The Library of Minds Reddit CTO's Playbook: Scaling to Billions Without Destroying What Users Love with Chris Slowe
15 snips
Jan 15, 2026 In this engaging discussion, Chris Slowe, co-founder and CTO of Reddit, dives into the engineering magic that propelled Reddit to its massive scale. He shares why separating UI from backend changes is crucial and highlights the importance of community-driven values, like 'Remember the human.' Chris also tackles the challenge of managing tech debt and how pseudo-anonymity fosters generosity among users. Plus, he reveals his thoughts on AI features and the lessons learned from early architectural missteps, all while sharing personal anecdotes about his Reddit favorites.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Roll Out Redesigns Gradually
- Separate UI redesigns from major backend rewrites to limit blast radius and risk.
- Ramp changes via private betas and targeted cohorts so users can self-advocate and reduce backlash.
Redesign Private Beta Created Advocates
- For Reddit's redesign they ran a private beta, expanded cohorts, and let early adopters educate others.
- That created advocates and reduced the risk of a wholesale backlash from the community.
Values Replace Intimacy At Scale
- Values act as verbal shortcuts that align behavior when a company outgrows personal knowledge.
- Clear values replace intimacy and enable coordination once teams exceed ~50–150 people.