How Reddit Was Built. Alexis Ohanian Interview

I never knew there were people out there who thought Reddit copied Digg. In fact, I'm not sure anyone can copy anyone in this case. It isn't like having people vote a news item up or down is a revolutionary idea in and of itself. What makes Digg, Reddit and yes Hacker News special is the community that was built around them. That, imho, is the innovation in these sites. Founders creating an enviornment in which a vibrant community can flourish.

<i>Paul Graham, with all his knowledge of the industry, didn’t know that Digg was out there either?</i><p>It sounds kind of weird to me that he wouldn't... and yet, for my startup, I also wasn't aware of some very similar projects (and a good thing too, or maybe I wouldn't have started)

The interviewers disbelief that food money is so important reminds me of my first experience with startups. When I was an undergrad I worked for a doomed startup, and I remember with all the various government and other sources of support out there, absolutely noone was willing to pay for rent or food. I mean the money had to specifically be for hardware or the like, but the biggest hurdle is the day to day money. Even living with your parents you need to buy some of your own food. It's not in the least bit trivial.

Cool interview, some really interesting points. I'd be interested to know what Steve+Alexis think would have happened if Wired hadn't bought Reddit.<p>Would they have been bought by someone else? Would they have worked out advertising models etc and become a profitable business, or something else?<p>Did they have a 'plan B'? Get more funding and go after more users?

i will watch this tomorrow, hope he explains how he faked the community at the beginning

Does the video mention Lisp?