Steve Huffman
Steve Huffman
Steve Huffman | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Huffman at Web Summit 2017 | |
| Born | November 12, 1983 |
| Residence | San Francisco, California |
| Other names | spez[1] |
| Education | Computer Science |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
| Occupation |
|
| Employer | |
Steve Huffman (born November 12, 1983), also known by his Reddit username spez, is an American web developer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Reddit, a social news and discussion website, which ranks in the top 20 websites in the world.[2] He also co-founded the airfare search-engine website Hipmunk.
Steve Huffman | |
|---|---|
Huffman at Web Summit 2017 | |
| Born | November 12, 1983 |
| Residence | San Francisco, California |
| Other names | spez[1] |
| Education | Computer Science |
| Alma mater | University of Virginia |
| Occupation |
|
| Employer | |
Early life and education
Career
During spring break of his senior year at UVA, Huffman and college roommate Alexis Ohanian[1] drove to Boston, Massachusetts, to attend a lecture[6] delivered by programmer-entrepreneur Paul Graham.[1][7] Huffman and Ohanian talked with Graham after the lecture and he invited them to apply to his startup incubator Y Combinator.[1] Huffman came up with their original idea, My Mobile Menu,[7] which was intended to allow users to order food by SMS.[1][7] The idea was rejected, but Graham asked Huffman and Ohanian to meet him in Boston to pitch another idea for a start-up; it was at this brainstorming session that the idea for what Graham called the "front page of the Internet" was created.[1] Huffman and Ohanian were accepted in Y Combinator's first class.[1][7] Huffman coded the entire site in Lisp.[8][9] He and Ohanian launched Reddit in June 2005, funded by Y Combinator.[5][10]
The site’s audience grew rapidly in its first few months, and by August 2005, Huffman noticed their habitual user-base had grown so large that he no longer needed to fill the front page with content himself.[8][11][12] At 23, Huffman and Ohanian sold Reddit to Condé Nast on October 31, 2006, for a reported $10 million to $20 million.[1][13] Huffman remained with Reddit until 2009, when he left his role as acting CEO.[14]
Huffman spent several months backpacking in Costa Rica[15] before co-creating the travel website Hipmunk with Adam Goldstein, an author and software developer, in 2010. Funded by Y Combinator,[16][17] Hipmunk launched in August 2010[18] with Huffman serving as CTO.[19] In 2011, Inc. named Huffman to its 30 under 30 list.[19]
In 2014, Huffman said that his decision to sell Reddit had been a mistake, and that the site's growth had exceeded his expectations.[20] On July 10, 2015, Reddit hired Huffman as CEO following the resignation of Ellen Pao[21] and during a particularly difficult time for the company.[22] Upon rejoining the company, Huffman's top goals included launching Reddit's iOS and Android apps, fixing Reddit's mobile website, and creating A/B testing infrastructure.[1]
Since returning to Reddit, Huffman instituted a number of technological improvements[22] including a better mobile experience and stronger infrastructure, as well as new content guidelines. These included a ban on content that incites violence, quarantining some material users might find offensive, and removing communities "that exist solely to ... make Reddit worse for everyone else".[1][22] Shortly after returning, Huffman wrote that "neither Alexis nor I created reddit to be a bastion of free speech, but rather as a place where open and honest discussion can happen."[23] In a 2012 interview, Ohanian had used the same phrase to describe Reddit, as noted by The New Yorker and The Verge.[15][24]
Huffman also worked to make the site more advertiser-friendly[1][22] and led efforts to host video and images on site.[25] In late 2016, Huffman was the focus of controversy for altering posts on a subreddit popular with supporters of Donald Trump, /r/The Donald. Following criticism from Reddit users, he undid the change and issued an apology.[26] Beginning in 2017, Huffman led the redesign of Reddit's website with its first major visual update in a decade.[27][28] Huffman said the site had looked like a "dystopian Craigslist" whose outdated look deterred new users.[27] Development of the new site took more than a year, and the redesign launched in April 2018.[27]
Net neutrality activism
Huffman is an advocate for net neutrality rules.[29][30] In 2017, Huffman told The New York Times that without net neutrality protections, "you give internet service providers the ability to choose winners and losers".[29] On Reddit, Huffman urged redditors to express support for net neutrality and contact their elected representatives in Washington, D.C.[30] Huffman said that the repeal of net neutrality rules stifles competition. He said he and Reddit would continue to advocate for net neutrality.[31]
Personal life
Huffman lives in San Francisco, California.[32] He mentors aspiring programmers at coding bootcamps including Hackbright Academy.[33] Huffman was an instructor for e-learning courses on web development by Udacity.[34][35][36] He is on the board of advisors for the Anti-Defamation League's Center for Technology and Society.[37]