Daniel Ha

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• What do VCs usually accept as a proof of concept of a new business model (like Groupon's)?

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    Traction in user growth or revenue.

• How did you differentiate yourself from your competitors when you were starting out?

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    Honestly, I think we cared more.

• How has facebook comments impacted your business?

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    Many ways. It’s helped us refine our company narrative and product vision. We’re no longer the sole 3rd party commenting solution for publishers, and that’s been a net positive thing for our growth. But it also presents a positioning challenge that forces us to understand why Disqus is successful and how it’ll continue to grow beyond commenting.

• I love your improvements in Disqus over the years! How did you get in front of Union Square Ventures without living in NYC? Did you contact them or did they find you? Congrats on your new fundraising!

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    We got a partner (Fred Wilson) to use the product on his blog (avc.com). It was a blog that I had already been reading often.

• How much better do you believe the Disqus product can actually get being that it's so simple? What can we see in the near term?

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    A lot better. We’ve latched onto something familiar and accessible; that’s why Disqus grew. We have a lot of room for innovation now.

• Whats the founders/ceo role in a startup after the product is built/shipped?

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    As told to me by Jerry Colonna:

    1. Maintain vision for the company, product, and business
    2. Find and recruit great people
    3. Make sure the team has what they need to succeed

• Should early employees get equity? How much?

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    Yes, depends on their role and the amount of risk they’re taking on.

• What did you wish you knew or wish you learned prior to founding Disqus?

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    Advice was (is) so abundant that I knew a lot going in. But I made many of the same mistakes anyway because advice doesn’t stick like pain does.

• How can you learn to 'hustle' when you are an introvert?

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    You don’t need to be an extrovert. Hustling means making things happen, sometimes by brute force and by being tenacious.

• I'm curious how you approach developing a product roadmap. Disqus started as a fairly simple commenting widget, but seems to be evolving into a much broader feature set. What features can we expect to see rolled out over the coming 12-months? And with all the potential functionality to add, how do you prioritize which features to tackle next?

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    We’re prioritizing features based on major goals. Right now our goals are around the consumer experience and Disqus network effects. Fun things are coming.