YouTube Founders Revamping a Site for Link Sharing

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have some experience with turning a small Web site into Internet gold. In 2006 they sold their scrappy start-up YouTube to Google for $1.65 billion.

Computer desks and a few Ikea couches dot the office’s single floor, which is decorated with a few Street Fighter III and Spinal Tap posters and two slim-neck guitars — Mr. Chen’s. A flimsy computer-printed sign taped to a window announces the company’s name. There’s no sign of the bubbly excesses of some young start-ups — there isn’t even a kitchen or a sink.

“We’re trying to stay focused,” Mr. Hurley said.

Delicious still attracts around half a million visitors a month, according to comScore. Some of the early users are still fiercely protective of the service. Mr. Chen and Mr. Hurley said they planned to invite the earliest users to test a version of the new site and solicit feedback about the designs and features.

“We didn’t buy it so we can kill it,” Mr. Hurley said. “Hopefully people will understand that.”