• Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says some of his best leadership advice is just "very basic human stuff."
• He said on Scott Galloway's podcast that "trust and presence" are important traits in good leaders.
• Huffman also talked about using your principles and values to help you make tough decisions.

Steve Huffman says his leadership advice boils down to "very basic human stuff."

The Reddit cofounder and CEO was asked what makes a good leader on an episode of the podcast "The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway" released Sunday.

His answer comes down to "trust and presence."

"I think the most important thing is just being honest," he said. "What are you trying to do, why do you want to do it, what does it take to get there, what's going well, what's not going well, what are your hopes, what are your dreams, what are your fears? I think it's very basic human stuff."

Huffman noted it can be easier said than done, though.

"Just being straightforward about what we're trying to do and why and not sugar-coating things I think is really important," he said. "Vulnerability builds trust and then trust is what builds cohesive teams, and then you need, of course, cohesive teams to do things."

Another characteristic of a good leader is "presence," he said, "showing up and working and caring and being a part of the team at every scale."

Huffman was also asked how he approaches decision-making.

"First, take your decision, try to escalate it to a value or a principle, and then make the decision using that value or principle," he said. "I think the thing about values is they exist for one reason, which is to make hard decisions, and so if you're not using your values to make hard decisions, then they're not your values."

Huffman reflected on challenges in the company's 20-year history, including that "we weren't running as a business" for a while, he said.

"We were really idealistic, and I think in many ways the idealism has been very good, but we were also idealistic about not being a business — which is not a great way to run a sustainable business," he said about growing the company after he stepped back into the role of CEO in 2015.

Huffman cofounded Reddit with Alexis Ohanian, his college roommate, in 2005, and they sold the platform to Condé Nast in 2006. Huffman left in 2009 to cofound the travel website Hipmunk before returning as Reddit's CEO in 2015 at a turbulent time for the company.

"Wrapped up in some of that idealism was also, like, not working very hard," Huffman added. "In the Bay Area, broadly, is this — it's almost an entitlement of, 'I work at these companies, but I don't have to work very hard and I'm here for myself."

Huffman recalled telling his employees, "If we don't work really hard and work really smart and make this thing successful both from a user point of view and business point of view, then we don't get to do this, and we'll never achieve our mission."

• Reddit's CEO said he had to remind employees to work hard when he returned in 2015.
• There's a tendency in US tech to place idealism above hard work, he said.
• Reddit's success is partly due to users treating it as a search engine for their queries.

Reddit is worth nearly $21 billion after last week's megahit earnings. Its CEO said success took two decades, a big leadership change, and reminding employees they have to work hard.

In an episode of the "Prof G Pod" podcast released on Sunday, Reddit's cofounder and CEO, Steve Huffman, talked about the platform's founding journey. He also answered a question about the biggest changes he made that had the most impact at the company.

He said the biggest change was using common sense, debating whether their product was actually good, and being willing to change things to get there.

"Another big change for Reddit was we weren't running as a business. We were really idealistic, and I think in many ways the idealism has been very good, but we were also idealistic about not being a business — which is not a great way to run a sustainable business," Huffman said about growing the company after he returned as CEO in 2015.

"Wrapped up in some of that idealism was also like, not working very hard," Huffman added.

Huffman recalled telling employees: "Look, we have to work really, really hard. We're in a competitive space."

He added: "If we don't work really hard and work really smart and make this thing successful both from a user point of view and business point of view, then we don't get to do this, and we'll never achieve our mission."

Huffman cofounded Reddit with his college roommate Alexis Ohanian in 2005 and oversaw its 2006 acquisition by Condé Nast. He left the company to cofound the travel website Hipmunk before returning to Reddit as its CEO in 2015. Huffman was tasked with turning the company around after it faced a slew of challenges, including difficulty recruiting and bad publicity because of controversial content on the platform.

Reddit went public in March 2024 and rose as much as 70% on its first trading day. Since then, its stock is up 147% and is worth about $113.

On Sunday's podcast, Huffman said the sense of "idealism" Reddit faced in its early days is a problem in Silicon Valley as a whole.

"In the Bay Area broadly is this, it's almost an entitlement of, 'I work at these companies but I don't have to work very hard and I'm here for myself,'" he said.

Huffman added that tech employees, including Reddit engineers, had a tendency to take ideas from other successful companies. He said his engineers adopted Apple's philosophy of "it's done when it's done" and used the phrase when he asked for product timelines.

"But then the version I get isn't this artisanal world-class product," Huffman said. "It's like late and shitty."

The CEO said that he, too, didn't like being rushed as an engineer, and setting realistic deadlines was part of his maturation as a leader.

On Thursday, Reddit reported first-quarter earnings that sent its stock surging 19% after hours. Revenue increased 61% year-over-year to $392.4 million.

One of the biggest drivers of Reddit's success is that users treat the platform like a search engine for their queries and often add "Reddit" at the end of their Google searches. In the past year, changes to Google's algorithm have both boosted and hurt Reddit.

On Thursday's earnings call, Huffman said the company does "expect some bumps along the way from Google," but said the platform will always meet the needs of people looking for the "subjective, authentic, messy, multiple viewpoints that Reddit provides."

• Reddit's stock surged as much as 19% post-Q1 earnings report, showing strong revenue growth.
• The company reported a 61% year-over-year revenue increase, marking consistent growth.
• CEO Steve Huffman emphasized Reddit's resilience amid tweaks to Google's algorithm and AI search trends.

Reddit's stock jumped by 19% after hours on Thursday after the company released its Q1 earnings report. As of publishing, it was up 7% after market close.

Reddit's revenue increased 61% year-over-year to $392.4 million in Q1 of 2025, the company said in an earnings release. CEO Steve Huffman said in a letter to investors that this marks the third consecutive quarter of growth over 60% for Reddit.

Reddit has seen considerable growth over the past year, thanks in part to a growing relationship with Google and site traffic growth from people searching for terms on Reddit through Google search. In February, Reddit's stock dropped more than 15% after CEO Steve Huffman said in an earnings call that Reddit saw "volatility" in traffic after Google tweaked its algorithm.

Huffman was asked how he sees "user growth going" over the rest of the year, given that Google has already changed its algorithm this year.

"We do expect some bumps along the way from Google, because we've already seen a few this year," Huffman said. "This is expected in any year, but given that the search ecosystem is under heavy construction, the near term could be more bumpy than usual."

Still, Huffman said that "short-term bumps" will not affect Reddit's long-term strategy and growing search market opportunities. Huffman said that there is "no doubt" that AI models will change the way people search for information on the internet, but Reddit will always meet the need of people looking for the "subjective, authentic, messy, multiple viewpoints that Reddit provides."

"In the same way that Reddit, for the last decade, has been an alternative to social media — social media being performative and manicured and Reddit being the opposite — Reddit communities and conversations will be an alternative to AI search answers," Huffman said.

Huffman also said in the earnings call that Reddit has maintained through big cultural shifts like the rise of smartphones and the COVID-19 pandemic because "the world needs community and shared knowledge, and that's what we do best."

"Ever-shifting macro environments like these create both challenges and opportunities," Huffman told investors. "We've grown through challenging times before people need connection and information just as much in uncertain times, and we're well-positioned to meet this moment."

• Reddit plans to introduce paywalls for exclusive content this year.
• The company discussed creating paid subreddits and an e-commerce system during a Q4 earnings AMA.
• CEO Steve Huffman said the paywalled forums are still a "work in progress."

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says paywalls are coming to the popular forum discussion platform this year.

Reddit hosted an AMA this week and took user questions about its fourth-quarter earnings.

One Reddit user asked Huffman if the company had made any progress on creating paid subreddits or "content that only paid members can see."

"It's a work in progress right now," Huffman said. "So that one's coming. We're working on it as we speak."

A second user asked Huffman if Reddit planned to introduce paid subreddits or a "system of marketplaces" in 2025.

"Paid subreddits, yes," Huffman said. "A marketplace, probably not, though we'll be laying the foundation for it."

Huffman first mentioned the idea of paid subreddits during a second-quarter earnings call in August, during which he said the company was considering forums with "exclusive content or private areas."

During the AMA, another user asked Huffman if Reddit would add features to further monetize e-commerce, like letting users pay on the site instead of through a third-party app like PayPal. Huffman said Reddit was considering those kinds of features in the long term but was currently focused on other priorities.

Reddit's shares dropped by 15% on Thursday after the company announced its fourth-quarter earnings, which showed user growth below analysts' expectations.

Over the past year, Reddit has generally gained ground on Google in the internet's search market. Reddit also struck a deal with Google and OpenAI in February to train their respective AI models using Reddit comments.

Huffman has repeatedly said that more people are searching on Google with the term "Reddit" included in the search.

However, in the fourth-quarter earnings call, Huffman told investors that the company saw "volatility" in traffic last quarter after Google tweaked its search algorithm.

In the AMA, a Reddit user asked Huffman how Reddit would prevent being "dependent on Google for traffic."

Huffman called Reddit's relationship with Google "long, deep, and symbiotic." He said Reddit gets "a lot" of traffic from Google and that the company "appreciates that traffic " but is not "dependant on Google for traffic."

"Reddit stands on its own as an independent platform with majority direct traffic," he added. "That's how we've grown."

On the earnings call, Huffman said that the volatility in the fourth quarter didn't concern him and didn't impact revenue.