Fact: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian originally dreamed of building an app for ordering takeout. Fresh out of college, he and a friend presented the idea to the heads of start-up incubator Y-Combinator. "I had my heart set on this for like a year – and we were told it sucked, basically,” he laughs during an interview for Atlantic Video’s Creative Breakthroughs series.
Ultimately, though, things worked out: This experience led Ohanian to start Reddit along with co-founder Steve Huffman. Hear Ohanian’s advice, including bonus wisdom from his mom, in the video above.
This interview was filmed at the 2013 Aspen Ideas Festival.
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Emma Green is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Previously, she was a staff writer at The Atlantic, covering politics, policy, and religion.