Why does XF not hire developers or raise VC fund?

mjp said:
but it appears that everyone just looked around after that and said, "whatever, lol,"
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:ROFLMAO:

mjp = perpetual win :)

mjp.for.president.2016.webp
 
vBulletin = run by mega company with almost unlimited money Internet Brands => produces vBulletin 5.
Xenforo = run by a few guys who know what they are doing => Xenforo.

Seems like development money isn't the most important part about running a downloadable php forum software company.

IMO.
 
Slavik said:
Its all about priorities really.

>95% or something of all migrations come from vBulletin 3+4.

So whilst having custom importers for every platform out there would be nice, its development time better spent elsewhere.

I have however, been toying with a new idea on importing, which may also solve this issue :)
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I don't think anyone has any idea how many people WOULD migrate from another platform to XenForo but cannot because there is no importer. Any number of potential clients visit the site, discover there is no importer, and leave. XenForo does not provide an easy way for potential customers to voice their interest/need.

We just don't know.
 
feldon30 said:
I don't think anyone has any idea how many people WOULD migrate from another platform to XenForo but cannot because there is no importer. Any number of potential clients visit the site, discover there is no importer, and leave. XenForo does not provide an easy way for potential customers to voice their interest/need.

We just don't know.
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The majority of existing forums use vBulletin. For the sake of argument, let's say for every non-Vbulletin forum on the web, there are 50 vBulletin forums.
It doesn't make sense for Xenforo to spend resources on importers that would potentially convert only a fraction of the customers they can convert from vBulletin. I believe that is the point @Slavik is making.

And as far as the original question posed by this thread - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
 
hpidriver said:
The majority of existing PAID forums use vBulletin.
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added the missing word.

For the sake of argument, let's say for every non-Vbulletin forum on the web, there are 50 vBulletin forums.
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50 = not accurate.

Xenforo is approximately the same size as:
vBulletin 3
vBulletin 4
(in terms of number of installs on the WWW)

Xenforo is twice the size of IPB.


From: https://tools.digitalpoint.com/cookie-search

upload_2014-11-7_17-35-48.webp


According to Builtwith
upload_2014-11-7_17-38-37.webp

SMF users are more likely to migrate to vBulletin than Xenforo.
http://trends.builtwith.com/cms/SMF/Market-Share

According to w3techs
http://w3techs.com/technologies/comparison/cm-simplemachinesforum,cm-vbulletin
vB is three times larger than SMF in terms of number of installs (but vB installs are plummeting).

upload_2014-11-7_17-57-42.webp
 
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@Digital Doctor 1:50 ratio was not meant to be numerically accurate, it was to prove the point of why Xenforo wouldn't benefit much from devoting resources to non-vb conversions.

According to the charts you posted vb has 60% of the market share. Is there a chart that shows the breakdown of xf versions within their 30% overall market share? (Nevermind, found it at the bottom of the list)
 
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Digital Doctor said:
vBulletin = run by mega company with almost unlimited money Internet Brands => produces vBulletin 5.
Xenforo = run by a few guys who know what they are doing => Xenforo.

Seems like development money isn't the most important part about running a downloadable php forum software company.

IMO.
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And the best php forum software product on the market now!

When I bought php forum software from the almost unlimited money company, it didn't work. The latest version of the software was broken and no clear believable plan to fix it.

I abandoned it and in my search for a replacement, found a php forum software company run by a few guys who not only proved they knew what they were doing, but also proved it by producing excellent software - and continue to do so.
 
I was in the construction business way back when.

I remember a couple of guys who did sheetrock (drywall) work. They made good money and worked hard.

The economy boomed and the building trades along with it. I started seeing their trucks everywhere! It turned out they now had 52 employees and an operation with many many millions in revenue per year.

When the economy tanked they went bust - and I heard they never really made more money than they had when just the two of them were working...

I do a lot of business mentoring...and this whole "VC and Startup" thing has gotten out of hand. Real life is not like Shark Tank. It's more like the turtle vs. the hare - and the turtle wins 95% of time!

I ran my first biz for 20 years - built it up with my own money the whole time. I then ran hearth.com for 18 years without a single employee or any outside money. Believe me, the benefits of not answering to investors are worthwhile.

The only exceptions would be where you really really need a lot of capital to achieve a goal. For example, if you want to build the next great drone, it's going to take some capital to cull market share from DJI (drone maker).
 
feldon30 said:
I don't think anyone has any idea how many people WOULD migrate from another platform to XenForo but cannot because there is no importer. .
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I imported from a complete non-supported unpopular forum (EE) and it was over 1 million posts. It didn't cost much $$ - just some basic work and troubleshooting with Jake's help.

Most any forum can be imported to XF.

KAM are using the old 80/20 rule. That is, 20% of your clients usually represent 80% of your business. In other words, if you import the most common or important or needed forums, that's enough. Wasting resources on many of the others creates diminishing returns.

We should create "simXF" so all of you can take a shot and see whether you run it into the ground or create the next.....well, since no forum software has yet really proven to be successful in the long run, I can't even spell out what the next is! Better to have a nice niche than to once again prove the maxim "the taller they stand, the harder they fall".
 
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