The other board members are - Sam Altman, lead investor in Reddit's Series B and former president of YCombinator, the company that gave Reddit its initial fund

The other board members are - Sam Altman, lead investor in Reddit's Series B and former president of YCombinator, the company that gave Reddit its initial funding - Bob Sauerberg, former CEO and president of Conde Nast, the company that acquired Reddit while YC was the only investor Unless you think "gave Reddit a bunch of money" is merit, the other board members didn't get their positions through merit alone either. Board seats are almost always purchased as part of an investment or given for political reasons, there's nothing different happening here.