Many technologists who read this blog probably frequent Product Hunt at least weekly. Mark Suster, a venture capitalist in Los Angeles whose blog Both Sides of the Table I read regularly, recently interviewed Product Hunt’s founder, Ryan Hoover. The hour long video is below, and well worth watching:

As I mentioned in a comment on Mark’s blog, I believe community is the most defensible moat you can put around your business. It’s also something most companies fail at, or don’t invest at all in. Community building is actually really simple (see here): you have to 1) truly truly give a sh*t & 2) speak to lots of people with a genuine interest in helping them (with total disregard to whether or not helping them helps you at all).

As everyone who “gets” community knows, most people fail at both. Ryan definitely gets community like few do, and that’s at the heart of his/Product Hunt’s success.