A student project turns into a billion-dollar company. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, turned an early exit into the start of an extraordinary career.
• From Reddit founder to investor
• Success strategies and wealth creation
• Influence beyond the tech world
Entrepreneurial beginning
Alex Ohanian co-founded the social news aggregator Reddit in 2005 with Steve Huffman. The University of Virginia graduates’ goal was to create the “front page of the Internet,” according to the online magazine Fortune. Back in 2006, Reddit was sold to Condé Nast Publications for around $10 million.
In 2009, both Huffman and Ohanian left the company after their three-year contracts expired. Although he returned to a leadership role in November 2014, he ultimately resigned in 2020 in protest at Reddit’s content moderation policies and called for a Black board director to be appointed in his place.
Transition to investor
After the Reddit exit, Ohanian changed his role from founder to investor. Among other things, he founded the venture capital company Initialized Capital and later Seven Seven Six. Investments in innovative tech startups opened up new sources of income alongside his founding history. Among its largest investments are startups such as US grocery delivery company Instacart, which is one of the largest in the world and has partnerships with industry giants such as Walmart and Costco. But the crypto platform Coinbase is also one of them.
Building wealth through participation and timing
From today’s perspective, the early sale of Reddit may seem like a missed billion-dollar deal, because the platform continued to grow significantly. Ohanian himself told Wired that he was naive: “If anything, I was very naive,” said Ohanian. “You have to remember that $10 million of value was created in 16 months. When we got the offer, I thought: It hasn’t even been a year yet. That’s more money than my parents will make in their entire working lives.” But he used the capital wisely: he invested in technologies and business ideas with growth potential, expanded his network and diversified his income.
Branding and influence
Ohanian is not only an entrepreneur, but also a brand: He publicly advocated for issues such as paid parental leave and made a name for himself in the tech scene as well as in the sports and media environment. His marriage to former American tennis player Serena Williams increased his visibility in wider circles.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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