Founder of Reddit
Alexis Kerry Ohanian is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former executive chairman of the social media site Reddit along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz. He also co-founded the early-stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital, helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk, and started the social enterprise Breadpig. He was also a partner at Y Combinator.
Early life
Alexis Kerry Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, New York City. His paternal grandparents came to the United States as refugees of the Armenian Genocide. Ohanian’s mother was an immigrant from Germany. He went to Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, where he gave the student address for his graduating class in 2001.
Career
Ohanian says his obsession with technology started in middle school when he got a 33.6k dialup modem. He spent time on message boards learning how to code and build websites. Eventually, he began to make websites for nonprofit organizations for free, by « trick[ing] » them, hiding behind his email to disguise the fact that he was a teen doing this from his parents’ basement.
After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005 with degrees in commerce and history, Ohanian and his friend Steve Huffman pitched the idea MyMobileMenu to Y Combinator. The company passed on the idea but encouraged the duo to come up with another idea it could potentially fund. They later came up with reddit.com with the goal of it becoming the « front page of the Internet ».
Reddit joined Y-Combinator’s first batch of start-ups in the summer of 2005 and was later acquired by Condé Nast in 2006 for an undisclosed amount between $10 million and $20 million. Ohanian continued to work closely with Reddit as a member of its board of directors. Ohanian returned to Reddit full-time with co-founder Huffman in July 2015 to lead the now-independent company. He stepped back from the company in February 2018 to return to focusing on investing.
In 2007, Ohanian launched Breadpig, an « uncorporation » that produces geeky merchandise and gives the proceeds to charity. As of 2012, he is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of Breadpig.
After leaving Reddit in 2010, Ohanian spent three months working in microfinance as a Kiva fellow in Yerevan, Armenia. Ohanian helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk in 2010 and now acts as an adviser. In June 2010, Ohanian announced the launch of his company Das Kapital Capital, which focuses on start-up investing, advising, and consulting.
Ohanian was given the title « Ambassador to the East » by the early-stage venture firm Y Combinator. In this position, he meets with East Coast applicants, mentors New York YC founders, and is a general representative for the company. He also held the role of part-time partner and full-time partner at Y Combinator before leaving in 2016 to help launch the third Initialized Capital fund with Garry Tan.
On June 5, 2020, Ohanian resigned from Reddit’s board, asking to be replaced by a black candidate in response to the murder of George Floyd.
On July 21, 2020, Ohanian was announced as the lead investor in a primarily female group that was awarded a new franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League, the top level of the sport for women in the U.S. The new team, later unveiled as Angel City FC, started playing in 2022. The ownership group, in which women hold a majority interest, includes 14 former members of the U.S. women’s national team, Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman, and many other prominent actors, entertainers, media personalities, and sportspeople, among them Ohanian’s wife, Serena Williams.
In June 2020, Ohanian ended his role as Managing Partner at Initialized. In June 2021, Ohanian announced a new venture capital firm he is leading, named « 776 ».
Philanthropy
Since 2022, Ohanian has been funding climate-related projects started by young founders via a grant program modelled after the Thiel Fellowship. The fellowship is intended for students aged 23 or younger and offers them a total of $100,000 over two years, as well as guidance and other resources, to drop out of school and pursue work related to combating climate change, which could involve scientific research, creating a startup, or working on a social movement. Selection for the fellowship is through a competitive annual process, with 20 fellows selected annually.
In the media
Published works
Ohanian published a book titled Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed on October 1, 2013. Without Their Permission ranked fourth on The Wall Street Journal‘s best sellers list for Hardcover Business. In connection with the book, Ohanian embarked on a five-month, 150-stop and 75-university tour to promote the book.
Small Empires
In the summer of 2013, Small Empires with Alexis Ohanian, a weekly online series focused on rising startups in New York City hosted by Ohanian, premiered on The Verge. The first season ran for nine episodes. The second season premiered in October 2014.
Podcasts
Business Dad
From businessdad.initialized.com, January 2020: “In a new podcast from Initialized Capital, Alexis Ohanian (cofounder of Initialized + Reddit) opens this question up to some of the most successful men across business, sports, entertainment, and more, for candid conversations about what it means to be a father in today’s world and how they balance their careers and family.”
NYRD Radio
On October 15, 2014, Ohanian launched the NYRD Radio podcast. Guests on the show have included Tim Ferriss, James Altucher, Carter Cleveland (founder of Artsy) and Cameron Russell. The podcast features a segment called Office Hours, in which aspiring entrepreneurs can apply to work through an idea with him.
Upvoted
On January 8, 2015, Ohanian released the first episode – listed as « Episode 0 » – of Reddit’s new podcast Upvoted, in which Ohanian delves deeper into real stories found on Reddit and talks to the users involved. Each week, the podcast focuses on a different story and features a guest around whom that story is centered.
Other media
Twitch (@AOC)
Ohanian was featured on a livestream broadcast on January 28, 2021 on Twitch. The livestream was streamed on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘s channel. The stream featured various other people like TheStockGuy and Alexis Goldstein. During the stream guests spoke about their opinions on the Gamestop Short Squeeze.
Awards and honors
In 2011 and 2012, Ohanian was named to the Forbes « 30 Under 30 » list as an important figure in the technology industry. In 2013, Ohanian and Erik Martin were featured as « champions of innovation » in the 20th Anniversary issue of Wired. In 2015, Ohanian was named to the Crain‘s « 40 Under 40 » list for business. In 2016, Ohanian was named one of Fast Company’s « Most Creative People in Business ».
On May 21, 2020, Ohanian delivered the Commencement address for The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2020.
In December 2022, Ohanian was named a 2023 Money Changemaker by the Money magazine.
