Introduction
Alexis Ohanian is an American internet entrepreneur, author, and activist best known for co-founding Reddit. Besides founding Reddit, he also co-founded Breadpig, and a travel search engine Hipmunk, in 2007 and 2010, respectively. Most recently, he co-founded Initialized Capital, a venture capital firm, with Garry Tan.
Early life and education
Ohanian was born on April 24, 1983, in Brooklyn, New York. He is of Armenian and German ancestry - Armenian from the father, Chris, and German from the mother, Anke.
He graduated in 2001 from Howard High School in Columbia, Maryland, where he gave the student address for his graduating class.
He then received degrees in commerce and history from the University of Virginia, in 2005.
Career
After graduating, Ohanian teamed up with his Virginia classmate Steve Huffman, to start a technology business. They took their first idea, MyMobileMenu, a mobile food ordering app, to Y Combinator. The idea was rejected by Paul Graham. Although Graham didn't like the idea, he liked Ohanian and Huffman. Graham said to them, "You guys need to build the front page of the Internet." This was the beginning of Reddit.
Ohanian and Huffman built Reddit in three weeks. After just 16 months, in 2006, Reddit was acquired by Conde Nast, for somewhere between $10 million and $20 million. Ohanian continued to be associated with Reddit as a member of its Board of Directors and left it in 2010.
In 2007, Ohanian launched, Breadpig, a startup that produces geeky merchandise and gives the proceeds to charities, like Khan Academy or Donors Choose.
In 2010, he founded Hipmunk, a website that finds best prices on flights, hotels, and car rentals.
That same year, in June, he launched Initialized Capital, an investment firm that focuses on startup investing, advising and consulting. The company has made investments in startups like Instacart, Zenefits, and Cruise.
SOPA and Open internet activism
In late 2010 and early 2011, Ohanian spoke out against Congress's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act. He launched the national anti-SOPA/PIPA protests that took place on January 18, 2012. Through his efforts and the grassroots campaign he led, the two bills were overturned.
For his work, in June 2012, Forbes called Ohanian "Mayor of the Internet." In December 2012, The Daily Dot named him number one in their top ten most influential activists of 2012.
Books
On October 1, 2013, Ohanian published a book titled Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed on.
The book ranked 4th on the Wall Street Journal's best-sellers list for Hardcover Business.
Personal life
Ohanian engaged to tennis champion Serena Williams in 2016. They had been dating since the fall of 2015. Williams first announced the news herself in a Reddit post on its "r/isaidyes" forum.