He co-founded one of the world’s top 50 websites, saved the freedom of the internet from the clutches of congress, and is the most underrated doodler of our generation. Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and Forbes’ self-proclaimed Mayor of the Internet, lives by a simple mission: to “make the world suck less.”
I recently had the chance to talk to Alexis during the midst of his 77 university book tour for his recent best seller Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed. Why such a massive college town tour? Because his manifesto for startup hopefuls was written with every college student in mind.
The thirty-year-old web entrepreneur’s laundry list of digital triumphs started with his freshman move-in day at the University of Virginia, where he met Reddit’s co-founder to-be Steve Huffman. With an unassuming start and continuous success, Alexis proves that the freedom of the internet provides everyone the power to create something awesome.
So whether you’re a loyal Reddit fiend, scheming entrepreneur or just looking to make a disruption, do yourself a solid and take notes. Alexis knows what’s up.
Reddit is known as “the front page of the internet.” For those unfamiliar with the site, can you explain what that means?
“Reddit is in a class of its own for social media platforms, because it’s where people go to find out news. There’s tens of thousands of active subreddits and communities all using the platform to have discussions about everything from The University of Florida to cats to politics to cars. It’s now at over 100 million unique visitors per month, and because of that size it’s now the place to go to find breaking stories on whatever is interesting in the online world.”
So it’s pretty much everything that matters to the public?
“It’s entirely democratic, so it’s up to users to determine what that is and how they use it. It’s the place where a lot of stuff goes viral.”
Via: Alexis Ohanian
Mark Zuckerberg has said he hopes for Facebook to be “the best personalized newspaper in the world.” Do you think Facebook will eventually rival Reddit’s title?
“All of the studies I’ve seen really put Reddit in a class of its own for social media platforms because it’s where people go to find out news. The nature of Facebook is one where it’s going to be really, really hard to be that, because you’re ultimately going to be seeing stuff that our “friends” are sharing. What makes Reddit unique is that you can be a totally new user, show up, have an interesting story to tell or link to show off and have millions of people see it within hours. People go from obscurity to literally the Today Show within 48 hours. That’s something that only happens when you have a network that’s bigger than just your friends.”
Aside from the Reddit Alien that started it all, do you have a favorite aspect of the site or something you wish you could tweak?
“The biggest thing that I want to tweak is something that I bring up at every board meeting. We need to continue to help people realize, frankly, just how the site works and to make it so that everyone who goes there understands that. If they’re interested in My Little Pony, or they’re interested in the NFL, or they’re interested in cars, there’s communities there that they should be subscribing to just like they would subscribe to individuals on Twitter.”
I honestly started using Reddit only a few months ago, and that’s because I saw on Twitter that one of my favorite artists Diplo was doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything). Who holds a spot in your personal AMA Hall of Fame?
“Well, obviously the President of the United States. That was pretty amazing. He did an AMA from Charlottesville which is coincidentally where Steve and I graduated from college at UVA and where we got our start with Reddit, so it was surreal to see that coming full circle. Jerry Seinfeld just did a great one, as well. There was a retired corporal that just did a fascinating AMA a few weeks ago. It was human, it was personal, it was honest and he answered questions very frankly. Every week there’s something else. Some of the most interesting ones are the ones that aren’t famous people. Like there was a vacuum cleaner repairman, which is kind of a joke from “Breaking Bad” of course, and he answered everyone’s questions about their uh, vacuum cleaner problems.”
It’s safe to say that starting a company is similar to raising a child. You become attached, protective…it’s like your baby. When you left Reddit in 2010 did you experience any separation anxiety?
“I think what helped me a lot was that I volunteered for Kiva, this micro-finance non-profit, while I was in Armenia. It really gave me this new set of challenges, but like I said, I haven’t totally left it because I’m still on the board today. I continue to have a relationship with the team and Reddit, so that’s how I’ve gotten over it. Launching other companies like Breadpig and Hipmunk, they’re all just different adventures. They’re all babies of mine in their own way, but Reddit… I guess I really do have a favorite child. I know parents aren’t supposed to say that but…”
Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. In Without Their Permission you talked a lot about your activism with SOPA and PIPA in 2012. We always need to be ready for another battle, so how can our generation continue to actively protect the freedom of the Internet?
“The best thing we can do is simply be connected citizens. I always tell people to download the Contact Congress app; it’s like a speed dial for your representatives. Get in the habit of calling their offices. Tell them when you like stuff that they’re doing and when you don’t like stuff that they’re doing. That’s why we won SOPA and PIPA. Support organizations like EFF that are on the front lines of protecting the open Internet. We’ll go about our lives and help when we can, but they’re the ones that spend every day trying to be on the offensive, making sure that the Internet stays as open and awesome as possible.”
Via: forbes.com
With traditional college degrees decreasing in weight and student debt continuing to pile on, can you offer some words of advice for those striving to be a disruptor and, as you put it, “to make the world suck less”?
“This is why I’m doing this crazy 77 university tour and yeah, my publisher said I was crazy. I needed to make sure that students know that now is the time to start building, to start doing and to start learning skills by doing things that are going to be valuable for you in this new economy when you graduate. More and more things are available now than ever, and it’s not just writing code and building apps. It’s launching a Kickstarter campaign, it’s building an Etsy store, it’s learning Final Cut. Chances are, if you have a passion for something you’re interested in, you’re going to find world class resources online that are freely available. You’re going to find communities on there or a subreddit that is willing to help you. You’re going to find so much out there and unfortunately have a curriculum that is the 20th century version of things and not the 21st. So much more is coming online and becoming accessible, so take advantage of that, please, and get really good at failing. Sucking is the first step of becoming really good at something. The thing you will learn when you graduate is that failure is an option. You’ve always had to “pass” in school and you have to pass in order to get to the next level, but there is no pass in life. It’s just a bunch of people figuring stuff out. You’re no different than any of them. Get started right now when you have the safety net of college, learning and doing. What’s gonna matter is what you’ve done.”
It’s an unwritten truth that us twenty-somethings take a lot of things for granted, but I had never considered the Internet to be one of them. It’s not too late. There’s no moment like the present to take advantage of its freedom, its equality and its power to change the world for the better. Bring your idea to life and the lives of others by first asking yourself not what you can do on the Internet, but what you can do with the Internet.
Come hangout with Alexis (and myself) at Starter Space on January 17th at 3:30 p.m. If you don’t believe me, he’ll tell you himself…
Photo courtesy of: Fastcompany
