Vaibhav Sahgal

Vaibhav Sahgal: How We Scaled Reddit to 55M Users; Lessons from Zynga | 20VC #942

Vaibhav Sahgal, Harry Stebbings

V, a former software engineer turned Head of Growth at Reddit, argues that the growth function should be redefined as "value connection" rather than mere value creation, emphasizing data-driven experimentation over intuition to align product utility with specific user personas. His approach integrates strict guardrails to prevent channel burnout while advocating for hiring senior product leaders who can drive immediate experimentation and equity stakes post-product-market fit. Drawing on lessons from Zynga and Reddit, V highlights the critical shift from friend-based graphs to interest-driven communities and warns against mimicking competitors instead of doubling down on a platform's unique core strengths.