Maxim Razmakhin has always been an entrepreneurial spirit. When he was in college, he sold milkshakes out of his dorm room.
“It was sort of like a substitute for coffee,” Razmakhin said. “It stimulated brain power and helped people cram for those big exams.”
He ended up making a couple thousand bucks from the endeavor.
The 29-year-old Russian-native is now the CEO of Thirstie, an online alcohol-delivery service. He was recently named to the Forbes’ 30 under 30 food & drink list for his innovation in the over $ 250 billion alcohol industry.
Razmakhin got his start working as an equity analyst after college. He then moved to New York in 2011 to work for Haver Analytics as an economic database manager. But his entrepreneurial aspirations did not abate during his time in the corporate world. He was brainstorming ideas with his current-partner while he was working in New York.
“And then it hit me one day,” he said. “I realized alcohol was the space to get in to, because there was no technology there.”
But not too long after starting, Razmakhin said the on-demand alcohol delivery business exploded.
“At one point we had like 30 plus competitors,” he said.
Yulia Grigoryeva/ShutterstockHe told Business Insider that successful entrepreneurs do everything they can to make their product stand out. In order to differentiate Thirstie from the other alcohol-delivery services, Razmakhin said he and his partner added content to their site.
“Today we aren’t just a place where you can purchase alcohol,” he said. “We are here to help users discover and learn new things about alcohol and broaden their horizons.”
“I want people to experience more than vodka soda, rum and coke, and gin and tonic on a Friday night,” he added.
Visitors on the site can peruse articles such as ‘5 Liqueurs you should be using this Valentine’s Day‘ and ‘What food and drinks actually work as aphrodisiacs.’
Razmakhin said the content engages his customers and incentivizes them to come back to the site.
We asked Razmakhin to share his best advice for young aspiring entrepreneurs. He said they should consider two things:
Ignore the noise. The media is going to say stuff about your company. Competitors are going to be saying stuff or trying different tactics. Pay attention to it, but don’t make it your focus. Don’t chase your competitors.
Constantly test your hypothesis. When you start a company you need to try to disprove your assumptions. Trying to prove yourself wrong is hard, there’s no doubt about that, but if you don’t then you’re just delaying you’re death.
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