...]

]]> By: StackOverflow revenue estimated « Lessons to be learned http://blog.olegkokorin.com/2010/02/16/stackoverflow-gives-up-a-hope-of-making-money-goes-to-vcs-instead/#comment-41 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:24:31 +0000 http://blog.olegkokorin.com/?p=109#comment-41 [...] I decided to estimate what kind of revenue StackOverflow actually generates. Apparently, it’s enough to try to go to VCs, but not enough for a self-sustained growth. Luckily, it is relatively easy to [...]

]]> By: Bob Walsh http://blog.olegkokorin.com/2010/02/16/stackoverflow-gives-up-a-hope-of-making-money-goes-to-vcs-instead/#comment-32 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:20:04 +0000 http://blog.olegkokorin.com/?p=109#comment-32 Hi Oleg,

I think you missed the point of what Joel is doing – going after VC money to scale SO, not to generate monthly revenue from it.

]]> By: Jason Cohen http://blog.olegkokorin.com/2010/02/16/stackoverflow-gives-up-a-hope-of-making-money-goes-to-vcs-instead/#comment-31 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:57:57 +0000 http://blog.olegkokorin.com/?p=109#comment-31 If you think StackOverflow doesn’t make a lot of money off ads, you’re wrong.

You don’t need insider info to figure that out. Look at the number of daily hits they have (which they publish on their blog) and multiply by their CPM (which their ad salesmen are happy to quote you), subtract a heavy charge for bandwidth, subtract some salaries for the employees (who are publically listed so you know how many), and you’ll see they’re making good money.

They also have the job board system. You can do the same type of arithmetic and see that’s a money-maker too.

You can make money with QA sites and advertising, you just need a lot of traffic, which is very hard to do. My advice to most people trying to do a QA site — even to myself and Dharmesh as you quoted — is that it’s too hard to make money with ads.

But that doesn’t mean SO isn’t, or that this is the reason Joel is seeking VC.

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