Building an advertising business that respects our community's values was a priority, ensuring it harmonized with our mission.

We decided to implement ads in a way that wouldn't degrade the user experience, ensuring that our free users still receive a quality product while generating revenue for the company.

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.

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

Reddit's growth from $15 million to $456 million in revenue by 2021 demonstrates the success of our business model and community engagement.

Reddit transformed from a community social science project into a sustainable business, recognizing that revenue is essential for its operation.

YouTube's business model is based on advertising, which allows us to keep the platform free and accessible, empowering users to learn and create.

In 2010, we launched Reddit Gold as a subscription service out of desperation to generate revenue since advertising wasn't sufficient, and it surprisingly raised more money in one day than we made in ads that month.

I chose a subscription-based model because it aligns with the benefit users receive from having more users, and it's a common practice in our industry.