Reddit co-founder to aspiring U of T entrepreneurs: failure is an option
Published: January 15, 2014
Before co-founding Reddit, one of the Internet’s most popular websites, Alexis Ohanian suffered some pretty big failures. The biggest was My Mobile Menu, a mobile app that could allow users to order food before arriving at restaurants.
It was an idea ahead of its time (smartphones were still rare) so when Ohanian and partner Steve Huffman pitched the notion to venture capitalist Paul Graham he was quick to reject it. But Graham was intrigued by the duo and asked for more ideas.
Ohanian and Huffman conceived Reddit and the rest is Internet history. The popular social news site had 100 million visitors in the last month alone, clicking through five billion pages of articles, photos and videos.
“Sucking is the first step to being sort of good at something,” explained Ohanian to more than 300 U of T students this week, hosted by the U of T Engineering’s Entrepreneurship Hatchery.
Ohanian eagerly recalled his post-university days of inventing Reddit, encouraging students to “start having ideas and do them. Don’t let ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ stop you from doing it.”
Ohanian was joined by U of T alumnus Yuri Sagalov who recently co-founded AeroFS, a start-up offering a file syncing and storage tool for businesses that need increased online security.
“My advice is to build something that you’re passionate about,” urged Sagalov. During an early funding pitch, he once had a potential investor get up and walk right out of the room but AeroFS overcame such early hurdles to attract investment from the likes of Reddit’s Ohanian and others.
Joseph Orozco, executive director of The Entrepreneurship Hatchery, said failure is okay, as long as it’s not the end. “This is the time to take the risk. And if students have an idea, the Hatchery is a great place to start.”
Now in its second year, the Hatchery boasts a team of experienced mentors and 48 student entrepreneurs. Students are hatching ideas such as Air Xposure, an affordable way to take aerial video using helicopter drones, and Modly, a portable lighting system for smartphone photos.
The Entrepreneurship Hatchery will continue to grow in its new home in the Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, a dynamic new environment that will foster creativity and inspire 21st-century learning and innovation, said Orozco. The Centre is set to break ground later this year.
Ohanian’s visit to U of T kicks off the second leg of a North American tour promoting his new book, Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed, which includes 77 university stops.
“Why 77 universities?” Ohanian finished, “because this is what I wish I’d been told when I was in school.”
RJ Taylor is a writer with the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto.
