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How Y Combinator Helped Shape Reddit

47 points by mattculbreth 19y ago

Alex3917 19y ago
Looks like YC just got a little more ultracompetitive. /Just the way I like it.
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
mattculbreth 19y ago
Really seems like from this and from other things I've read that Reddit was either PG's idea or was very heavily inspired by him. That true PG?
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
- kn0thing 19y ago
  Yes, as I mentioned above, we left that conversation with PG thinking about how we could build a destination for all the best & freshest content online. The catchy slogan (front page of the web) was pure PG. But how the actual site would function came about while Steve and I toiled in our Medford apartment. Perhaps the biggest inspiration was actually del.icio.us/popular -- we thought that site (albeit a byproduct of the actual site) was on to something. We really had never heard of digg until we'd already been online for a month and change, but by then reddit had already developed a unique identity. I believe that ignorance turned out to be quite an advantage. We just tried to build the best site we could.
  - mattculbreth 19y ago
    Yep, and it's still my #1 place for surfing, nice work.
nickb 19y ago
YC has wonderful PR! pg, care to quickly tell us how you guys manage to get into Time, BW, WSJ etc? Do you have someone doing PR for YC companies? How does it happen?
- jsjenkins168 19y ago
  Jessica Livingston has apparently had a very successful career in marketing. I'd bet she has a hand in much of the PR.
- ratsbane 19y ago
  PG explained some of that here http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html but I'd like to hear more.
drm237 19y ago
For more info from the reddit guys, check out http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/posterboys-for-yc-emphasis-on-boys.html http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/posterboys-for-yc-emphasi...
dfranke 19y ago
Was the change in the Reddits' idea really as complete as it's portrayed here? I've heard this story told before, but I always got the impression that Reddit was a variation on the theme of the original idea, not a complete change.
- rms 19y ago
  I had heard this story from Alexis, it's true. Their first idea had absolutely nothing to do with reddit.
  - kn0thing 19y ago
    Yep. Our original startup (based on Steve's idea from a trip to a gas station in central VA) was mobile-based and 100% rejected by YC. Heh. We left that meeting with PG (Steve and I still have the notes in our notebooks) aiming to build a "front page of the web." And we didn't have a clue as to what it'd look like. Case in point: http://reddit.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-machine.html http://reddit.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-machine.html

47 points by mattculbreth 19y ago

Alex3917 19y ago

Looks like YC just got a little more ultracompetitive. /Just the way I like it.

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

mattculbreth 19y ago

Really seems like from this and from other things I've read that Reddit was either PG's idea or was very heavily inspired by him. That true PG?

deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
kn0thing 19y ago
Yes, as I mentioned above, we left that conversation with PG thinking about how we could build a destination for all the best & freshest content online. The catchy slogan (front page of the web) was pure PG. But how the actual site would function came about while Steve and I toiled in our Medford apartment. Perhaps the biggest inspiration was actually del.icio.us/popular -- we thought that site (albeit a byproduct of the actual site) was on to something. We really had never heard of digg until we'd already been online for a month and change, but by then reddit had already developed a unique identity. I believe that ignorance turned out to be quite an advantage. We just tried to build the best site we could.
- mattculbreth 19y ago
  Yep, and it's still my #1 place for surfing, nice work.

nickb 19y ago

YC has wonderful PR! pg, care to quickly tell us how you guys manage to get into Time, BW, WSJ etc? Do you have someone doing PR for YC companies? How does it happen?

jsjenkins168 19y ago
Jessica Livingston has apparently had a very successful career in marketing. I'd bet she has a hand in much of the PR.
ratsbane 19y ago
PG explained some of that here http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html but I'd like to hear more.

drm237 19y ago

For more info from the reddit guys, check out http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/posterboys-for-yc-emphasis-on-boys.html http://reddit.blogspot.com/2007/09/posterboys-for-yc-emphasi...

dfranke 19y ago

Was the change in the Reddits' idea really as complete as it's portrayed here? I've heard this story told before, but I always got the impression that Reddit was a variation on the theme of the original idea, not a complete change.

rms 19y ago
I had heard this story from Alexis, it's true. Their first idea had absolutely nothing to do with reddit.
- kn0thing 19y ago
  Yep. Our original startup (based on Steve's idea from a trip to a gas station in central VA) was mobile-based and 100% rejected by YC. Heh. We left that meeting with PG (Steve and I still have the notes in our notebooks) aiming to build a "front page of the web." And we didn't have a clue as to what it'd look like. Case in point: http://reddit.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-machine.html http://reddit.blogspot.com/2006/12/time-machine.html