Achievements
- Co-founded 9gag in 2008 with Ray Chan and team
- Helped turn meme culture into a global phenomenon with over 200 million users
- Recognized early trend of meme culture and contributed to its mainstream adoption
- Built one of the largest online meme platforms, shaping internet culture
- Proved that spotting trends early and taking risks can create massive scale
- A key figure in the rise of meme-based internet entertainment
What's up with Brian Yu
Yo, so you gotta know about Brian Yu. This guy’s a legit legend in the internet world. Back in 2008, he co-founded 9gag with some friends, Ray Chan, Chris Chan, Derek Chan, Marco Fung, and they basically built the meme universe we all scroll through every day. No cap, 9gag blew up to over 200 million users, which is nuts. That’s not just some hobby site, it’s a whole culture now, and Brian was right there in the trenches, spotting that meme chaos before anyone else.
What’s dope about him is that he saw the possible of meme culture early, like he knew this was gonna be huge, and he helped shape it. That takes real vision, especially when everyone else was just messing around. It’s like he jumped into the internet’s wild west and crushed it from day one.
Now, here’s the thing, the other stuff about him? There’s some confusion. Some sources talk about a Brian Yu who’s into software dev and making videos like the Spanning Tree series, but that’s probably a different guy. The main Brian Yu we’re talking about is the co-founder of 9gag. No clear links to aNobii or YC, but honestly, that doesn’t matter. The point is, he’s one of those founders who saw an opportunity, took the risk, and turned a simple idea into a global phenomenon.
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Talk to herThis story tells you a lot about what makes him tick: he’s got that startup hustle, the vision to spot trends early, and the guts to build something that sticks. It’s about seeing the chaos, jumping in, and just going all-in. That’s what real startup founders do. They don’t wait around for permission, they make their own damn wave.
So yeah, Brian Yu isn’t just some guy who put up a meme site. He’s a reminder that if you see something with possible, even in the weirdest corners of the internet, and you’re willing to put in the work, you can change the game. That’s why he’s so important, because he proved that with the right vision and hustle, you can scale something massive from nothing.

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