So to summarize:<p>- Make a lot of fake accounts to submit content, so it looks like there are many more users than there actually are<p>- Get mentioned in a very popular essay by Paul Graham<p>- Eventually stop submitting content from fake accounts once you have grown enough<p>- Once you are so big that your referral starts showing up in the New York Times, etc. log, people will naturally start putting your buttons on your site.<p>- There will be some other huge sites that haven't organically put your button on their site yet. Cold email them.<p>- Post in the comments of any site that mentions you, regardless of the size to make yourself available to them.