February 17, 2026
From upvotes to operating rooms
Thank HN: You helped save 33k lives
From one post to 33k surgeries—cheers, tears, and a debate over corporate sponsors
TLDR: A decade after a viral forum post, Watsi says community support helped fund 33,241 surgeries and $20M in care. Commenters celebrated the impact, debated brand sponsorships in charity, and rallied around the founder’s candid burnout story—proof that steady, human-focused work can beat startup hype when real lives are on the line.
The internet’s favorite orange forum just got a tear-jerker: Watsi’s founder resurfaced to say that a scrappy “Show HN” post a decade ago helped fuel over 33,241 life-saving surgeries and more than $20M in donations. Cue the comment section: equal parts victory lap, therapy session, and nostalgia tour. Mods popped in with receipts, linking the original 2012 post, and longtime users cheered that, for once, the “move fast” energy built something that actually saved lives.
The loudest theme? Pride and relief. One user called Watsi their “fav charity,” while another said it “made me believe in nonprofits again.” There’s also the human side: the founder admitted burning out as donations grew linearly while medical needs exploded. Commenters rallied around that honesty, framing it as the real startup lesson: not every curve is a rocket ship—and that’s okay when the mission is people, not profits.
But it’s HN, so there’s spice: a thread floated brand sponsorships—letting companies donate for visibility. Some cheered the pragmatic “whatever saves lives” angle; others side-eyed the slippery slope into marketing. Meanwhile, jokesters dubbed it the rare “HN post where upvotes feel like stitches,” and one wag quipped that for once, the “coffee vs donation” dilemma got settled—with scalpel-sharp results.
Key Points
- •Watsi launched via a Show HN 13 years ago and gained significant early traction from Hacker News.
- •“pg” provided the first major funding and accepted Watsi as Y Combinator’s first nonprofit (W13).
- •Watsi aimed to build an efficient, transparent, and innovative nonprofit through user engagement and iterative work.
- •Donations grew linearly while requests for care grew exponentially, leading to strategic shifts and founder burnout.
- •Watsi reports over $20M in donations funding 33,241 surgeries and plans for sustainable long-term impact.