Alexis Ohanian keynote speaker

Tech founder and venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian embraces disruption, beginning with his Waffle House epiphany that becoming an attorney was not his destiny to co-founding Reddit in his UVA dorm and launching the venture upon graduation. Ultimately selling the iconic company for millions, Ohanian’s entrepreneurial journey is a business school case study and playbook for founders.

Ohanian is a vocal advocate for the open internet, STEM education, and paid family leave. He has lobbied on Capitol Hill and penned a New York Times op-ed, “Paternity Leave Was Crucial After The Birth of My Child, and Every Father Deserves It.” Ohanian also launched the Business Dad podcast, where he interviews fellow fathers about what it means to be a dad in today’s world and how they balance their careers and families.

If you expect Ohanian’s speeches to offer the formula for uncontested success, you would be surprised. Driven by curiosity and questions (not a well-designed strategy), Ohanian lessons are transparent admissions of beta failures. His stories – punctuated with humility and humor – share the discoveries that shaped his worldview and an unrelenting commitment to make the world a better place – without permission.Alexis Ohanian was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, M.D. 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 U.S., 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 valued at 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, Ohanian resigned from the Reddit board in protest and left his role at Initialized Capital to launch Seven Seven Six, a new firm built like a technology company that deploys venture capital. Since launch, Seven Seven Six has quickly grown its total assets under management to over $769M and has been at the forefront of emerging technologies and trends, leading competitive investments in companies across sectors including software, crypto, healthtech, food tech, climate tech, and space tech.

In 2022, Ohanian launched the Seven Seven Six Foundation to support marginalized individuals and announced a $20M commitment to climate action through his new Seven Seven Six Fellowship Program. The Seven Seven Six Fellowship Program is a two-year program for motivated young people who want to build a better future—now. To kickstart their world-changing idea, each Fellow will receive a $100,000 grant and support from the Seven Seven Six Foundation’s network of founders, investors, and partners. The inaugural cohort will consist of 20 Fellows.

Ohanian is also the lead founding investor in the LA-based professional women’s soccer team, Angel City Football Club. Ohanian has a B.A. in History and a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia.