Alexis Ohanian

At 41 years old, Alexis Ohanian has this physical status:

Career

When he first got a 33.6-k dialup modem in middle school, Ohanian claims he began his interest in technology in middle school. He spent time on message boards learning how to code and build websites. He began to make websites for nonprofit organizations for free by "trick[ing] them, often masking the fact that he was doing this from his parent's basement.

After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005 with degrees in commerce and history, Ohanian and friend Steve Huffman suggested the switch from MyMobileMenu to Y Combinator. The company accepted the proposal but encouraged the pair to come up with another plan that could potentially finance. They later launched reddit.com with the intention of making it the Internet's "front page."

Reddit was one of Y-Combinator's first batch of start-ups in 2005 and Condé Nast's later acquisition of an undisclosed sum between $10 million and $20 million. Ohanian began to collaborate closely with Reddit as a member of the board of directors. Ohanian joined Reddit full-time with co-founder Huffman in July 2015 to head the now-independence firm. In February 2018, he stepped back from the company to return to focusing on investing.

Breadpig, an "uncorporation" that manufactures geeky stuff and donates the proceeds to charity in 2007, was launched in Ohanian. He is no longer interested in Breadpig's day-to-day operations as of 2012.

Ohanian spoke to Mister Splashy Pants on TED in 2009. Ohanian spent three months in microfinance in Yerevan, Armenia, after leaving Reddit in 2010. Ohanian helped launch Hipmunk in 2010 and now serves as an advisor. Ohanian founded Das Kapital Capital, which focuses on start-up investment, consulting, and training in June 2010.

The early-stage venture firm Y Combinator gave Ohanian the nickname "Ambassador to the East." He works with East Coast students, mentors, and is a general representative for the company in this position. Before leaving in 2016 to help start the third Initialized Capital fund with Garry Tan, he served as both part-time partner and full-time partner at Y Combinator.

Ohanian resigned from Reddit's board on June 5, 2020, threatening to be replaced by a black candidate in reaction to George Floyd's assassination. Michael Seibel, an African-American entrepreneur, was appointed a Reddit board member on June 10, 2020.

Ohanian was named the lead investor in a predominantly female group that was given a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of the sport for women in the United States, on July 21, 2020. In 2022, the new squad, which was later revealed as Angel City FC, began playing. Serena Williams, the owner of 14 former members of the United States women's national team, Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman, and countless other well-known actors, comedians, journalists, and sportspeople, among whom Ohanian's wife, Serena Williams.

Ohanian resigned as the Company's Managing Partner in June 2020. Ohanian revealed "776," his new venture capital company he is leading in June 2021.

In 2010, Instacart, Zenefits, Opendoor, and Cruise were among the first companies to raise money in start-ups, including Instacart, Instacart, Zinefits, Opendoor, and Cruise. It has three funds under control, totaling more than $500 million. CB Insights analyzed all the leading investors in tech in 2014, naming Ohanian number one for network centrality, the breadth of links an investor has with other investors in the industry, as well as the quality and depth of those links.

Ohanian invested $3 million in childcare start-up Kinside in 2019, through Initialized Capital. Ohanian also invested $4 million in litigation in 2020 (David's Disposable).

Ohanian invested $10 million into a Series A round in April 2021, alongside $6 million from other investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Sound Ventures, Slow Ventures, and other celebrities.

Ohanian testified before Congress' Stop Online Piracy Act and Senate's PROTECT IP Act in late 2010 and early 2011. He was a leader of an internet-enable campaign that eventually overturned the two bills. Ohanian spoke to members of Congress, participated in the national anti-SOPA/PIPA demonstrations that took place on January 18, 2012, and spoke at the NY Tech Meetup rally in New York.

Ohanian joined Reddit General Manager Erik Martin in October 2012 and moved from Denver, Colorado, to Danville, Kentucky, to campaign for the open internet during presidential and vice presidential debates. In Washington, D.C., one of the campaign stops suggested a "National Geek Day" for one of the candidates.

The Daily Dot named Ohanian number one in their top ten most influential activists of 2012, and Forbes Magazine dubbed him "Mayor of the Internet" in reaction to his work defending an Open Internet.

Ohanian started lobbying the FCC to promote net neutrality in May 2014, resulting in a day-long phone-a-thon in the FCC and Congress on January 15, 2015.

Victoria Taylor, an administrator who arranged celebrity interviews from Reddit's New York office, was fired on July 2, 2015. Volunteer moderators of the IAmA community held their forum in private, effectively turning it off, and other volunteer moderators followed suit, demanding that the volunteers and community make substantial changes that reduce [their] effectiveness and raise [their] workload." "Chooter (Victoria) was let go as an administrator by u/kn0thing [Alexis Ohanian]," a moderator of IAmA said the following day, a characterization that was not widely reported. Ellen Pao, the interim CEO, was criticized for the demotion by media outlets such as Variety. Harassment, which had already been directed at Pao in connection with other scandals, erupted, and she resigned a week later. However, former CEO Yishan Wong informed the Reddit community on July 12 that Taylor was fired by "the CEO's boss" and accused Ohanian of scapegoating. Ohanian delved into Taylor's dismissal, denying that despite the AMA/IAmA changes coming from him, he still reported to Pao. Pao chastised Ohanian for avoiding the fallout by attending Wimbledon in the days immediately following Taylor's dismissal.

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