News Headline: The battle over credit for Reddit

Sunday, March 24, 2024

The battle over credit for Reddit

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Image Credits: filo / Getty Images

Another week, another battle between well-known industry players (maybe these all tie to planetary events?). This time, Reddit co-founder and VC Alexis Ohanian was miffed that Initialized Capital — the firm he co-founded with Garry Tan — didn’t recognize him in celebrating its portfolio company’s IPO in a tweet. Wrote Ohanian in a retweet, “Wow, this is petty, @GarryTan @brettdg @jenhwolf — even for y’all.”

If it was an oversight — and there was debate over whether it was, given a misplaced comma — Tan tried to remedy this by tweeting his congratulations from his own account to both Ohanian and his co-founder, Steve Huffman, who is Reddit’s CEO. But the exchange laid bare the strained relationship between Ohanian and Tan, who both passed through Y Combinator before together co-founding Initialized — only to leave the firm separately later. Ohanian bailed first in 2020 to launch his current firm Seven Seven Six; Tan left in the summer of 2022 to become president and CEO of Y Combinator, though he still remains involved as a board partner.

Not everyone gets along forever, of course, and it seems likely that fame and power are complicating factors, along with the powerful platform now known as X. Indeed, Ohanian’s frustration with Tan was reminiscent of his 2020 falling-out with Huffman on what was then Twitter, when Ohanian tweeted out his plans to leave Reddit’s board amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Asked weeks later about the episode, Huffman suggested to the New York Times that quitting is easy compared with staying. (Tellingly, Huffman didn’t mention Ohanian at all in Reddit’s S-1.)

It’s hard to feel sorry for anyone in this saga. Huffman is poised to make many millions from Reddit. Ohanian and Tan have also done just fine for themselves. In the end, this is just a giant kerfuffle. But displays like these sometimes overshadow what’s really important — in this case, the surprisingly successful public offering of a nearly 20-year-old company that was long considered a toxic cesspool. — Connie Loizos

Emad Mostaque is out at Stability AI

Stability AI founder and chief executive Emad Mostaque has stepped down from the top role and the unicorn startup’s board, the buzzy firm said Friday night, making it the second hot AI startup to go through major changes this week. He insists it was his choice. Manish Singh dives in here.

Image Credits: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg

Why it's impossible to review AI models

We know, we get it, you want TechCrunch to write about your mind-blowing new AI model. But here’s why it's pretty much impossible to review something like ChatGPT or Gemini, why it's important to try anyway, and what TC’s Devin Coldewey thinks about TC’s constantly evolving approach.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

Liquid Death is killing it by "killing your thirst," as other bev startups rise up

"Gen Z drinks less [alcohol] than any of the generations before them," one retail analyst tells TC. Rebecca Szkutak and Christine Hall highlight the drinks startups that are cutting through the fizz.

Image Credits: Liquid Death

An Airbnb for hunting and fishing (really)

Are you looking to hunt and fish on a guided tour without all the hassle of actually finding and booking and paying for a guided tour? Rebecca has some good news for you.