Ark (YC W12) raises big seed round(allthingsd.com)
allthingsd.com
Ark (YC W12) raises big seed round
http://allthingsd.com/20120425/people-search-engine-ark-raises-biggest-y-combinator-seed-round-ever/
25 comments
Anyone know why they pivoted? As of last summer, they were doing Cause related stuff (like we do at Causes.com). It was a little weird -- I saw a few cartoons on their site of a cute penguin (their logo) standing triumphantly over a dead polar bear (with the Causes logo). They also became the Mayor of our office on 4sq. So.. seeing that they're doing people search right now is a bit of a departure.
Seems they still have this Cause related stuff, accessible via link in footer.
http://ark.com/fund/
http://ark.com/fund/
We were just messing with you guys (Causes). ;) You can have your 4sq mayorship back. We initially were trying to enable people to connect based on similar charity interests. It's still available and people still use it. We just broadened the focus.
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Part of what’s hard about social search is that Facebook prohibits outside crawlers. But Riley said he’s confident that he can get Facebook data, because he has gotten advice from Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, and has worked with Facebook’s legal team to make sure everything’s kosher.
This would seem to be a key point. Can anyone provide further details? Facebook hasn't historically shown much inclination to let others into the walled garden: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-go...
Why would Facebook allow this?
This would seem to be a key point. Can anyone provide further details? Facebook hasn't historically shown much inclination to let others into the walled garden: http://petewarden.typepad.com/searchbrowser/2010/04/how-i-go...
Why would Facebook allow this?
Because they're not using a crawler, that's why. Or, at least, that's my sense of things.
Wait, so now anyone who wants to index Facebook can, as long as they don't crawl? Obviously, that's not true. So what's the deal? Does Facebook now have warrants in ark.com or something? There must be some quid pro quo.
they are probably using the graph api. Which doesn't give you access to much data for most people (As we're all trained to limit what other people's apps can see of us)
Absolutely correct. We are using the Graph API. The magic comes with you do link analysis and cluster it with other public data.
Congratulations to them! It's impressive, and the product seems really interesting.
But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...)
I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...
But having 9 VC invested in your Company is really not an idea situation. (cf: http://blog.eladgil.com/2012/04/vc-signaling-coming-home-to-...)
I am wondering why they did not want to/could not raise money from one VC only who would have lead the round (with say $3M) with super angels and individuals completing the round. That would have made their Company so much more manageable at the board level...
Having 1 VC invest is a problem as the company is dependent on them to invest in the next round or face signalling problems. The VC may use that to force worse terms. Having 9 VCs is less of a problem. Or at least if all 9 VCs that have followed your company since seed round refuse to invest in the next round, you probably have more serious problems to worry about than the signalling issues.
Well....I see what you are saying. But if none of the 9VC want to follow up... the Company is toast for sure ;-)
I can certainly see it both ways. Thanks for the link and discussion guys. It's valuable for those just starting to make these kinds of decisions.
You are welcome. Really looking forward to test the product though. Do you intend to take on Intelius and Companies like that? Is that your goal?
The other negative signal is all their talk of doing "massive" things. Did fb ever talk this way? Not to my knowledge ... they just DID things. Lot's of hype / cockiness on this one.
Ark has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet. Yet, I get what you mean... I guess Ark will eventually adopt a "keep calm and ship" attitude as it matures.. Its still a very young company (about 20 people).
I'm sorry you think we are overly ambitious. Zuck was very demonstratively inspired and confident (see below), and we are all better off that we was.
Totally agree. Everybody forgets that neither Facebook, nor Google, eBay, LinkedIn, Youtube, were saying they were doing massive things. And yet...
Why do you guys think that? I received this email in 2004 from TheFacebook.com founders encouraging me to join their team.
" - Thefacebook.com is one of the hottest new websites.
- Our numbers are some of the best on the Internet: 1.5-2 billion page views per month, 2.3 million registered users, and 60%+ of the user base comes back every day
"
If you are starting your own company, you should be 120% sure you are building something huge that people want. It's also much harder now to attract engineers then it was back then, which is essentially the main reason you even talk about a round.
" - Thefacebook.com is one of the hottest new websites.
- Our numbers are some of the best on the Internet: 1.5-2 billion page views per month, 2.3 million registered users, and 60%+ of the user base comes back every day
"
If you are starting your own company, you should be 120% sure you are building something huge that people want. It's also much harder now to attract engineers then it was back then, which is essentially the main reason you even talk about a round.
Thanks for participating in the discussion. I completely understand what you are talking about regarding attracting engineers. It's so crazy currently in Silicon Valley!
I am not saying that you should not be ambitious. It's just that I see so many people boasting huge vision with no traction at all. As you can see in the email above, TheFacebook was indeed a hot website with amazing traction. Their ambition (social graph, platform, etc...) came later, and so many times entrepreneurs think that they need to have the big vision first when their MVP is not used at all.
In the case of Ark, I believe that you have a very interesting product, and that being where you are right now is a very interesting position. I wish you all the success in the world to bring that to fruition and be able to get the traction you need to go to the next level. Good luck! I would love to have coffee with you and hear more about it if you are in the city!
I am not saying that you should not be ambitious. It's just that I see so many people boasting huge vision with no traction at all. As you can see in the email above, TheFacebook was indeed a hot website with amazing traction. Their ambition (social graph, platform, etc...) came later, and so many times entrepreneurs think that they need to have the big vision first when their MVP is not used at all.
In the case of Ark, I believe that you have a very interesting product, and that being where you are right now is a very interesting position. I wish you all the success in the world to bring that to fruition and be able to get the traction you need to go to the next level. Good luck! I would love to have coffee with you and hear more about it if you are in the city!
BTW - did you join their team?
Ark is "already" doing massive things for sure. It already has indexed 1 billion+ profiles and more coming in the pipeline. I do not know of any other search engine that has accomplished that yet
Thanks! But we feel like we are only 1% done. Our team has confidence in what we can accomplish... now it's just a matter of execution and having smart hackers on the team.
Does anyone has invites to check out Ark?
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