Alexis Ohanian

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Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanian 1-17-2012.jpg
Ohanian protesting SOPA and PIPA, 2012
Born (1983-04-24) April 24, 1983 (age 31)
New York City, New York, USA
Residence New York City, New York[1]
Nationality American
Education University of Virginia
Known for entrepreneurship, startups, social marketing
Notable work(s) Reddit
Website
Alexisohanian.com

Alexis Ohanian (born April 24, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur, activist and investor based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, best known for co-founding the social news website reddit, helping launch travel search website Hipmunk, and starting social enterprise Breadpig. He is a partner at Y Combinator.

Career[edit]

Alexis Ohanian was born to an Armenian-American father and a German-born mother.[2] After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005, Alexis Ohanian started reddit.com, with co-founder Steve Huffman. Reddit initially received funding from Y Combinator and was later acquired by Condé Nast Publications in 2006. Ohanian continues to work closely with reddit as a member of its Board of Directors.[3][4][5]

In 2007, Ohanian launched breadpig, an "uncorporation" that produces geeky merchandise and gives the proceeds to charity. He continues to run breadpig today as its Founder and Chief Swine Defender.[6]

After leaving reddit in 2009, Ohanian spent 3 months working in microfinance as a Kiva fellow in Yerevan, Armenia.

In 2009, Ohanian spoke at TED about a whale named Mister Splashy Pants.[7]

Ohanian helped launch travel search website hipmunk in 2010, and now acts as an advisor.[8]

In June 2010, Ohanian announced the launch of his company Das Kapital Capital, which focuses on startup investing, advising and consulting.

Ohanian was named the "Ambassador to the East" for early stage venture firm Y Combinator. In this position, he meets with East Coast applicants, mentors New York YC founders, and is a general representative for the company.[9]

Open internet activism[edit]

In late 2010 and early 2011, Ohanian spoke out against Congress's Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's Protect IP Act. He helped lead the Internet-enabled grassroots campaign that eventually overturned the two bills. Ohanian spoke to members of Congress, helped launch the national anti-SOPA/PIPA protests that took place on January 18, 2012, and spoke at the rally in New York that was organized by NY Tech Meetup.[10]

In October 2012, Ohanian teamed up with reddit General Manager Erik Martin and embarked on the Internet 2012 Bus Tour from Denver, CO to Danville, KY to campaign for the open Internet during the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. One of the campaign stops spurred the idea for a possible "National Geek Day." in Washington DC.[11][12]

In response to his work advocating for the Open Internet, The Daily Dot named Ohanian number one in their top ten most influential activists of 2012, and Forbes dubbed him "Mayor of the Internet."[13][14]

Crowdfunding Campaigns[edit]

On December 10, 2012, Alexis Ohanian teamed up with Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers to launch a Kickstarter project, with the intent to make a new album titled "Lester's Time Has Come." According to Fast Company, Ohanian aimed "to prove that there are new, sustainable funding opportunities for artists now thanks to platforms like Kickstarter."[15]

Two years later, Ohanian raised $12,244 for the non-profit Black Girls Code on Tilt.com.[16] In May 2014, Ohanian used Tilt.com again to launch "Save Net Neutrality: Billboard in FCC's Backyard," a crowdfunding campaign to protest the FCC's plans to eliminate the idea of net neutrality.[17]

Awards and honors[edit]

  • In 2010 and 2012, Ohanian was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30".[18]
  • In 2013, Ohanian was featured as a tech "Titan" in WIRED Magazine’s 20th Anniversary issue.[19]

Published works[edit]

Ohanian has published a book titled Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed, released October 1, 2013.[20][21] Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed ranked 4th on the Wall Street Journal's best sellers list for Hardcover Business.[22] In connection with the book, he embarked on a 5 month, 150 stop and 75 university book tour that aims to spread the startup entrepreneurial spirit, and give students the event he always wished he had as an undergrad.[23][24]

Small Empires[edit]

In the summer of 2013 Small Empires with Alexis Ohanian[25] premiered on The Verge. The first season had nine episodes. The second season premiered in October 2014.

Speaking Engagements and Press[edit]

Alexis has spoken at over 80 universities, lectured at conferences like TED (a talk viewed over a million times), the Clinton Global Initiative, SXSW, and ROFLCON. He’s spoken to a range of companies, including Google, BBDO, Burson­Marsteller, Johnson & Johnson, Hyatt, Kraft, and Palantir. He even keynoted an entrepreneurship summit in Cairo organized by the U.S. State Department just months after the Egyptian Revolution.

Ohanian has been appeared on numerous major television networks, including NBC, ABC,[26] CBS,[27] CNBC,[28] CNN,[29] MSNBC,[30] Bloomberg. Most notably he’s been interviewed on The Colbert Report,[31] Charlie Rose,[32] and Meet The Press.[33] He has also been featured and quoted in notable magazines and newspapers including New York Times,[34] WSJ,[35] LATimes,[36] TIME,[37] Washington Post,[38] NY Post,[39] and The Atlantic.[40]

Stratfor Controversy[edit]

Following a series of emails leaked from stratfor employees, it was revealed via wikileaks that Ohanian offered consulting services for the company.[41] The contents included : - Audit of the Economist in social media & online

- This includes twitter, facebook, youtube, blogs, forums, social news, podcasts, etc. - Audit of Stratfor in social media & online - Audit of another competitor (if you so desire) in social media & online - Three potential campaigns for going forward based on our analysis - Five recommendations concerning your existing profiles (e.g., top 5 ways to improve how you're using twitter right now)

Ohanian defended his actions in a statement reading "“Let me say this unequivocally: I have never consulted for Stratfor,” he wrote. “I have never worked for Stratfor -- they invited me to their office during South by Southwest, I got a tour and they asked me for a quote to consult, so I gave it to them, but it went nowhere. We hadn't talked since.” [42]


References[edit]

  1. ^ "Alexis Ohanian". Crunchbase.com. CrunchBase. Retrieved 22 May 2012. 
  2. ^ Kompanek, Christopher (20 September 2013). "Alexis Ohanian on founding Reddit and future start-ups". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 October 2013. "His mother was born in Hamburg and his paternal grandparents were Armenian immigrants." 
  3. ^ businessinsider.com 2010-08
  4. ^ businessweek.com Sept 2007
  5. ^ blog.reddit.com 2011/09
  6. ^ http://breadpig.com/about/
  7. ^ Mister Splashy Pants
  8. ^ hipmunk.com
  9. ^ techcrunch.com 2010/09
  10. ^ video
  11. ^ forbes.com
  12. ^ buzzfeed.com
  13. ^ Collier, Kevin. "The top 10 most influential Internet rights activists in 2012". Society. The Daily Dot. Retrieved 3 January 2013. 
  14. ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/06/05/how-reddits-alexis-ohanian-became-the-mayor-of-the-internet/
  15. ^ Austin Carr, Reddit Cofounder Alexis Ohanian Taps Kickstarter And The Chambers Brothers To Prove Music Industry Wrong fastcompany.com
  16. ^ "Black Girls Code]". Tilt.com. Tilt.com. Retrieved 25 August 2014. 
  17. ^ "Save Net Neutrality: Billboard in FCC's Backyard". Tilt.com. Retrieved 22 August 2014. 
  18. ^ 30 Under 30 forbes.com
  19. ^ wired.com 2013/04
  20. ^ forbes.com
  21. ^ Without Their Permission
  22. ^ http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303382004579125242023280518?mg=reno64-wsj
  23. ^ http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates
  24. ^ http://blog.reddit.com/2013/09/im-putting-reddit-alien-on-bus-and.html
  25. ^ http://www.theverge.com/video/small-empires
  26. ^ http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video/week-internet-privacy-23769184
  27. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/reddit-co-founder-talks-boston-bombing-apology-appeal-of-social-media-site/
  28. ^ http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000278981&play=1
  29. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/business/2014/04/30/wbt-net-neutrality-alexis-ohanian-intv.cnn&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fedition_business+%28RSS%3A+Business%29
  30. ^ http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe
  31. ^ http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/430524/november-14-2013/alexis-ohanian
  32. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/video/-without-their-permission-charlie-rose-01-08-bjrx6l1bROGVbIYHxyj0Og.html
  33. ^ http://www.nbcnews.com/video/meet-the-press/54869165#54869165
  34. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/fashion/The-Founder-of-Reddit-Alexis-Ohanian-is-The-Internets-Own-Cheerleader.html?_r=0
  35. ^ http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304893404579531910717735116?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304893404579531910717735116.html
  36. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYACkNjyHA4
  37. ^ http://techland.time.com/2013/10/01/reddit-founder-alexis-ohanian-wants-to-make-the-world-suck-less/?utm_content=bufferb7631&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
  38. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/alexis-ohanian-reddit-co-founder-and-web-advocate/2012/09/05/f642f1b6-eb9f-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_story.html
  39. ^ http://nypost.com/2011/04/17/reddit-co-founder-sees-tech-stampede/
  40. ^ http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/false-equivalence-on-surveillance-from-alan-dershowitz/361694/
  41. ^ http://rt.com/usa/stratfor-reddit-ohanian-intelligence-work-029/
  42. ^ http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1l4aiq/reddit_is_censoring_the_recent_wikileaks_leak/

External links[edit]

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