9GAG Founder Ray Chan: How a Funny-Pictures Side Project Reached 150 Million People 😂

How did a side project for sharing funny pictures reach 150 million people? 😂

At RISE Conference in Hong Kong, I met Ray Chan, co-founder and CEO of 9GAG. 🎙️

He shared how 9GAG grew, why they raised funding, and how his parents helped. 💡

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 😂 How 9GAG started
• 💰 Why they raised funding
• 📱 Instagram and the distributed platform strategy
• 👨‍👩‍👦 Family support in a 300 sq ft home
• 🌍 Silicon Valley vs building at home
• 💡 Ray’s advice for founders

🎥 Watch the full episode:

😂 How 9GAG Started

Ray and four co-founders started 9GAG in 2008 to solve their own problem: easily sharing funny pictures and videos. 😂

For the first few years, it was a side project. Today, 9GAG content reaches more than 150 million people. 🌍

💰 Why They Raised Funding

After 2011, they raised seed funding from US investors. The main reason wasn’t money: they wanted connections and experience to build a global company. 💰

At the time, they had about 30 people, all in Hong Kong, with plans to add team members in other countries. 👥

📱 Instagram and the Distributed Platform Strategy

9GAG wants to be top of mind when people want “three minutes of happy time.” 🎯

Its open distributed platform strategy means going wherever users are: Facebook, Twitter, its apps and website. 📲

Instagram was the biggest channel, with 41 million followers and over a billion video views. About half the team are engineers building tools to help editors pick the best content. 🛠️

For more on social growth, read Christina Szekeres, the FB Queen. 🔗

👨‍👩‍👦 Family Support in a 300 sq ft Home

Ray’s father was a cook at a fast-food chain, and his mother was a housewife. They didn’t really understand the internet. 👨‍👩‍👦

But they supported the team by actions: seven people worked in his parents’ roughly 300 sq ft Hong Kong home, and his parents went out so they wouldn’t distract them. ❤️

His advice on convincing parents: understand they’re worried about job security because they care. “If you can’t even convince your parents, how do you convince investors and users?” 💬

🌍 Silicon Valley vs Building at Home

Silicon Valley is special, but you can build great startups in every country. 🌍

9GAG went there to learn how to build a global company. But if you want to build the best company in India, talk to more people in India. It depends on where you can maximize your learning. 🎓

💡 Ray’s Advice for Founders

Many people helped, and they read plenty, but “you are the founders; you have to make the final decision,” because no advice fits every company. 💡

“If it is really your dream, you should not give up.” And if you want to try something, just try it, because you won’t know until you do. For more startup stories, read Ritesh Malik, founder of Innov8, plus Sujay Pawar on building Brainstorm Force. 🚀

📝 Key Takeaways From the Ray Chan Interview

• 😂 Great startups can begin by solving your own problem
• 💰 Raise money for connections and experience, not just cash
• 📱 Go wherever your audience is
• ❤️ Family support can be practical, not just emotional
• 🌍 Learn where you can learn the most
• 🚀 You won’t know until you try

❓ FAQs About Ray Chan

When was 9GAG founded?

In 2008, by Ray Chan and four co-founders, initially as a side project.

How big is 9GAG?

Ray says its content reaches more than 150 million people, with 41 million Instagram followers at the time of the interview.

What is Ray Chan’s advice for entrepreneurs?

If it’s really your dream, don’t give up; just try it, and make the final decisions yourself as a founder.

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What would you build to solve your own problem? Share this with a founder friend. 💬

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