Reddit Blackout: 8476 Subreddits Are Offline... Here’s Why (#464)

About this video

Sam and Shaan discuss the Reddit API pricing crisis that triggered a massive subreddit blackout protest, the drama between Reddit CEO Steve Huffman and Apollo app developer Christian Selig, and explore the potential for a competitor platform. They also cover Sam’s recent shift toward acquiring minority stakes in profitable businesses to achieve 30% annual returns, contrasting this with startup investing.

Key takeaways

• Reddit’s API pricing changes (driven by server costs, data monetization, and AI training concerns) sparked a 93% subreddit blackout because moderators—unpaid volunteers who perform critical moderation—felt undervalued and saw their tools (third-party apps like Apollo) being eliminated without proper consultation.
• The leaked call between Selig and Huffman, where Huffman accused Selig of threatening extortion but then apologized for misunderstanding API cost concerns, damaged Reddit’s credibility and energized the protest by making the narrative compelling.
• Sam proposes a non-profit Reddit competitor (specialist.com—‘Reddit without Spez’) modeled on how Dig’s misstep created Reddit’s opportunity; the key to succeeding would be replicating Reddit’s interface exactly while changing only governance and revenue flow, similar to ‘vampire attacks’ in crypto.
• Shaan is exploring buying minority stakes (15–30%) in profitable, cash-flowing businesses to target 30% annual returns rather than playing the startup lottery; he closed one deal after evaluating 24 companies, learning that the ‘I can fix this’ mentality and small-scale deals are traps.
• Hiring internationally (especially in the Philippines) dramatically reduces burn rate, improves profitability, and often requires less management overhead than US-based teams—enabling lean, profitable operations from day one.

Episode details: published June 13, 2023 · 29K views · 1:21:06 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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