409 upvotes, 20 direct replies (showing 20)
View submission: reddit myth busters
Wow, you actually got 99% of our founding story absolutely correct.
OK, so to be perfectly clear: the phone call to me from PG the day after we got rejected was basically saying "we like you two, we don't like the idea (MyMobileMenu - the textahead ordering service) so if you're willing to work on a new idea, we'll let you into the program, just come back to Boston today and let's come up with something better for you to work on." Steve and I agreed to get off at the very next station and come back to Boston to meet with PG to come up with a new idea.
We met PG for about an hour and had what is now a fairly typical "office hours" session with a YC partner. He asked us what we were using in our daily internet habits and insisted we think about a web app, not something on mobile (2005 = pre-appstore, remember). Steve talked about slashdot (he was an avid user) and I talked about having a ton of news websites open in tabs. PG asked if we'd heard of del.icio.us (neither of us had) and pulled it open on a browser to show it was getting at (tho not directly) a solution for finding out what was new and interesting online.
We went around the table talking about better solutions for this problem. Like I said, Steve knew firsthand how powerful slashdots point system was for stimulating interesting discussions and I'd run a PHPBB Forum in college with a few hundred members called eyeswide.org, so I'd grown a small community myself (though it was mostly political). At some point [P]G interrupts in PG fashion and says:
"That's it! You two need to build the frontpage of the internet!"
At this point we had no idea what the functionality would look like, other than something like del.icio.us with submitting links and headlines, but we knew we needed an emphasis not on reference material, but on ephemeral 'news' and some kind of voting mechanism, which we'd figure out when we graduated and moved to Boston in a couple months.
PS. No, neither Steve nor I (nor even PG) had heard of digg until after we'd launched.
Comment by BarbatisCollum at 06/08/2013 at 19:47 UTC
90 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Thanks for the answer. That's what I suspected, that the idea is hard to pin down as coming from a particular person. I'm extremely interested in reddit's significance (and future) as a tool, and while most of my reddit-related videos have been attempts at humor (I run the /r/circlejerk YouTube channel[1] <-- shameless plug in like kind), I want to put something together that's slightly more serious, highlighting reddit's growing importance (and how it occasionally backfires, a la the Boston Bomber misidentification incident), while providing some context about the site's history.
1: http://www.youtube.com/redditcj
Completely unrelated personal side note: I met you at the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC back in 2010 (I was /u/ytknows at the time), and I think I was trying to ask you this same question even back then, but it wasn't the most opportune time. Thanks for taking the time to answer it now.
Comment by [deleted] at 06/08/2013 at 19:57 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Wow. Seems like I don't have any original ideas then!
I had almost exactly the same idea of a textahead ordering system which I used when I had to do a business pitch (in the style of Dragons' Den) as part of my GCSE English Language coursework back in January. The only differences were that my system worked with Costa instead of Starbucks and it used some sort of amalgamation of 4G and GPS which would allow the store to work out how many minutes off you were so they could prioritise orders. Weirdly, when I pitched it with my friend for the "Dragons," we were the only pair to get offers from each of the five Dragons who seemed to love the idea. That being said, I don't really remember receiving any financial related questions as such; I'm certain nobody would have liked it if they'd asked us about profit and what-not.
Comment by IFUCKGRILLEDCHEESE at 06/08/2013 at 20:37 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Well you made the best damn website in the world! It's taken away the amount of time I've spent outdoors by at least 36% but the things I've learned and the conversations I've had have made me a better, more educated person. Thanks Alexis!
Comment by slick8086 at 06/08/2013 at 21:45 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
So, this is probably boring to you, but I made something I called, multi user feed aggregator (murfa). It was basically a list of feeds that users could subscribe to and it showed the headlines with links all on one page. If you saw a headline that was interesting you click it to read the article (article opened in a new tab). If decided you wanted to share the article, back on the original page with the list of feeds there was another link that created a forum post to discuss the article. I hadn't reached the point of a ranking system or threaded comments, I used phpbb for the forums. But reddit with rss subscriptions to popular sites was my goal.
My site was clunky, buggy and slow because I'm neither a web developer nor programmer. I was teaching myself PHP at the time. Yay reddit.
EDIT: Cake Day!!!
Comment by [deleted] at 06/08/2013 at 23:33 UTC*
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by sarahfrancesca at 06/08/2013 at 21:30 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You guys had better get going on MyMobileMenu before the Buzz the Bar[1] guys beat you to it! Interesting to note that in 8 years Starbucks lines have not improved...
1: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/buzzthebar/id519806792?mt=8
Comment by [deleted] at 06/08/2013 at 23:17 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
saying "we like you two, we don't like the idea (MyMobileMenu - the textahead ordering service)
Out if interest what was wrong with the idea? It sounds rather awesome to a naive mind.
Comment by [deleted] at 07/08/2013 at 13:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by [deleted] at 07/08/2013 at 05:06 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
what's your thoughts on the epic downfall of digg? Has that series of poor choices on their part played into decision making on reddit at any point?
Comment by derptyherp at 13/08/2013 at 19:21 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Ohhh a book on reddit. I am actually quite interested...that'll mean I'll have to pay attention though to it's release. :(
Comment by dsk at 07/08/2013 at 00:59 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
How much did Digg influence the design of reddit? The two were pretty similar initially, and Digg did launch first.
Comment by bondinspace at 06/08/2013 at 23:42 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Does this mean I can go ahead with that Starbucks order-before-you-arrive idea? Because that sounds AWESOME.
Comment by esaba at 06/08/2013 at 22:36 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Will there be an audiobook version of the book? And if so, will you be recording it?
Comment by [deleted] at 12/08/2013 at 19:26 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
At some point GG interrupts in PG fashion and says
Who's GG?
Comment by Recalesce at 06/08/2013 at 20:54 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You're missing the opening tag, <shamelessplug>.
For shame.
Comment by alphabeat at 06/08/2013 at 21:13 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
When did Aaron come into play?
Comment by abscondandjam at 06/08/2013 at 22:34 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
frontpage of the internet
/r/conspiracy
Comment by [deleted] at 07/08/2013 at 03:19 UTC
0 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by preggit at 06/08/2013 at 19:54 UTC
-3 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Hey Alexis! I'm actually quite interested in your book, do you have any advanced copies or signings in the works?
Comment by jjug71wupqp9igvui361 at 06/08/2013 at 20:04 UTC
-8 upvotes, 2 direct replies
You should remove this before you get slapped with a copyright violation suit. fyi