Reddit's Train Pitch

A story about how Reddit's founders Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian became Y Combinator's first investment after taking initiative to meet Paul Graham.

"Paul Graham gave a talk at Harvard about how to start a startup. Steve and Alexis didn't go to Harvard - they went to school in Virginia, but they took a train up from Virginia just to hear this talk because Steve used to follow Paul's blog.

Paul was so impressed that these guys came from such a far away, he agreed to meet them for coffee. This meeting actually inspired Paul to create Y Combinator. He reached out to Steve and Alexis to apply, but initially rejected them because he hated their idea (which was ordering fast food by phone).

Paul's wife Jessica, who he credits as having the best people detector, called Steve and Alexis 'the muffins' because they were so endearing. She told Paul 'I feel like we should have the muffins in YC - they're the reason you created this.'

So Paul called them while they were on the train ride home to Virginia. He said he'd fund them only if they changed their idea. They immediately got off at the next stop and hopped on the next train going back up north. They became Y Combinator's first investment and the reason YC exists today."