Dearest, Gen Z and Millennials…. imagine launching your dream app, flipping the switch… and crickets. No posts, no comments, just an empty feed staring back at you. Sounds like a total flop, right? Well, that’s exactly what happened to Reddit back in 2005. But here’s the wild part: the founders didn’t give up. They straight-up faked it till they made it by creating hundreds of fake profiles and posting content themselves.
And guess what? It turned Reddit into the massive “front page of the internet” we know today, with over 500 million monthly users. Mind blown? 😲 Let’s dive into this juicy startup secret that’s perfect for anyone obsessed with tech origin stories, growth hacks, and “fake it till you make it” vibes.
| Read the previous article here – Let’s Talk About Our Phone and Why It Might Be Messing With Our Sleep (And Our Life) |
The Early Days: A Ghost Town Called Reddit
Picture this: It’s June 2005. Two 22-year-old college roommates, Steve Huffman (u/spez) and Alexis Ohanian (u/kn0thing), just graduated from the University of Virginia. They get accepted into Y Combinator (the famous startup accelerator) with a totally different idea; a mobile food ordering app. Paul Graham, the YC boss, shoots it down but tells them to build “the front page of the internet” instead. Boom….. Reddit is born!
They launch super fast, in just a few weeks. But… nobody shows up. The site looks dead. No one wants to join an empty community, it’s that classic “chicken and egg” problem in tech. Why post if there’s no one to see it? Why join if there’s nothing to read?
So, what did Steve and Alexis do? They got sneaky (in a genius way). They added a secret feature to the submission page that only they could see: a field to pick a fake username. Every time they posted a link or article, they could create a brand-new “user” on the spot. For the first few months, almost all the content; links, upvotes, even early comments came from them pretending to be dozens (or hundreds) of different people.
In a resurfaced video and interviews, Alexis Ohanian admitted: “For the first few weeks of Reddit, I’d say 99% of submissions were either me or Steve under different usernames.” Steve Huffman echoed this in a Udacity lecture, saying they posted the kind of high-quality, interesting stuff they wanted to see.. tech news, quirky articles, nerdy links, to “set the tone” and make the site feel alive.
Old screenshots from July 2005 show usernames like “rabble,” “Meegan,” and “lampshade”; all fake profiles run by the founders. It wasn’t malicious; it was survival mode. Without it, Reddit might have died before it even started.
Why “Faking It” Was Actually Brilliant
Okay, this sounds shady at first, like catfishing the entire internet 😂. But think about it: Startups face this issue all the time. An empty platform is boring; no one sticks around. By seeding content with fake accounts, Steve and Alexis created the illusion of a buzzing community. Real users started trickling in, saw cool stuff, posted their own links… and suddenly, the fakes weren’t needed anymore.
As real people joined (attracted by the “active” vibe), they naturally posted similar content. The fake users faded into the background, replaced by genuine Redditors. It jump-started the whole ecosystem. Today, Reddit is a beast valued at billions after its IPO, home to endless memes, AMAs, subreddits for everything from cats to crypto.
This “fake it till you make it” hack isn’t even unique to Reddit. It’s a classic Silicon Valley move:
- Many early forums and BBS sites did the same to spark discussions.
- Some dating apps seeded fake profiles (though that’s creepier and often backfired).
- Even non-tech businesses do it, like restaurants putting fake tips in the jar or seating actors near windows to look busy.
The key difference? Reddit’s founders were transparent about it later. They’ve laughed about it in interviews, calling it essential for growth. No big scandal… just a clever bootstrap that worked.
Is This Still Happening Today? (And Should We Care?)
Fast-forward to now: Reddit cracks down hard on fake accounts, bots, and spam. Users get shadowbanned for gaming the system. But back then? It was the Wild West of the web.
This story hits different for us Gen Z and Millennials. We’re the ones who grew up on Reddit scrolling r/funny during class, discovering niche communities, or going down rabbit holes at 3 AM. Knowing it started with two dudes pretending to be everyone? It’s hilarious and kinda inspiring. It shows that big things often start messy. Perfect launches are rare; real success comes from hustling through the awkward phase.
But it also makes you think: How “real” was the internet we fell in love with? Early social media was full of these tricks. Facebook had its own growth hacks (like aggressive invites), Twitter bootstrapped differently, but the empty-room problem is universal.
Today, with AI bots and deepfakes everywhere, authenticity matters more. Reddit’s origin reminds us: Question everything, but also appreciate the grind behind the giants.
Lessons for Aspiring Creators and Entrepreneurs
If you’re a young hustler dreaming of building the next big app, subreddit, or TikTok trend… take notes:
- Solve the cold start: Seed your own content if needed. Post as yourself first to build momentum.
- Set the tone early: What you share shapes who joins.
- Be honest later: Reddit’s founders owned it.. no hiding.
- Fake smart, not shady: Illusion of activity? Fine. Lying for profit? Nope.
Reddit went from fake-filled ghost town to cultural powerhouse because the hack attracted the right people—who then made it real.
Final Thoughts: Fake It… Responsibly
Reddit’s fake accounts story is peak internet lore; funny, shocking, and low-key motivational. It proves that sometimes, a little deception (the ethical kind) kickstarts something massive. Without those fake profiles, no r/memes, no viral AMAs, no endless scrolling sessions.
Next time you’re upvoting a post or laughing at a subreddit drama, remember: It all started with two broke college grads playing pretend. The internet’s full of these hidden histories.
And, if this blew your mind, share it with your squad. Who knows, maybe your next big idea needs a little “fake it” magic too. 🚀
| Read the self development series here – Part 1: Magic Talk of November – “I Feel Behind.. How Do I Catch Up?” |
