When I returned, I emphasized that if we don't change, we're dead; we had to implement a content policy to ensure Reddit's survival.

Returning to Reddit in 2015 was the hardest decision I've ever made, as I had to leave Hipmunk, but I felt a strong responsibility to help the company I co-founded. Reddit is more important to the world than many realize, and it would be a shame if it didn't live up to its potential.

At that time, there wasn't a clear monetization route for Reddit; we didn't have advertising or any real way to generate revenue, so we operated as a lean startup to survive with scarce resources.

After being rejected by Y Combinator with their initial idea, we were invited to join the program under the condition that we work on something else, which led to the creation of Reddit.

With my return, we redesigned the site, moved Reddit onto mobile, and focused on building a sustainable business model.

In the competition between Reddit and Digg, Digg made high-risk technology choices that didn't contribute to their core service, while Reddit focused on delivering a straightforward social news site without unnecessary risks.

The agency of users is fundamental to Reddit; they create and rank content, and their capacity for amazing contributions exceeds our expectations.

We chose to pursue advertising as a business model to keep Reddit free and open, aligning with our values and community expectations.

By the time of the acquisition discussions, I was working 16-hour days, balancing my responsibilities at Reddit with my graduate studies, which was a challenging period for me. When I received an offer to sell Reddit for $10 million, I realized I could make life-changing money in just a year of work, which was more than my parents would earn in their entire lives.