Explore the inception story of Reddit and Y Combinator, unconventional strategies used by Reddit founders, the rise and turmoil of Reddit's early days, and the platform's unique culture shaping advertising effectiveness.
Read more
AI Summary
Highlights
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
High agency move of showing up led to Reddit's origin at Y Combinator.
Talent filters reveal entrepreneurial potential through unique interests and backgrounds.
Early success of Reddit stemmed from strategic fake user accounts and democratic content model.
Deep dives
Paul Graham's Insights on Starting Y Combinator and Reddit's Origin
Paul Graham's essay on Reddit shared valuable insights about starting Y Combinator after giving a talk at Harvard. The essay highlighted the origins of Reddit as the first YC company, emphasizing how Paul Graham's talk led to the creation of Y Combinator to invest in younger founders. Reddit's founders, Steve and Alexis, showed high agency by traveling to meet Graham after his talk, illustrating the principle of 'when in doubt, just show up'. This demonstrated their proactive approach in pursuit of opportunities.
Discovering Ideas and Talent Filters in Entrepreneurial Success
Paul Graham emphasized the value of discovering ideas rather than simply thinking of them, citing examples like Reddit's founders noticing traffic from Delicious's 'slash popular', leading to the idea of a front page for the internet. Additionally, the concept of talent filters was discussed, highlighting how interests like learning Lisp or excelling in math Olympiads can indicate predispositions towards success. These talent filters, such as unconventional interests or backgrounds, often serve as indicators of entrepreneurial potential.
Reddit's Early Traction and Success Factors
The early success of Reddit was attributed to Steve and Alexis strategically creating fake user accounts to boost participation, addressing the challenge of generating content and engagement. Reddit's unique approach of valuing ideas for their interestingness and maintaining a democratic content submission model reflected the founders' anti-authoritarian streak. These factors, along with a focus on quirky and intriguing content, set the tone for Reddit's growth and engaged user base.
Reddit's History of Selling and Reacquisition, Sam Altman's Role
Reddit's tumultuous history included selling to Conde Nast in an early $10 million exit, followed by a rebuy from Conde Nast later. Notably, Sam Altman, an investor, played a crucial role as an intermittent CEO and held 8% ownership, now valued at over a billion dollars. The journey of selling, regaining control, and navigating company ownership dynamics showcased the complex evolution of Reddit's business trajectory.
Advertising Challenges on Reddit and User Interaction
The challenges of advertising on Reddit were highlighted due to the platform's user base with strong anti-authority sentiments, impacting advertising efficacy. Despite attempts to advertise, the clicks were cheap but yielded poor results, showcasing the unique user behavior on Reddit. The call emphasized the distinctive user engagement patterns on Reddit, shaping the platform's advertising landscape and interactive dynamics.
Episode 565: Shaan Puri (https://twitter.com/ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (https://twitter.com/theSamParr) are dropping an emergency pod to break down Paul Graham’s essay about Reddit’s IPO yesterday.
Want to see Sam and Shaan’s smiling faces? Head to the MFM YouTube Channel and subscribe - http://tinyurl.com/5n7ftsy5
—
Show Notes:
(0:00) Intro
(1:59) If you want to learn, teach.
(3:45) Show up – the ultimate high agency move
(5:54) Trust your gut
(7:47) How to get the best ideas
(12:30) Don’t be precious about the name
(13:33) How Reddit faked early traction
(16:45) Talent filters
(19:37) “The best products are you pushed out”
(23:42) We read Chris Saccsa’s early emails
(26:32) Reddit’s exits to Conde Nast, then buys it back
Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it’s called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd
My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano
Past guests on My First Million include Rob Dyrdek, Hasan Minhaj, Balaji Srinivasan, Jake Paul, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Gary Vee, Lance Armstrong, Sophia Amoruso, Ariel Helwani, Ramit Sethi, Stanley Druckenmiller, Peter Diamandis, Dharmesh Shah, Brian Halligan, Marc Lore, Jason Calacanis, Andrew Wilkinson, Julian Shapiro, Kat Cole, Codie Sanchez, Nader Al-Naji, Steph Smith, Trung Phan, Nick Huber, Anthony Pompliano, Ben Askren, Ramon Van Meer, Brianne Kimmel, Andrew Gazdecki, Scott Belsky, Moiz Ali, Dan Held, Elaine Zelby, Michael Saylor, Ryan Begelman, Jack Butcher, Reed Duchscher, Tai Lopez, Harley Finkelstein, Alexa von Tobel, Noah Kagan, Nick Bare, Greg Isenberg, James Altucher, Randy Hetrick and more.