Simon Willison's Weblog: quora

Quoting quora.com/robots.txt

2024-03-19T23:09:31+00:00

People share a lot of sensitive material on Quora - controversial political views, workplace gossip and compensation, and negative opinions held of companies. Over many years, as they change jobs or change their views, it is important that they can delete or anonymize their previously-written answers.

We opt out of the wayback machine because inclusion would allow people to discover the identity of authors who had written sensitive answers publicly and later had made them anonymous, and because it would prevent authors from being able to remove their content from the internet if they change their mind about publishing it.

— quora.com/robots.txt

Tags: internet-archive, robots-txt, quora

Should I build my startup's web-based product as if it's going to one day be widely adopted and experience high-volume, or instead focus on quick delivery over scalability?

2017-10-07T03:30:52+00:00

My answer to Should I build my startup's web-based product as if it's going to one day be widely adopted and experience high-volume, or instead focus on quick delivery over scalability? on Quora

Absolutely the second: build for rapid learning, not for eventual scalability. The vast majority of startups fail, and the number one reason they fail is that they didn’t achieve product-market fit: they failed to build something that customers actually wanted.

Whatever you think your product should be, you’re certainly wrong. If you’re lucky you will be at least aiming in the right direction, and getting it in front of actual users will lead you to course correct and figure out what it is you should really be building.

If you do manage to build something that people want, then you can start to focus on how you’re going to scale it up. That’s a great problem to have! But building for scale before you’ve proved your product is a recipe for months of wasted work.

Tags: quora, startups

Getting the blog back together

2017-10-01T22:15:37+00:00

Getting this blog up and running again has turned out to be one of those side-projects that keeps threatening to fall down a rabbit hole.

I kicked off the work a couple of years ago at the Django Birthday event in Lawrence, KS and got most of the way done. Then life got in the way... and last weekend I decided to try and get it over the finish line. Today, I'm forcing myself to ship even though there are still tons of things I want to do with it. Perfect is the enemy of done. That goes for my first-blog-post-in-seven-years too.

I may not have blogged in seven years, but I did answer a whole bunch of questions on Quora. I've imported my Quora answers (extracted using this userscript) and used them to help fill out the intervening years. I plan to do the same with a few other types of content as well.

Tags: quora, blogging, site-upgrades

What's the cheapest or free stack solution to deploy and experiment with a realtime application in 2016?

2016-08-16T09:02:00+00:00

My answer to What's the cheapest or free stack solution to deploy and experiment with a realtime application in 2016? on Quora

Heroku have a good free tier, and comprehensive support for deploying both Python and Node.js. If you are mainly interested in realtime I would suggest starting out with Node.js on Heroku. Depending on the complexity of your project you might even be able to use raw Node.js without adding something like Express.

Getting Started on Heroku with Node.js

Tags: quora, websockets, hosting, webapps, web-development, programming, heroku

Which VCs invest in an early stage in an IOT Technology startup in USA North East?

2016-08-15T16:08:00+00:00

My answer to Which VCs invest in an early stage in an IOT Technology startup in USA North East? on Quora

I can't provide a specific list of VCs, but I can help you answer this question for yourself.

There's a simple trick to figuring out which VCs are interested in a specific category: figure out what companies already exist in that category, then work out who their investors are.

As you start to build up that list of VCs, the next step is to look at their full portfolio (most VCs do a great job of listing this on the website) and use it to spot patterns: do they have multiple investments in that space? Where do their companies tend to be located? Have they invested in any obvious direct competitors?

Tags: quora

What's the first thing you would check if the company is losing money even though there's a big increase in its revenue?

2016-08-15T14:12:00+00:00

My answer to What's the first thing you would check if the company is losing money even though there's a big increase in its revenue? on Quora

The company's expenses.

Tags: quora, startups, entrepreneurship, business, careers

What is the single greatest value-add from Y Combinator?

2016-08-15T13:32:00+00:00

My answer to What is the single greatest value-add from Y Combinator? on Quora

It's very difficult to pick the best one, but from our experience here's something that really stood out: the sense of camaraderie and trust you have in others who are also going through YC.

Building a startup is incredibly difficult. Almost by definition, you have no idea what you are doing and every day you'll need to figure out how to do something brand new (to you) to as high a standard as possible: interview a candidate, pitch an investor, prepare a press release etc etc etc.

Unfortunately, it's also a bad idea to be honest about how difficult you are finding it. If someone asks how your startup is going the only correct answer is “yeah, totally awesome!” even if you are completely drowning. After all, that person might be or know a potential investor, employee, business partner or customer!

YC helps here because when you join you enter a code of fellowship with your fellow YC companies (certainly those in the same batch, but it extends to alumni companies too). You'll keep their secrets, and they will keep yours.

This means you now have the largest, most engaged and helpful support group you could possibly imagine!

Having trouble putting together a plan for your launch? So are half the other companies in your batch. Go swap notes with them and figure it out together.

Raised money in dollars but need to convert it to another currency and don't know how to do it? Someone else in your batch had to figure out exactly that last week, and since they only just learnt it themselves they are the best person to learn from.

Feel like everything is going to pieces and your company is doomed? Get together for dinner and you'll find that EVERYONE feels like that, then swap stories about your latest disasters with each other.

If you're not in YC it's still possible to build up a trusted network like this, but it's s huge amount of work: find other founders you trust at a similar stage to you, get them to trust you, then introduce them to each other and hope that everyone clicks. YC does that all for free and grants you a much larger network than you could ever build by yourself.

Tags: quora, y-combinator, startups

Why is snapEDA.com slow? Is it because it uses Django?

2016-05-10T09:04:00+00:00

My answer to Why is snapEDA.com slow? Is it because it uses Django? on Quora

No, it's not slow because it uses Django.

Evidence: there are plenty of large scale, highly performing sites that use Django.

Tags: quora, python, django, web-development

What are the best strategies to get a tech job at YC-backed startups in the next 5 months?

2015-12-18T11:02:00+00:00

My answer to What are the best strategies to get a tech job at YC-backed startups in the next 5 months? on Quora

Keep an eye on jobs | Hacker News - it's the official listing of almost all jobs advertised at YC companies.

Tags: quora, techstars, 500startups, y-combinator, startups, jobs, careers

How can I negotiate a free conference venue in London?

2015-05-24T13:22:00+00:00

My answer to How can I negotiate a free conference venue in London? on Quora

The two top options in my experience are universities (including student unions) and private companies with good meeting facilities.

In both cases, you will need a strong internal champion within those organizations. For universities a good option here may be a student union society of some sort. For companies, an employee who knows how to book rooms, work with the facilities team etc.

It goes without saying that your event will need to have a theme that strongly resonated with the group that you are asking to host it for free.

Tags: quora, conferences, london

Are traditional web frameworks and languages like RubyOnRail, Spring Boot and PHP dying now when new fast reactive pure JavaScript frameworks and services like Meteor, Node, Angular 2.0 and Firebase are breaking ground?

2015-05-24T09:33:00+00:00

My answer to Are traditional web frameworks and languages like RubyOnRail, Spring Boot and PHP dying now when new fast reactive pure JavaScript frameworks and services like Meteor, Node, Angular 2.0 and Firebase are breaking ground? on Quora

No.

Tags: quora, java, django, frameworks, javascript, programming-languages, web-development, programming

We applied to Y Combinator a few weeks ago and submitted a demo. We made significant progress since then and have a much better demo now. Is it possible to replace the demo? Is it advisable?

2014-03-28T16:59:00+00:00

My answer to We applied to Y Combinator a few weeks ago and submitted a demo. We made significant progress since then and have a much better demo now. Is it possible to replace the demo? Is it advisable? on Quora

It's fine to replace the demo, and definitely a good idea if your new demo is better. That said, don't expect that anyone who has viewed the old demo will check out the new one. As a result the sooner you get the new demo in place the better.

Tags: quora, y-combinator

Have you ever experienced a boost in productivity by switching to a different programming language?

2014-03-19T18:38:00+00:00

My answer to Have you ever experienced a boost in productivity by switching to a different programming language? on Quora

Switching from PHP to Python (over a decade ago now) dramatically improved my productivity as a programmer.

Tags: quora, programming-languages, programming, productivity

How does one decide which Javascript framework (e.g. Node, Backbone, Angular) to use on any given project?

2014-03-11T17:08:00+00:00

My answer to How does one decide which Javascript framework (e.g. Node, Backbone, Angular) to use on any given project? on Quora

If you are just learning JavaScript, I suggest trying to work without any frameworks or libraries at all. Starting with something like Angular will make it much harder for you to learn the core language and browser APIs.

Once you've worked with raw JavaScript for a while, it's worth starting to learn jQuery - it's the basis of most of the popular JavaScript frameworks out there and understanding how it works will help reinforce a bunch of core JavaScript concepts.

If your priority is learning though, it's a good idea to start without jQuery. There are a surprising number of JavaScript developers out there who only really know how to program JavaScript using jQuery.

Tags: quora, javascript, frameworks, angular, nodejs, webapps, programming, web-development

What are some tips for improving public speaking skills quickly?

2014-03-07T11:57:00+00:00

My answer to What are some tips for improving public speaking skills quickly? on Quora

Practice your talk, out loud, in private, as many times as possible before you deliver it. There's no better way of ensuring you know your material and that you can deliver it at a sensible pace without freezing up.

Make sure you have a full written copy of your talk available to you when you deliver it. You should aim to give your talk from memory (prompted by your slides), but I find that having the notes nearby ready to fall back gives me much more confidence. The audience will not mind in the slightest if you pause for a moment to check your notes - they probably won't even notice.

Tags: quora, speaking, productivity

Are there any YC startups based around open source software?

2014-03-05T11:16:00+00:00

My answer to Are there any YC startups based around open source software? on Quora

There have been a few.

Meteor.js is the most obvious example (YCS11, fully open source, raised $11.2 million): Meteor Raises $11.2M Round Led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Reddit have released all of their source code though I'm pretty sure they did that long after they went through YC: reddit on GitHub

DotCloud (YCS10) have pivoted to focus on Docker, which is fully open source.

If you browse through the list on Y Combinator Company List you'll certainly find some others.

Tags: quora, y-combinator, docker

Aside from Google I/O, does Google organize any other conferences?

2014-02-27T10:17:00+00:00

My answer to Aside from Google I/O, does Google organize any other conferences? on Quora

They run a whole bunch, but many of them aren't widely advertised - they have a lot of invite-only events for customers of their advertising tools, for example, and there are things like the Google Analytics Summit.

The Google Developers site has an enormous events calendar, but it includes events they are sponsoring or that their various user group communities are running so it can be hard to spot the events they are organising themselves in there.

Tags: quora, conferences, google, google-io

What are good event venues to have a 100 person weekend hackathon in San Francisco?

2014-02-24T18:54:00+00:00

My answer to What are good event venues to have a 100 person weekend hackathon in San Francisco? on Quora

As a general rule, tech companies in San Francisco are very supportive of hackathons and keen to host events. Eventbrite have hosted this kind of event in their office in the past, and I'm certain there are a bunch of other companies with decent spaces that would be worth approaching. Does the hackathon have a specific topic? I suggest approaching companies related to that topic as a starting point.

Tags: quora, hackathons, events, san-francisco

Does Y Combinator accept purely app ideas like WhatsApp, Flipboard, etc.?

2014-02-24T10:16:00+00:00

My answer to Does Y Combinator accept purely app ideas like WhatsApp, Flipboard, etc.? on Quora

Yes they do, but you'll need to demonstrate that your team also has the ability to execute on the idea.

Tags: quora, y-combinator, startups

Should I use Django forms or pure HTML in order to do not establish borders for the growth of my app?

2014-02-23T11:39:00+00:00

My answer to Should I use Django forms or pure HTML in order to do not establish borders for the growth of my app? on Quora

Use Django forms. Django scales horizontally on the front-end, so if your site needs to handle large amounts of traffic you just need to run multiple front-end servers - your form handling code will scale up just fine.

Tags: quora, django, web-development

What are the most important things to keep in mind when doing a presentation?

2014-02-23T10:01:00+00:00

My answer to What are the most important things to keep in mind when doing a presentation? on Quora

Know your material, and don't speak too fast.

Tags: quora, speaking

What is the best payment provider for a web app with monthly subscription fees at its early stage?

2014-02-20T17:35:00+00:00

My answer to What is the best payment provider for a web app with monthly subscription fees at its early stage? on Quora

We found Stripe extremely easy to get started with for charging subscription payments.

Tags: quora, webapps, startups, stripe

What are the key points accelerators such as Y-Combinator drill into their startups?

2014-02-07T18:36:00+00:00

My answer to What are the key points accelerators such as Y-Combinator drill into their startups? on Quora

Build something people want. This is so important that YC have it printed on the T-Shirts they hand out to each batch.

They also teach the importance of launching something and getting real feedback. The entire three month YC process is based around the need to launch and demonstrate traction in order to raise money from investors.

Paul Graham's essays cover many of the lessons that YC teaches startups.

Tags: quora, y-combinator, funding, startups, entrepreneurship

Does Ycombinator welcome projects that are similar to alumnis?

2014-02-03T15:36:00+00:00

My answer to Does Ycombinator welcome projects that are similar to alumnis? on Quora

Y Combinator has funded companies that are similar to alumni in the past. Two examples: they funded dotCloud and Parse, both platform-as-a-service startups, despite having previously funded Heroku.

Tags: quora, y-combinator

What's the best way to communicate with go libraries from within Python programs?

2014-02-03T11:58:00+00:00

My answer to What's the best way to communicate with go libraries from within Python programs? on Quora

Go speaks HTTP extremely well, so one simple but powerful approach is to hook your Go libraries up as simple HTTP+JSON APIs and have Python call them over HTTP (the Requests: HTTP for Humans library is awesome for this).

Tags: quora, go, python

What are Good Conferences for SaaS Marketers?

2014-01-30T10:39:00+00:00

My answer to What are Good Conferences for SaaS Marketers? on Quora

Business of Software has a very good reputation.

Tags: quora, saas, conferences

Do accelerators (which do not take up equity) accept not-for-profit ventures into their programs? If yes, which are some of the best ones?

2014-01-28T13:41:00+00:00

My answer to Do accelerators (which do not take up equity) accept not-for-profit ventures into their programs? If yes, which are some of the best ones? on Quora

Y Combinator recently started funding non-profits: http://ycombinator.com/np.html

Tags: quora, 500startups, y-combinator, funding, startups, entrepreneurship

What are some good designs for a personal business card for professional networking?

2014-01-26T18:57:00+00:00

My answer to What are some good designs for a personal business card for professional networking? on Quora

Two things I think are absolutely worth including:

A photograph. People collect a LOT of cards at big networking events - if you have a recognisable photograph somewhere on your card it really helps people remember who you are, and follow up with you later if they had a great conversation with you in person.
Space for notes. I always get non-glossy cards so that regular pens can write on them. This lets people (or you) jot down a note to remind them of anything they were going to follow up with you later.

Tags: quora, networking

What is the best way one can expand his or her professional network?

2014-01-26T14:47:00+00:00

My answer to What is the best way one can expand his or her professional network? on Quora

Go to events - local meetups, conferences, tradeshows... there's no better way of expanding your professional network than to attend events and build in-person relationships with people.

Tags: quora, facebook, networking, linkedin, social-networks, web-development, india

What are the best free tutorials on HTML5?

2014-01-24T13:16:00+00:00

My answer to What are the best free tutorials on HTML5? on Quora

Dive Into HTML5 and HTML5 Rocks are both outstanding.

Tags: quora, html5, tutorials, web-development