CouchSurfing raises $15 million Series B

http://www.couchsurfing.org/news/cs-organization/couchsurfing-raises-15-million-to-improve-our-website-and-mobile-apps/

by ted0 • 14 years ago

14 7 14 years ago

Buzaga• 14 years ago

and the website's still horrible...(I'm a user)

koopajah• 14 years ago

They address this in the article " The CouchSurfing website, as it currently exists, needs a lot of help. It’s unstable and not very easy to use.".

They start by explaining also that they raised money specifically to focus on rebuilding the website and improving the mobile experience. That won't happen overnight though.

tspike2• 14 years ago

Given the harm that VC involvement can do, those improvements are completely unnecessary and unwelcome.

osxwm• 14 years ago

Oh god damn it. CouchSurfing.org is absolutely going to be ruined by taking VC money.

It existed for years as a totally free volunteer based non-profit. The site was kinda crappy and was sometimes slow, but it just worked. The important things were the community and its network effects.

Now these VCs will be looking for their huge exit and they'll eventually start fucking with the site (see: Quora). What a shame.

dkersten• 14 years ago

I agree. I was heavily involved in couchsurfing a few years back (sadly circumstances haven't let me do more than meet up occasionally now) and anything that was ever organised was done by volunteers and the site was run through donations. It was 100% about the community and about the cultural exchange and it was fantastic in every way - some of my best experiences and I made a few really good friends through it too (hell, just last week, a uni friend of mine got married to a girl he met through couchsurfing).

While having VC's run it into the ground won't destroy the community that's already built around couchsurfing (who don't completely rely on the site but on their own personal network), it will certainly make it dificult for new people to join in and take part and that would be a terrible shame. I hope that the VC's stay on the side line and don't meddle with it too much...

tspike2• 14 years ago

I'm heartbroken by this news. It's only a matter of time before what was a beautiful and whimsical community becomes like every other VC-backed money-grubbing site.

duked• 14 years ago

I'm a user of couch surfing and like many people I liked it when it was clearly non-profit it was a nice community build by nice people guided by the same philosophy. However rcently they changed their status, and are now going for profit (it's not really clear but it seems to be their motivations) by using the initial momentum of the volunteers.

I'm sure, people won't just leave, but I suspect competition may start soon.

CouchSurfing raises $15 million Series B

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