Venture capitalist Alexis Ohanian, whom sports fans might recognize as Mr. Serena Williams, is famous for co-founding the social network Reddit with two college roommates in 2005 and then selling it for $10 million 16 months later. The burgeoning internet entrepreneur knew he had a windfall, and then came his real financial education.
“I was really lucky. I sold Reddit at 23, and we made more money than my folks had made their entire working lives, and I thought, I don’t want to screw this up, which I think was a good first impulse,” Alexis told CNBC Make It in 2021. He got a financial advisor but ended up regretting that decision…
What is Alexis Ohanian's net worth?
Since his days at Reddit, Alexis co-founded the venture capital firm Initialized Capital and became a partner at the startup accelerator Y Combinator. In 2020, he founded the venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, and two years after that, he launched the family foundation 776.org to combat inequity across the world, according to his bio. Celebrity Net Worth estimates his net worth at $150 million.
But Alexis told CNBC Make It that if he could go back and change one financial choice, he wouldn’t rely on a financial advisor. “It is really important to … understand where you’re putting your money, where you’re spending your time, and hiring someone else to just think about all of that is a really good sort of initial kind of crutch,” he said. “[But] you don’t want to stay indebted to someone else’s expertise, and it’s really important to do the financial work yourself.”
Alexis Ohanian
Internet Entrepreneur and Investor
$150 million (reported)
Alexis Ohanian is an internet entrepreneur and investor who founded the technology-based venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, at which he’s a general partner. He previously co-founded Reddit and Initialized Capital and served as partner at Y Combinator.
Date of birth: April 24, 1983
Birthplace: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Parents: Anke and Chris Ohanian
Education: University of Virginia
Marriages: Serena Williams (m. 2017)
Children: Olympia (b. 2017), Adira (b. 2023)
Alexis Ohanian's advice is to understand your finances before jobbing it out.
Alexis did acknowledge that learning money matters might involve starting from square one. “Financial literacy isn’t taught in schools — it should be — and if you don’t come from a family with wealth, they can’t tell you the cheat codes, they don’t have the playbook to give you,” he said.
Then he shared the advice he said he’d give anyone: “Take the time — and there are so many amazing resources online now — to do the work, to understand this stuff yourself before entrusting it to someone else.”
On the topic of Alexis’s words of wisdom, the entrepreneur also recommended putting family and friends first. “I would be remiss in my role as a fun-ancial manager if I also didn’t say … the things that really, really matter most are the time, the quality time, you’re spending with the people you care about.” he said. “Family and friends, that’s where I want to be spending and really investing my dollars and my time as much as possible.”
