Alan Schaaf

“I don't have much time to read. I'm more of a problem solver. I'll have an idea or a problem, and I'll learn what's necessary in order to do the idea or solve the problem. If I need to read a book, then I will, but it usually comes down to researching on the Internet and reading blog posts.”

“One of my favorite sci-fi books is 'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card. I would recommend it to anyone who loves sci-fi. It's a perfect intro to sci-fi.”

“We've talked with over a dozen VCs and angel investors over the years. But we've never clicked with any of them until Andreessen. During our initial meeting, we were bouncing ideas around about where Imgur could go.”

“GIFs work because the punch line is instantaneous. It's entirely different from almost any other form of content on the Internet, which takes time to consume.”

“People come home from work, and they just want to unwind.”

“When I come into the office, the first thing I do is I plan out what I want to accomplish that day. I write it down in my notebook and make sure I accomplish it before I leave that day.”

“I'm probably most proud of the fact that we are bootstrapped and that we are able to do not just the typical Silicon Valley startup thing. We are basically throwing away all the typical conventions of other startups.”

“In the early days, it was enough for Imgur to have a team that was focused on building product and engineering. But I realized early on if we were going to be successful, we needed someone who would be a bridge between the company and community.”

“Imgurians increasingly live on their mobile devices, and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to browse and discuss Imgur's content wherever and whenever they want.”

“There are so many easier ways to live your life than to start a company.”

“I think it's interesting to know that being a geek isn't the negative thing that it used to be.”

“At Imgur, we need a solid product that works on various platforms, so we're looking at iOS, Android, front end, back end, and devops.”

“Imgur has always been profitable right from the very beginning, and the only time I ever had to spend money on it was for the initial domain name because as soon as I released it, people liked it so much that they were donating, and so Imgur survived for the first six months just purely on donations.”

“We're not going the photography route. I think there is a real distinction between photos and images, and Flickr is for photos, and Instagram is for photos. You wouldn't put a filter on a meme; you'd put a filter on top of a photo that came from your camera.”

“It's not always about 'Can you do the job?' It's about 'Can you fit in with the team?'”

“Honestly, I could care less about business development.”

“When we first started growing our employees, I was scared. I would often think, 'If we had more people, what would they do? Is there really enough work?'”

“It's gotten more open and easy to create a business on the Internet. That's a really awesome thing for entrepreneurs and for the world.”

“We want to be like a YouTube for viral images.”

“When I was a student, I was working at the technology call center, where students call in if they can't get their email to work or something. A minimum-wage kind of job.”