With over 110 million daily active users and a market cap of nearly $40 billion, Reddit is a giant in the social media world. But unlike Mark Zuckerberg or Evan Spiegel , Reddit’s cofounders never became billionaires alongside their creation.

That’s because just months after University of Virginia roommates Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman launched the company in 2005, they sold it to Condé Nast for just $10 million.

Looking back on how successful the platform is now, it might seem astounding for them to have sold so prematurely —and Ohanian even admitted he was a bit naive. But the then-23-year-old’s life was nothing short of complicated. His girlfriend at the time had fallen into a coma, his dog died, and his mom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

“As a first-time CEO f

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