Steve Huffman is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, one of the internet's most essential platforms with 100 million daily active users and a $20 billion public market valuation. Over 20 years, Steve has guided Reddit through multiple existential challenges, from early acquisition to content moderation crises to competing with AI-generated content.

What you'll learn:

1. How Reddit achieved product-market fit in just 2 months and the early signs that indicated massive potential
2. Why Steve sold Reddit for $10 million after 18 months and what he learned during his 9-year absence
3. The existential crisis that brought him back as CEO in 2015 and how he rebuilt the platform
4. Reddit's evolution through three distinct eras: link aggregator, intentionally not social media, and authentic human content in an AI world
5. The strategic decision in 2008 to let users create subreddits and how it transformed the platform
6. Building content moderation and safety infrastructure from scratch while preserving free speech values
7. The challenges and benefits of taking Reddit public while maintaining community ownership
8. How Reddit is addressing AI-generated content and the fight for human authenticity online
9. The business model evolution from advertising to AI data licensing partnerships
10. Steve's vision to make Reddit "universal" and expand from 100 million to billions of users

In this episode, we cover: 

(00:00) Introduction and Reddit's 20-year milestone

(02:40) Early product-market fit signals and the $10M acquisition

(06:25) Steve's 9-year absence and return in 2015

(08:30) Content moderation challenges and building safety infrastructure

(14:10) Reddit's three evolutionary eras and strategic positioning

(16:40) The subreddit explosion and community self-organization

(18:08) Positioning as the human platform in an artificial world

(19:15) Human verification challenges and potential solutions

(25:22) AI partnerships, data licensing, and monetization strategy

(29:02) Search evolution and Reddit's role in the new ecosystem

(35:07) Leadership philosophy and staying true to company values

(37:43) The decision to go public and community ownership

(42:18) Managing public company pressures while maintaining long-term vision

(48:27) Steve's vision for Reddit's universal future