Serena Williams Star Husband Alexis Ohanian Has Armenian Roots, Who Are His Parents?

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Ohanian said that when he was in middle school and got a 33.6k dialup modem, he became interested in technology. He used message boards to learn how to code and put together websites. Eventually, he began creating free websites for nonprofits by “tricking” them. He hid the fact that he was a teenager working out of his parents’ basement behind his email.

Ohanian earned degrees in business and history from the University of Virginia in 2005. He and his friend Steve Huffman went to Y Combinator with the idea for MyMobileMenu. The company didn’t like the idea, but they told the two to come up with something else that the company might be interested in. Later, they created reddit.com with the idea that it would be the “front page of the Internet. ”

Ohanian did well in school at the University of Virginia. She was accepted into The National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) and became a very involved member of her chapter.

Reddit was part of the Y-first Combinator group of start-ups in the summer of 2005. In 2006, Condé Nast bought Reddit for between $10 million and $20 million in an undisclosed amount. As a member of Reddit’s board of directors, Ohanian continues to work on the site. In July 2015, Ohanian and co-founder Huffman returned to Reddit full-time to run the company, which now stands alone. In February 2018, he left the company to return to focus on investing.

Ohanian started Breadpig in 2007 as an “uncorporation” that makes geeky stuff and gives money to charity. He no longer has anything to do with how Breadpig operates on a day-to-day basis.

Ohanian spoke about a whale named Mister Splashy Pants at TED in 2009. Ohanian worked in microfinance for three months as a Kiva fellow in Yerevan, Armenia, after he left Reddit in 2010. Ohanian helped to start the travel search site Hipmunk in 2010, and he still works there as a consultant. Ohanian announced in June 2010 that his company, Das Kapital Capital, would begin investing in, advising, and consulting for new businesses.

Early-stage venture firm Y Combinator gave Ohanian the title of “Ambassador to the East.” In this role, she meets with applicants from the East Coast, assists New York YC founders, and serves as the company’s general representative. He was also a part-time and full-time partner at Y Combinator until he left in 2016 to help Garry Tan start the third Initialized Capital fund.

Ohanian left the Reddit board on June 5, 2020, and asked to be replaced by a black person due to the death of George Floyd. Michael Seibel, an African-American entrepreneur, was named a Reddit board member on June 10, 2020.

On July 21, 2020, it was announced that Ohanian was the lead investor in a group of mostly women that was given a new team in the National Women’s Soccer League. It is the highest level of women’s soccer in the US. In 2022, the new team began playing, whose name was later revealed as Angel City FC. The ownership group is mostly made up of women, with 14 former members of the US women’s national team, Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, and many other famous actors, entertainers, media figures, and athletes, including Ohanian’s wife Serena Williams.

Ohanian left his job as Managing Partner at Initialized in June 2020.

Ohanian announced in June 2021 that he would be running a new venture capital firm called “776.”

Investing in tech at the beginning

Ohanian founded Initialized Capital in 2010, and he put money into startups like Instacart, Zenefits, Opendoor, and Cruise as first steps. It manages three funds totaling more than $500 million. In 2014, CB Insights looked at all tech investors and placed Ohanian at the top for network centrality. It is how many connections an investor has with other investors in the ecosystem and how good and deep those connections are.

Ohanian put $3 million into child care start-up Kinside in 2019 through Initialized Capital. Ohanian also put $4 million into David’s Disposable in 2020.

In April 2021, Ohanian put $10 million into social startup pearpop as part of a Series A round. Other investors, such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Sound Ventures, Slow Ventures, and several celebrities, also put in $6 million.

Internet activism is open

Ohanian spoke out against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act in late 2010 and early 2011. He helped run the Internet-based campaign that helped overturn both bills. Ohanian spoke to members of Congress, helped start nationwide protests against SOPA/PIPA on January 18, 2012, and spoke at a rally in New York put together by the NY Tech Meetup.

Ohanian and Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit, embarked on the Internet 2012 Bus Tour from Denver, Colorado, to Danville, Kentucky, during the presidential and vice presidential debates in October 2012. One of the campaign stops resulted in idea that Washington , DC, could have a “National Geek Day.”

Because of his work for an open Internet, The Daily Dot placed Ohanian at the top of their list of the 10 most influential activists in 2012 and Forbes Magazine called him the “Mayor of the Internet.”

Ohanian began trying to get the FCC to support net neutrality in May 2014. On January 15, 2015, he held a one-day phone-a-thon with the FCC and Congress.