Reddit's Alexis Ohanian on How to Learn the Market for Your New Business
The Reddit co-founder explains how he was able to pursue opportunities in a number of diverse industries.
By Nina Zipkin •
Like many entrepreneurs, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has had plenty of experience learning on the job. At the Entrepreneur360 Conference in New York, Ohanian explained that each of his ventures has required a different perspective. Reddit, for example, sprung from simply wanting to finding the best news every day.
But before Reddit, while he and Reddit CEO Steve Huffman were still in school at the University of Virginia, the duo developed an app called My Mobile Menu, or MMM, that would allow people to order food from their phones and avoid annoying lines. Sensing a demand but not versed with the food industry, Ohanian says that he learned about the market by asking every restaurant owner in their college town how they did their online delivery.
A few years after the start of Reddit, Ohanian helped launch Hipmunk, a travel planning site. Ohanian said in this regard, he had somewhat of an advantage, having watched his father start his own travel agency during the tech boom.
For more from Ohanian on how he learned the market for each business, check out the video above.
Related: Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian: Building a Business Mostly Isn't Fun
