Alexis Ohanian

Alexis Ohanian
Name	Alexis Ohanian
Caption	Ohanian in 2017
Birth date	24 April 1983
Birth place	Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Education	University of Virginia (BA)
Occupation	Entrepreneur, investor
Spouse	Serena Williams (m. 2017)

Alexis Ohanian is an American entrepreneur, investor, and author, best known as the co-founder of the social news and discussion website Reddit. A prominent figure in the technology industry, he has become a leading venture capitalist and advocate for founders, particularly through his firm Initialized Capital. His career spans founding multiple startups, authoring a book on entrepreneurship, and engaging in significant philanthropic and advocacy work, especially in education and criminal justice reform.

Early life and education

Born in Brooklyn to parents who were immigrants from Armenia and Germany, he was raised primarily in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the University of Virginia, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor of Arts in commerce and history. During his time at the university, he was involved with the University of Virginia Honor Committee and interned with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.. His early interest in technology and entrepreneurship was influenced by the burgeoning dot-com bubble era.

Career

His initial career path shifted after a rejected application to the JET Programme led him to San Francisco. There, he and his University of Virginia classmate Steve Huffman developed the concept for Reddit while participating in the inaugural batch of the Y Combinator startup accelerator in 2005. Prior to Reddit's launch, he worked briefly in marketing for the mobile technology company Cingular Wireless. Following the sale of Reddit to Condé Nast in 2006, he served as the company's spokesperson and executive until 2009. He later founded the travel search website Hipmunk with Adam Goldstein in 2010.

Reddit

He co-founded the platform with Steve Huffman in 2005, with early funding and guidance from Y Combinator partners Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston. The site quickly grew into a major hub for online communities, known for its system of user-moderated forums called subreddits. He played a key role in its early culture and community management before its acquisition by Condé Nast in 2006 for an undisclosed sum. He returned to the company as its executive chairman in 2014, a role he held until 2020, during which time he helped oversee significant growth and the appointment of Ellen Pao and later Steve Huffman as CEO.

Venture capital and investments

In 2011, he co-founded the venture capital firm Initialized Capital with Garry Tan, a firm that has made early investments in companies like Coinbase, Instacart, and Cruise Automation. He is a prolific angel investor and has invested in hundreds of startups, including Snapchat, Product Hunt, and Zenefits. His investment philosophy emphasizes supporting mission-driven founders, and he has been a vocal advocate for expanding venture capital funding beyond traditional hubs like Silicon Valley. He also authored the book *"Without Their Permission"* in 2013, which discusses the power of the open internet.

Personal life

He married tennis champion Serena Williams in a highly publicized ceremony in New Orleans in 2017. The couple has two daughters, Olympia Ohanian and Adira River Ohanian. He is an active user of social media platforms, including Twitter and Instagram, where he shares insights on technology, fatherhood, and social issues. He has spoken openly about his family's Armenian American heritage and his experiences with panic disorder.

Philanthropy and advocacy

He is a co-founder of the social enterprise The Muse and has served on the board of the nonprofit Kiva. A significant portion of his advocacy focuses on education and criminal justice reform; he helped launch the Justice Policy Initiative at the University of Virginia and has been a supporter of the Innocence Project. Following the murder of George Floyd, he resigned from the board of Reddit and urged the company to fill his seat with a Black candidate, which led to the appointment of Michael Seibel. He and his wife, Serena Williams, have also made substantial donations to various educational and charitable causes.

Category:American technology company founders Category:American venture capitalists Category:University of Virginia alumni