Alexis Kerry Ohanian is an American Armenian internet entrepreneur and investor.
44 Facts About Alexis Ohanian
2.
Alexis Ohanian is best known as the co-founder and executive chairman of the social media site Reddit along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz.
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Alexis Ohanian co-founded the early-stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital, helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk, and started the social enterprise Breadpig.
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Alexis Ohanian went to Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland, where he gave the student address for his graduating class in 2001.
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Alexis Ohanian says his obsession with technology started in middle school when he got a 33.6k dialup modem.
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Alexis Ohanian spent time on message boards learning how to code and build websites.
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Alexis Ohanian passed on the idea but encouraged the duo to come up with another idea it could potentially fund.
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Alexis Ohanian continued to work closely with Reddit as a member of its board of directors.
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Alexis Ohanian returned to Reddit full-time with co-founder Huffman in July 2015 to lead the now-independent company.
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Alexis Ohanian stepped back from the company in February 2018 to return to focusing on investing.
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In 2007, Alexis Ohanian launched Breadpig, an "uncorporation" that produces geeky merchandise and gives the proceeds to charity.
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In 2009, Alexis Ohanian spoke at TED about a whale named Mister Splashy Pants.
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Alexis Ohanian helped launch travel search website Hipmunk in 2010 and now acts as an adviser.
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In June 2010, Alexis Ohanian announced the launch of his company Das Kapital Capital, which focuses on start-up investing, advising, and consulting.
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Alexis Ohanian was given the title "Ambassador to the East" by the early-stage venture firm Y Combinator.
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Alexis Ohanian 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.
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On June 5,2020, Alexis Ohanian resigned from Reddit's board, asking to be replaced by a black candidate in response to the murder of George Floyd.
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On July 21,2020, Alexis 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 US The new team, later unveiled as Angel City FC, started playing in 2022.
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In June 2020, Alexis Ohanian ended his role as Managing Partner at Initialized.
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In June 2021, Alexis Ohanian announced a new venture capital firm he is leading, named "776".
21.
Alexis Ohanian co-founded Initialized Capital in 2010 and made seed investments in start-ups including Instacart, Zenefits, Opendoor, and Cruise.
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In 2020, Alexis Ohanian invested $4 million in Dispo.
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In late 2010 and early 2011, Alexis Ohanian spoke out against Congress's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's PROTECT IP Act.
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Alexis Ohanian helped lead the Internet-enabled campaign that eventually overturned the two bills.
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In October 2012, Alexis Ohanian teamed up with Reddit General Manager Erik Martin and embarked on the Internet 2012 Bus Tour from Denver, Colorado, to Danville, Kentucky, to campaign for the open Internet during the presidential and vice presidential debates.
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In May 2014, Alexis Ohanian began lobbying the FCC to support net neutrality, culminating with a day-long phone-a-thon into the FCC and Congress on January 15,2015.
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In 2017, Pao criticized Alexis Ohanian for avoiding the fallout by attending Wimbledon in the days immediately following Taylor's firing.
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Alexis Ohanian has created all the mascots for the companies he started: Reddit alien "Snoo", Breadpig pig with bread wings, Hipmunk chipmunk "Chip", and Initialized Capital honey badger.
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On December 10,2012, Alexis Ohanian teamed up with Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers to launch a Kickstarter project, with the intent to make a new album entitled "Lester's Time Has Come".
30.
Two years later, Alexis Ohanian raised $12,244 for the non-profit Black Girls Code on Tilt.
31.
In June 2019, Alexis Ohanian announced his plans to bring the pledge to lawmakers on Capitol Hill in late 2019 in a push to pass federal paid family leave legislation.
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Alexis Ohanian stated that "I hope to be meeting with many senators, representatives, plenty of dads, on both sides of the aisle, in both houses of the Legislature, who want this to be the law of the land".
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On December 29,2016, Alexis Ohanian became engaged to tennis player Serena Williams.
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Alexis Ohanian has said that "watching Williams compete has changed how he measures success in business".
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In 2011 and 2012, Alexis Ohanian was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30" list as an important figure in the technology industry.
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In 2015, Alexis Ohanian was named to the Crain's "40 Under 40" list for business.
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In 2016, Alexis Ohanian was named one of Fast Company's "Most Creative People in Business".
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On May 21,2020, Alexis Ohanian delivered the Commencement address for The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2020.
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In December 2022, Alexis Ohanian was named a 2023 Money Changemaker by the Money magazine.
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Alexis Ohanian published a book titled Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed on October 1,2013.
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In connection with the book, Alexis Ohanian embarked on a five-month, 150-stop and 75-university tour to promote the book.
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On October 15,2014, Alexis Ohanian launched the NYRD Radio podcast.
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Alexis Ohanian was featured on a livestream broadcast on January 28,2021 on Twitch.
44.
Alexis Ohanian has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss's book Tools of Titans.