Alexis Ohanian
Biography
Alexis Ohanian is co-founder of Reddit, Initialized Capital, and bestselling author based in San Francisco, CA.After graduating from UVA in 2005, Alexis and his co-founder Steve Huffman started Reddit, which they sold in 2006 to Conde Nast. In 2015, he returned to a full-time capacity with Steve Huffman as the two returned to the helm of a fully independent Reddit, which is now the 4th largest US website, 8th largest in the world. In 2016, he joined Garry Tan in kicking off the third fund for Initialized Capital, an early stage venture capital firm.
For the years before returning to Reddit, 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 (acquired by Concur in 2016) and ran marketing/pr/community before becoming an advisor and joining the fight against SOPA & PIPA. He's invested in and advised over two hundred tech startups and was a parter at Y Combinator; created & hosted a show called Small Empires (2 seasons!) about tech startups & their communities; and in 2013 wrote a national bestselling book, Without Their Permission.
Along the way, Alexis spoke at TED, volunteered in Armenia as a Kiva Fellow, and was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list two years in a row. He also proudly designed the mascots for every company he's started.