Nearly 300 students packed a Lillis Business Complex lecture hall at the end of January to hear from Alexis Ohanian, the serial Internet entrepreneur, TED conference presenter, and cofounder of Reddit.

Cosponsored by the Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship (LCE) and the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, the evening was part of a 65-campus tour to promote Ohanian's book Without Their Permission.

Introduced by LCE program manager Nathan Lillegard, Ohanian outlined the journey that led him to cofound—at age twenty-two—the popular news and entertainment website Reddit. Citing the Internet's low risk and ease of access, Ohanian exhorted his audience to pursue their own startup dreams. His message was well received with numerous students, such as Ryan Malleus, taking to Twitter to share their enthusiasm.

"Seriously though, inspiring presentation from the founder of @reddit in the cozy confines of @UOBusiness," tweeted Malleus.

And perhaps the favorite takeaway from the night was when Ohanian espoused that "Failure is an option, and sucking is the first step to success," imploring students to take risks and not let the fear of failure get in the way of pursuing their dreams.

On a final note: in keeping with the author's bootstrap philosophy, it was a student—rather than the university—that organized Ohanian's campus appearance. Responding to a Reddit posting seeking volunteers to facilitate Ohanian's campus stops, Oregon MBA student Foster Boone took the lead managing the author's University of Oregon appearance, coordinating the event's logistics, and securing its sponsors.

View a report on KEZI, read Lillegard's take on the event, and see photos from the evening.