Speaker Profile

Alexis Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, NY and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, MD. He wrote the national bestselling book, Without Their Permission, and has been a vocal advocate for the open internet, STEM education and paid family leave. Out of college, Ohanian co-founded Reddit, one of the largest websites in the US, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2005 and sold to Conde Nast in 2006.  He returned as executive chairman in 2014 to help lead the turnaround of the now independent company that today is worth over $10B. In 2016, he left Reddit to run the venture capital firm he co-founded, Initialized Capital, and built it to $100B in market value through early investments in companies like Coinbase, Opendoor, Instacart, Patreon, and Ro. In 2020 he resigned from the Reddit board in protest and left his role at Initialized Capital to launch Seven Seven Six, a new software-enabled venture firm focused on people, culture, and community. Seven Seven Six’s mission is to attract the best founders and generate the greatest returns—and to do it with intention.

As an advocate for paid family leave, Ohanian has lobbied on Capitol Hill, penned a New York Times opinion piece, and launched the Business Dad podcast where he interviews other fathers about what it means to be a dad in today’s world and how they balance their careers and families. He is also the lead founding investor in the LA-based professional women's soccer team, Angel City Football Club. Ohanian has a BA in History and a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia.