Alexis Ohanian’s Career in Startups and Venture Capital

Alexis Ohanian Sr. is a longtime entrepreneur and startup enthusiast. As the cofounder of Reddit, he partnered with Y Combinator and Condé Nast to make the forum site what it is today. He also founded and served as a managing partner for Initialized Capital before moving on to start another venture capital firm called Seven Seven Six.

Alexis Ohanian has lived an impactful life as a startup entrepreneur. Here are five facts worth knowing about him:

• He’s an activist. Alexis has always been a dedicated social justice activist. During his tenure at Reddit, he helped spearhead multiple campaigns to make the site a more inclusive platform. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, he stepped down from the company’s board to make way for a Black person to take his place.
• He’s a paternity leave advocate. After Alexis and his wife, Serena Williams, welcomed daughter Olympia Ohanian (Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.), Alexis became a bold advocate for paid family leave. He believes it’s essential for parents to spend as much time with their children as possible.
• He’s a podcaster. In addition to building startups and running venture firms, Alexis has also made a major dent on the world of podcasting. Since the 2010s, he’s hosted multiple different series, including Small Empires, Business Dad, and Upvoted.
• He’s a seed investor. Alongside his own business ventures, Alexis has granted seed money to now landmark startups like Cruise, Instacart, and Opendoor. He’s since started dabbling with investments outside the tech world, too. For instance, he and other investors are co-owners of the Angel City Football Club soccer team.
• He’s a second-generation immigrant. In the wake of the Armenian genocide, Alexis’s grandparents migrated to the United States. His father remained undocumented for a portion of Alexis’s life as well. His heritage fuels him in his quest to create a more just, inclusive, and equitable world.

Entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian has spent decades founding startups and building long-lasting tech companies. Here are five concepts you can expect him to discuss in his class:

1. 1. Becoming an entrepreneur: Alexis believes there are key signs a person should become an entrepreneur. “If you really are lying awake at night thinking about this,” he says, “if it really is the first thing you wake up to in the morning, you probably are the kind of person who should be doing this.”
2. 2. Developing a solutions mindset: You need to have a knack for problem-solving and an insatiable sense of optimism to succeed in the startup world. “You have to have a solution mindset,” Alexis says. “You have to have this idea that, ‘OK, I see a problem and I have an idea for what could be a solution, and I'm going to try it.’”
3. 3. Discovering opportunities: You just need to know where to look to find your next great startup idea. “See how many ideas you can come up with—online and offline—based on what people are complaining about, hopeful for, curious about,” Alexis says. “Test your idea one way or another to see if there's demand or there's interest.”
4. 4. Finding purpose: Starting up innovative companies can be stressful and even scary. You need some core sense of purpose to get you through the more trying times. “You should, as a visionary leader, have some North Star for where you believe the business will go,” Alexis says. “That's going to rely a lot on your instincts and a lot on the time that you spend thinking about it.”
5. 5. Following through on your ideas: Alexis believes coming up with ideas is just the beginning—you need to follow through on them to gain traction. “Execution is everything,” he says. “That's not just doing the work—it's doing the right work.” Learn how he executes on his own startup ideas in his course.

For additional perspectives on entrepreneurship, check out:

1. 1. Bob Iger on business strategy and leadership: Bob Iger’s tenure as the CEO of the Walt Disney Company saw some of the entertainment company’s biggest acquisitions and successes. Watch Bob’s class to learn how he fuses curiosity, creativity, and candor to grow a business.
2. 2. Howard Shultz on business leadership: Howard Schultz didn’t have an MBA or an Ivy League degree, but he had a dream of building an enduring company. In Howard’s class, the Starbucks CEO shares lessons from nearly forty years of leading one of the world’s top brands, including how to face self-doubt when starting your journey as an entrepreneur.
3. 3. Sara Blakely on self-made entrepreneurship: Sara Blakely had no fashion, retail, or business leadership experience when she invented Spanx, her successful brand of women’s undergarments, in the 1990s. All she had was $5,000 and an idea. Watch Sara’s class to learn more about her entrepreneurial journey, as well as her tips for marketing a product and hiring a team.

To build a successful startup, you must first find a problem to solve and learn how to counter the competition. Sign up for a MasterClass Annual Membership to discover Alexis Ohanian’s approach to thinking creatively, being resourceful, finding funding, and nailing your execution.