Nextdoor Holdings, Inc. is an American company which operates a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods. The company was founded in 2008 and is based in San Francisco, California. Nextdoor launched in the United States in October 2011, and is available in 11 countries as of May 2023. Users of Nextdoor are required to submit their real names and addresses to the website. However, they do not verify the accuracy of submitted names and addresses.
History
Nirav Tolia, Sarah Leary, Prakash Janakiraman and David Wiesen co-founded Nextdoor in 2008. Tolia had previously helped start Epinions. Early investors included Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, and Rich Barton. The concept and patents that Nextdoor is based on were invented by "FatDoor" CEO Raj Abhyanker in 2006. Abhyanker pitched Benchmark Capital on Nextdoor in 2007. Nirav Tolia worked at Benchmark Capital as Entrepreneur in Residence at that time. Tolia later founded Nextdoor in 2010 and made a statement saying that "an entrepreneur like Abhyanker should go in and just expect a venture capitalist to take intellectual property from others and that it has happened so many times in the past."
, Nextdoor had 80 to 100 employees. In July 2012, Nextdoor raised US$18.6 million in venture capital funding. Dan Clancy (formerly of Google) joined Nextdoor in February 2014.
On May 14, 2014, Nirav Tolia, then-CEO of Nextdoor, was charged with felony hit-and-run for allegedly fleeing a crash on Highway 101 in Brisbane, California that left a woman injured. "It's ironic that the CEO of a company that is holding itself out as trying to promote neighborliness, crime watch and things like that flees the scene of an accident that he caused and doesn't bother to call 911 or stay around to exchange information or see if he caused any injuries," said the woman's attorney, Joseph Brent. On June 12, 2014, Tolia pled no contest and served 30 days of community service in lieu of jail time.
In February 2017, Nextdoor acquired the UK local social network service Streetlife in a "multimillion pound deal". Nextdoor's less stringent privacy and safety policies provoked concerns among some users of Streetlife—for example, full names and street addresses are visible to all members of a Nextdoor, but not Streetlife, neighbourhood—some reporting ensuing harm, such as abusive former partner finding out a woman's current address.
Advertising was added to the platform, including real estate advertising, in 2017. Advertising includes posts inside users' feeds about business services and products.
In July 2018, then-CEO co-founder Tolia announced plans to retire as chief executive officer (CEO), stating that he intended to become chair of the company's board following the transition. In October 2018, Square's former chief financial officer Sarah Friar became CEO, succeeding Tolia. Tolia subsequently retained his seat as a member of the company board of directors.
In 2019, Nextdoor acquired local news site Hoodline. Later that year, HuffPost and Wired reported that Nextdoor paid a firm to improve its reputation by lobbying for changes to the Wikipedia articles on Nextdoor, NBC, and several other corporations.
In November 2021, Nextdoor became a publicly traded company.
Usage
Typical platform uses include neighbors reporting on news and events in their "neighborhood" and members asking each other for local service-provider recommendations. "Neighborhood" borders were initially established with Maponics, a provider of geographical information. According to the platform's rules, members whose addresses fall outside the boundaries of existing neighborhoods can establish their own neighborhoods. "Founding" members of neighborhoods determine the name of the neighborhood and its boundaries, although Nextdoor retains the authority to change either of these. A member must attract a minimum of 10 households to establish a new "neighborhood", as of November 2016.
Local information
While allowing for "civil debate", the platform prohibits canvassing for votes on forums. The service does, however allow separate forums just for political discussions. According to The New York Times, these discussions are "separated from [a user's regular] neighborhood feeds". The company had established these separate forums in 12 markets by 2018. The company has stated it "has no plans" to accept political advertising.