That claim prompted a fair amount of skepticism in the chat. One user responded:
“Considering that most people I know are active Internet users but don’t use or visit Quora, I find this unlikely. Are you sure there’s not a problem with your counting method, or that you accidentally reported the wrong statistic?”
D’Angelo was firm:
“We’re pretty confident in our data,” he wrote. “If the people you sampled were random Internet users you’d expect 90 percent of them not to use or visit Quora so I think your experience is consistent with the data. (Separately, this has also grown over time and the last time you talked to people about Quora may have been when we were smaller).”
There was some discussion about just who these users are. In the chat, several folks noted that Quora has been doing a good job ranking high in Google search results. Much of this traffic then could be due to people visiting the site, rather than members who are active participants.
Launched in 2009 by former Facebook employees, Quora has received its share of hype over the years. The company has raised $141 million in venture capital, including $80 million in a round led last year by Tiger Capital.
These numbers would put Quora below other social services such as Pinterest, which revealed earlier this year that it has 100 million MAU. And apparently, Quora doesn’t warrant a place on a long list of possible IPO candidates for 2016 (nor does Pinterest).
Still, the company appears to be growing steadily. And with the money from last year, it would appear to have funds to ride out another year, as it focuses on monetization and product.