August 29, 2024 • 36min
Reddit’s Steve Huffman: Online platforms ‘can’t just sit on their hands’
Masters of Scale
Key Takeaways
- Reddit's core principles include believing in community, the agency of people, and following users' lead in content creation and moderation
- Balancing free speech and moderation has been an ongoing challenge, with Reddit evolving from a completely open platform to implementing content policies
- Building trust and transparency is crucial for online discourse and combating misinformation
- AI presents both opportunities and challenges for Reddit, including potential use of its data for training and need to protect user privacy
- Reddit's journey to IPO involved running as a public company for nearly a year before actually going public, allowing them to refine processes
- Finding investors and employees with aligned values and vision has been key to Reddit's success
- Steve Huffman's leadership philosophy focuses on "you are what you do" - actively embodying the qualities you want to have
Introduction
Steve Huffman, co-founder and CEO of Reddit, joins host Reid Hoffman to discuss Reddit's scale journey from its founding in 2005 to its recent IPO in 2023. Huffman shares insights on building one of the internet's most influential platforms, navigating challenges around content moderation and trust, and his vision for Reddit's role in online discourse.
Topics Discussed
Reddit's Origin and Early Days (20:46)
Huffman recounts how Reddit was born out of a Y Combinator project in 2005:
- Initially applied with a different idea for food ordering via cell phones
- Paul Graham suggested combining elements of Delicious (social bookmarking) and Slashdot (community discussions)
- Built Reddit as a platform without editors where users could submit and vote on content
- Key feature of user-created communities (subreddits) wasn't added until 2008
"Honestly, I think we, I mean, that's pretty much what we built. But for 19 years, we've been iterating on this, tweaking it and kind of following our users and adding features." - Steve Huffman
Sale to Conde Nast and Huffman's Departure (22:43)
Huffman discusses the decision to sell Reddit to Conde Nast in 2006:
- Felt like fulfilling the expected startup trajectory of building and selling
- Small team was struggling to keep up with growth
- Conde Nast was a hands-off owner, allowing Reddit to continue evolving
- Huffman left when his acquisition contract expired to start a new company (Hipmunk)
Huffman's Return to Reddit (24:45)
After leaving Reddit, Huffman continued to use and think about the platform daily. He returned in 2015 when Reddit was facing challenges:
- Reddit had become independent again but was going through crises
- Previous strategy of "don't change anything" was no longer working
- Needed to implement content policies and evolve the product
- Returned with a mission to help Reddit live up to its potential
Evolving Reddit's Principles and Policies (26:15)
Huffman explains how Reddit's core beliefs remained consistent but implementation evolved:
- Still believed in community and user agency
- Realized they couldn't be completely hands-off
- Drew inspiration from democratic principles like federalism (subreddit rules)
- Recognized Reddit is a business and community platform, not a country
- Implemented content policies to shape what Reddit should and shouldn't be used for
"Do we want to be proud of our work? Do we want to be proud of the role that Reddit plays in the world and what it does for people? And so I think just bringing some of that common sense and practicality and humanity into the company was kind of really important in this kind of more modern era of Reddit." - Steve Huffman
Reddit's IPO Journey (28:30)
Huffman shares insights on Reddit's path to going public in March 2023:
- Originally planned to IPO in April 2022 but delayed due to market conditions
- Ran the company as if public for nearly a year before actual IPO
- Practiced earnings calls, refined processes for closing books quickly
- Increased discipline and execution across the company
- Grew revenue and users without significantly increasing team size
"The company is immeasurably better than we were two years ago, just so much more disciplined. Execution is as good as it's ever been." - Steve Huffman
Building Trust and Transparency Online (11:46)
Huffman discusses the challenges of fostering trust and shared context online:
- Resist the urge to exert more control over discourse
- Increased control and message manipulation creates distrust
- Leaders need to share bad news along with good to be credible
- Transparency is crucial, especially around complex topics like vaccines
"You have to give trust to get it. If you want people to behave like adults, you have to treat them like adults." - Steve Huffman
Reddit and AI (15:12)
Huffman explores the opportunities and challenges AI presents for Reddit:
- Reddit's data has been used to train major language models
- Proud of Reddit's role in advancing AI technology
- Concerns about fair compensation for content creators
- Need to protect user privacy and honor content deletion requests
- Working on partnerships (e.g. with Google, OpenAI) that respect these concerns
"You can't have artificial intelligence without human intelligence. And so I think practically there's an ecosystem, there's a balance here that's really important, which is if the human intelligence isn't compensated fairly, then the AI will eventually lose access to it." - Steve Huffman
Leadership Philosophy and Personal Habits (32:13)
Huffman shares his approach to leadership and personal growth:
- Mantra: "You aren't who you are, you are what you do"
- Emphasizes actively embodying the qualities you want to have
- Relies on COO Jen Wong as a key partner in decision-making
- Values finding team members with aligned values but diverse backgrounds
- Unplugs by reading, spending time with family, and going to the gym
"If you want to be somebody who works really hard, you have to actually work really hard. If you want to be somebody who goes to gym, you actually have to go to the gym. Want to be a good friend, good spouse, good colleague. You have to actually do those things." - Steve Huffman
Recommended Reading and Future of AI (33:58)
Huffman recommends "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl and shares his vision for AI:
- Book helped reframe stress as a privilege of meaningful work
- Wants AI to enable easier task management and idea organization through voice interfaces
- Believes we're close to achieving this type of AI integration in everyday life
Conclusion
Steve Huffman's journey with Reddit demonstrates the challenges and rewards of scaling a major online platform over nearly two decades. By staying true to core principles while adapting to new realities, Reddit has navigated ownership changes, content moderation challenges, and the transition to being a public company. Huffman's leadership philosophy of "you are what you do" and focus on finding aligned team members has been crucial to Reddit's success. As the company faces new frontiers like AI integration, Huffman remains committed to balancing innovation with user trust and privacy protection.
