Alexis Ohanian cofounded Reddit intending to make it “the front page of the internet.” He succeeded and was dubbed the “Mayor of the Internet” for his subsequent tech-industry advocacy. The husband of retired tennis star Serena Williams, Ohanian has also lent his resources and public profile to causes ranging from paternity leave to climate change.
Early Life
Alexis Ohanian was born on April 24, 1983, in Brooklyn, New York. The son of a German mother and an Armenian father, he was raised in the suburbs outside of Baltimore and attended high school in Endicott, Maryland. He describes his high-school years as a time when he was focused less on his studies and more on hanging out on the internet.
After finishing high school, Ohanian attended the University of Virginia (UVA). On his first day there, he met Steve Huffman, and the two bonded over a shared interest in video games.
Ohanian had plans to become a lawyer and was ready to take a practice LSAT during his junior year. He had second thoughts, however, and, after walking out of the exam room, decided what he really wanted to be was an entrepreneur.
Starting Reddit
Ohanian soon got to work on this goal, joining Huffman to establish MyMobileMenu, a food-ordering startup. The pair later pitched their concept to Paul Graham, the cofounder of the startup accelerator Y Combinator. Graham rejected the idea but sparked another when he told the pair that they should instead create “the front page of the internet.”
Drawing on this inspiration, Ohanian and Huffman built the skeleton of Reddit over three weeks in 2005. The online bulletin board would stand out for being user-curated; registered members could create their own communities (called “subreddits”) where they could post content and vote submissions up or down, thus determining the popularity and visibility of posts.
Putting control into the hands of members was intentional; Ohanian has said that he and Huffman realized users “were our business.” The approach proved successful, and Reddit exploded in popularity. Only 16 months after its launch—and after Ohanian had graduated from UVA—magazine publisher Condé Nast paid between $10 million and $20 million to acquire the site.
Post-Reddit Activities
Ohanian remained with Reddit for three years following its 2006 sale but stepped away in 2009 to volunteer in Armenia with the nonprofit Kiva Microfunds. It was his first time in the country that his paternal grandparents had fled during the Armenian genocide.
When he returned to the United States, Ohanian turned his attention to other ventures. In 2010, Huffman approached Ohanian about helping to start a travel website. Ohanian was skeptical at first but eventually joined the leadership team of the travel site Hipmunk. The platform attracted attention from the likes of CNN and would remain in business for a decade, closing only after the pandemic struck in 2020.
The 2010s also saw Ohanian become a startup investor. He launched Das Kapital Capital in 2010 and cofounded Initialized Capital in 2011, remaining with the latter until 2020. He also took on a new type of role in 2010 when he advocated against a pair of federal bills.
Believing the proposed laws, the Stop Online Privacy Act and the Protect IP Act, would devastate the tech industry, Ohanian spoke out against them. In part thanks to his urging, Reddit blacked out its site in protest. Other major websites followed suit, and after legislators were inundated with complaints from their constituents, the bills never came up for votes.
His successful advocacy resulted in Forbes nicknaming him the “Mayor of the Internet.” The publication also included Ohanian on its 30 Under 30 list, while Wired named him a “Champion of Innovation.”
Return to Reddit
Condé Nast ceased to own Reddit in 2011, and during the website’s time as an independent company, it faced difficulties. Unchecked racism and sexism became ubiquitous on the platform, and multiple CEOs came and went.
Ohanian and Huffman returned in 2015 to help guide the company back to success. Today, Huffman still serves as CEO of the platform, which in 2021 was valued at $10 billion. As for Ohanian, he would remain on the board of directors until 2020, when he stepped down following the killing of George Floyd.
Activism and Recent Ventures
Ohanian urged Reddit’s board to replace him with a Black board member. The members obliged, naming Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel to take his former seat.
Ohanian, who is married to retired tennis star Serena Williams, says this decision was spurred by his desire to be accountable to his Black daughter. The birth of his daughter also sparked Ohanian’s advocacy for paternity leave, which he wrote about in a 2019 op-ed published in The New York Times.
Ohanian’s other areas of activism include climate change. Through the 776 Foundation, which he founded and leads as president, he funds fellowship opportunities for young entrepreneurs who are passionate about saving the planet.
Ohanian has also branched out into the world of sports. He and his wife—along with his wife’s sister, tennis great Venus Williams—own the professional soccer team Angel City FC. In June 2023, Ohanian and Serena Williams added to their holdings when they bought a Los Angeles-based team in the recently established professional golf league TGL.