Make Something People Love: Lessons From a Startup Guy

How much does the book go into the first few weeks and months of Reddit? I've always been curious about how community sites get started and I was wondering how much in depth the book goes into how you guys bootstrapped Reddit. For instance, does the book go over how you and Steve create dummy accounts and content to seed Reddit? (I'm not saying this is a bad thing, in fact I think it's a legitimate technique) Was the process automated? And how did you guys get the first real users after you tapped out family and friends? I'm hoping the book goes into detail about the nitty gritty stuff like this when it comes to getting users for a community site.

Alexis also had a great AMA on reddit a few days ago!<p>"IAmAlexis Ohanian, startup founder, internet activist, and cat owner - AMA"<p><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&#38;rct=j&#38;q=&#38;esrc=s&#38;source=web&#38;cd=3&#38;ved=0CFkQFjAC&#38;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2FIAmA%2Fcomments%2Fvfosl%2Fiamalexis_ohanian_startup_founder_internet%2F&#38;ei=bz_rT7WuGMOC2AWwt9jSAQ&#38;usg=AFQjCNEyUiOZ5EbZj7S64tKDr4Myp5sEuQ" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&#38;rct=j&#38;q=&#38;esrc=s&#...</a>

I bought this book last week and it's easily worth $2.99. :)

Awesome read. Easy enough to pick up and go through in 30-45 minutes and get some solid advice. I'm glad to have my thoughts on promo tshirts confirmed. A few years back I got a "Blue Mountain State" tshirt for free from some promoters. Ive seen a grand total of two episodes of the show, but i wear the shirt all the time because its so comfortable. Low cost promoting for them (people comment on the shirt all the time, especially fans), awesome shirt for me. All other promo tshirts (uncomfortable material) pretty much get the sleeve monster tretment and become workout attire until i throw it out a month or so later.<p>Some of the hipmunk writing felt a little self promoting, but i guess thats a consequence of writing about your own experiences, which in this case happens to be an active business. But the cute chipmonk logo makes it all okay. If you sent me a comfortable shirt with that little guy on it, I'd wear it all the time.

I've got an honest question. It seems Reddit owes a lot of its success to Digg. Reddit was popular, but it didn't really take off until Digg screwed up and users had an exodus.<p>At least, that's how it appeared to me, a Digg user at the time who also left for Reddit. I've wondered if Reddit would have ever been so popular if not for Digg's mishap.<p>Am I totally off base? Anyway, I'm a fan of Reddit and it looks like a good book.

I never read advice books, but I think I'll make an exception here.<p>If you have a moment, I'm curious, at what point did you feel that Reddit was starting to run on its own steam, and did it happen before or after you expected it to?

Have you thought about doing something similar to Zed Shaw and offer a free HTML version of the book? I know $2.99 isn't asking for much... but I personally like trying things out before buying. Writing styles are something I'm really finicky about. I need to be in tune with it to not only enjoy it but to also absorb the content.

Warning: when you check out, the web site emails you your password in plain text and it's difficult to change it.<p>Here's the reset link that I hunted down from their Twitter response to someone with similar concerns: <a href="http://www.hyperink.com/reset" rel="nofollow">http://www.hyperink.com/reset</a>

Reddit is a success, but not sure how much of Alexis' advice can be extrapolated and used in other startups. Reddit took a long time before the advertising business was vastly profitable, and depended on an acquisition to make the investment worth it.

Tried purchasing it about 3 times. Get the same error everytime:<p>We were unable to finalize your account and log you in.<p>Extremely uninformative and unhelpful.<p>Anyone know where else I can purchase this?

Any chance to get an epub version? If I have to I can get the Kindle version and convert it, but I figured I can always ask :)

just bought it. you've been a great inspiration alexis, keep on going and sharing pieces.

alexis whats the best way to get in touch with you by email?