New york native, Alexis Ohanian is an entrepreneur, activist and investor; he rose to prominence after co-founding the social news website, Reddit.
He along, Steve Huffman, whom he met back in 2001 in their University of Virginia dormitory, when they were both incoming freshmen; founded Reddit in 2005 upon graduation, when they were admitted to the now-prestigious–though then-fledgling–startup incubator Y Combinator. Both Huffman and Ohanian left Reddit three years into the site’s 2006 acquisition by Conde Nast.
Though Alexis Ohanian remained in the Board of Directors. it wasn’t until 2014 that he returned to a full-time capacity the company he co-founded with Steve Huffman. He and Huffman were reunited at Reddit in 2015, after Steve made a return just months after Alexis.
For the years in between, Alexis focused his time and energy to founding and investing in companies that fit his model of making something people love and making the world suck less. Alexis helped launch hipmunk and ran marketing/pr/community before becoming an advisor and joining the fight against SOPA & PIPA.
He invests and advises over one hundred tech startups. Today he’s back at reddit and a part-time partner at Y Combinator.
Below you can read Alexis’ top ten facts:
1. Alexis Ohanian was born April 24, 1983, to father Chris Ohanian and German mother, Anke.
2. Alexis Ohanian has been invited to speak at TED.
3. He invests and advises over one hundred tech startups.
4. He owns a black cat named Karma.
5. He created & hosted a show on The Verge called Small Empires about tech startups & their communities
6. In 2013, he wrote a national bestselling book, Without Their Permission.
7. He was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list two years in a row.
8. Alexis Ohanian volunteered in Armenia as a Kiva Fellow
9. He has been romantically linked to tennis star, Serena Williams since last October.
10. Before becoming a startup founder he worked as a waiter at Pizza Hut.
You can follow Alexis Ohanian on Twitter here.
