In 2005, UVA undergrad Alexis Ohanian envisioned a place online where users connect over subcultures—enter Reddit. That was only the start: From growing billion-dollar companies to championing female founders, Ohanian shaped culture. Now he wants to lead tomorrow’s innovators. Learn how to turn an idea into a startup with advice Alexis has shared with other entrepreneurs through his VC fund, Seven Seven Six.

Syllabus

Meet Your Instructor

It’s never too late to pivot. When Alexis Ohanian left Reddit in 2020, he wanted to work with companies that were more aligned with his personal values. Now he’s sharing strategies to carve your own path and build a successful startup.

Opportunity and Commitment

Alexis has a unique perspective as both an entrepreneur and a founder. He talks about his process for identifying business ideas, nailing execution, and streamlining workflow. The only thing you need? The confidence to try.

Knocking 'Entrepreneur' Off its Pedestal

The word “entrepreneur” gets a lot of flack. Alexis explains that being an entrepreneur is a mindset as much as a practice. In this lesson, he shares the perspective needed to devise new ideas, scale your business—and change the world.

Finding A Problem to Solve

Fundamentally, a good founder solves everyday problems. The challenge isn’t coming up with a million-dollar idea. It’s executing it. Alexis recommends carrying a notebook (a hard copy or digital app) to capture your ideas at a moment’s notice.

Online is Real, Real is Online

Online communities are as real as offline ones. Alexis introduces you to the new wave of online art and the value of NFTs with an anecdote about the theft of the Mona Lisa a century ago.

Nailing Execution

Great ideas are worthless without execution. Alexis instructs you on how to test your idea in the simplest way possible before launching. Excessive delays or over-perfecting may indicate problems with your idea.

Finding Funding

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Alexis describes the essential every entrepreneur needs to master: how to pitch your ideas to investors, including selling yourself (in addition to your concept). Find out why simpler pitches are often more appealing.

Hiring the Perfect Fit

Alexis explains why surrounding yourself with reliable people is more important to your business than having perfect ideas. Learn how to hire wisely, fire quickly, and invest in people who give a damn.

Failing and Pivoting

Learn from Alexis how to ignore your omnipresent distraction: competitors. Avoid obsessing over the competition and focus on your goal. Rather than replicating and reacting, be an innovator who moves forward instead.

Countering Competition

Whether they’ve grown dramatically or hit a subtle plateau, most new companies look different a year after launch. Alexis shares insights from advising hundreds of successful startups about evaluating progress and identifying the right moment for change.

Listening to your Core People

Few entrepreneurs achieve success by themselves. Alexis instructs you to seek feedback from the people around you—beginning with family, from whom you can draw inspiration, support, and a reliable sounding board.

Networking and the Media

Alexis helps you understand media coverage, recommending that you read your press, good or bad—and then discard it. Ultimately, you should be focused on the future of your business, rather than what someone said about it yesterday.

Connecting With The Customer

Learn how to align your business with customers’ values. Alexis describes why caring about details and the way you communicate to your customers matters.

Protecting Your Biggest Asset

Nothing will work unless you do. Alexis explains the importance of creating a healthy work-life balance and saving some of yourself…for you.

Making the World Suck Less

Alexis teaches how to use the internet for more than personal gain: Beyond business, it can be leveraged for philanthropy, campaigning, and activism. You don't need to ask permission to make the world a better place.

Speaking Up and Standing Up

Sometimes it just feels right to do something dramatic. Alexis shares the message he hoped to send when he resigned from Reddit. He talks about his new VC firm, Seven Seven Six, whose purpose is to support founders who are changing the world.