Today, Reddit is the sixth largest website in the world. But it almost stopped existing. A few times. In July 2015, more than 2,000 subreddits went dark, the CEO resigned, and Reddit looked like it might not survive. At the center of its dramatic turnaround is the company’s founder, Steve Huffman, who returned to Reddit to save it from itself. In this episode, how Reddit went from a tiny apartment in Cambridge to become one of the most important spaces for conversation online. And how they’re wrestling to keep that conversation human in the age of AI.

How Reddit Was Born, Sold, Broken…and Rebuilt: Steve Huffman & first employee Chris Slowe

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Today, Reddit is the sixth largest website in the world. But it almost stopped existing. A few times. In July 2015, more than 2,000 subreddits went dark, the CEO resigned, and Reddit looked like it might not survive. At the center of its dramatic turnaround is the company’s founder, Steve Huffman, who returned to Reddit to save it from itself.      In this episode, how Reddit went from a tiny apartment in Cambridge to become one of the most important spaces for conversation online. And how they’re wrestling to keep that conversation human in the age of AI.

David Rusenko interviews the founders of companies like Airbnb, Y Combinator, and Twitch, alongside the people who first believed in them. A mom. An early boss. A college roommate. Together, they reveal the intimate, unpolished stories of how successful companies actually get built, and why it rarely looks the way you might expect.

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