Episode 036 Alexis Ohanian

Summary

• Alexis Ohanian is best known as the cofounder of the social news site Reddit and was part of the first ever Y Combinator class.
• He is now a Y Combinator Partner and was interviewed by Tim Ferriss.
• They discussed how to spot the next big company, favorite books, documentaries, and physical health.
• When asked who he thinks of when he thinks of the word 'successful', he mentioned his parents, Oprah, Jay Z, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet.
• Alexis Ohanian fears his mortality and wants to make the most of his time while he can.
• He has difficulty saying no to requests and has been trying to make his default setting no.
• He advises people to make very specific requests when reaching out to someone who is deluged with requests.
• When saying no to a company, he tries to be upfront and explain why in a few sentences.
• He wishes the company the best and hopes they prove him wrong.
• Alexis Ohanian was invited to a meeting with an executive at Yahoo who told him and Steve that their traffic was so small they were a rounding error compared to Yahoo.
• Alexis put “You are a rounding error” on the wall of the Reddit office as a wall of negative reinforcement.
• Alexis does not want to be the Ivan Drago to startups coming to him and wants to be as helpful as possible when saying no.
• Tim Ferris suggested that if Alexis had to punch someone, he should use elbows.
• Alexis was punched in the face by a homeless man while walking down 16th and Mission.
• Alexis recommends the Stanford class “How to Start a Startup” and gives a shout out to Jessica Livingston, a Y Combinator partner who saved him and Steve.
• Alexis Ohanian wrote a book called "Founders at Work" which is a must read for entrepreneurs
• "Masters of Doom" was a book that inspired Alexis and Steve to start a video game company
• Jack Ma of Alibaba said "In the beginning we had a huge advantage, and that was we had no money, no experience, and no plan"
• Alexis' morning routine includes feeding his cat, making coffee, checking Reddit and Product Hunt, and prioritizing tasks for the day
• Alexis is considering meditation and is looking for advice from Tim Ferris on when to meditate
• Tim Ferris and Alexis Ohanian discuss meditation and productivity.
• Tim Ferris meditates for 520 minutes every morning and recommends Headspace and Calm.com.
• Alexis Ohanian finds his most productive time is in the late afternoon and evening, once the sun sets and distractions are fewer.
• He prefers to have office hours with YC companies in one four or five hour chunk.
• He uses Schedule Once to schedule meetings and asks for notes ahead of time to prepare.
• Alexis Ohanian suggests coming into office hours with a general sense of the company's progress, the big focus for the coming week, and notes from the previous meeting.
• He believes office hours are less about providing answers and more about asking questions and being skeptical.
• He believes successful founders are determined and stubborn, but also adaptive and flexible.
• He believes entrepreneurship is popular because there is no modern curriculum for it and it is still being written.
• He believes having the right questions is more important than having the right answers.
• He suggests challenging founders by asking them where their growth is coming from and if they are really focused on getting users.
• Tim Ferris and Alexis Ohanian discuss the commonalities of successful companies they have invested in or advised.
• They agree that it is important to make money from the first day and to have a clear understanding of the market.
• Ohanian looks for companies that have found something that others have not yet seen and are already generating revenue.
• Ferris believes that good content is the best SEO and has used content to attract specific types of audiences.
• Tim Ferris uses social media to develop his thinking around fringe subject areas.
• Alexis Ohanian suggests asking founders how they are like animals and what they have seen that the world doesn't realize is a big deal.
• He also suggests looking at cohort analysis and organic growth to separate the real deal from the fake.
• Good investors are intellectually curious and want to learn about new stuff and have experience with a variety of industries and people.
• Ask questions to assess the team's ability to bring an idea to fruition in the new world
• Ask for an example of something the team has built into their product or service that they are proud of
• Ask for the best piece of feedback email or tweet from the last couple of weeks
• Challenge listeners to find their notification email and make it as awesome as Derek Sivers' order confirmation email
• Alexis Ohanian challenges tech founders to invest time in making their brand more human, funny, or different.
• Tim Ferris conducted an experiment with almost 6,000 people to abstain from drinking and masturbating.
• Alexis Ohanian and Tim Ferris discuss the fine line between determined and entitled/arrogant.
• Alexis Ohanian believes that tech founders should not act like they have achieved success until they have actually done so.
• Alexis Ohanian believes that tech has been lionized and should live up to its ideals.
• Alexis Ohanian works with nonprofits to help tech live up to its ideals.
• Alexis Ohanian believes that tech can be used to solve amazing problems, but being an "asshole" is not a good way to do it.
• He believes that investors should not be overly concerned with evaluations, but rather with the burn rates and other assets, IP, and revenue.
• He believes that investors should not be seduced by the fundraising process, as it can lead to failure.
• He believes that founders taking money off the table can be a problem, as it can lead to misalignment with the interests of employees and investors.
• Alexis Ohanian and Tim Ferris discuss the implications of founders taking money off the table when raising a Series A round.
• They discuss the importance of considering extenuating circumstances and the need to be founder friendly without sabotaging the company.
• They also discuss the potential of larger companies using acquisition offers as a way to gain insight into the company or to negotiate a better price when the company is running out of funding.
• They emphasize the importance of holding onto equity and not cashing out early in order to maximize value when the company eventually IPOs.
• They end the conversation by discussing their celebrity crushes.
• Alexis Ohanian is a partner at Y Combinator and is launching a podcast called NYRD Radio
• The podcast will feature interviews with people who are using the internet in unconventional ways to create and make stuff
• It will also feature a segment called Office Hours, which will be Skype chats with people from all over the internet who want feedback on their projects
• The deadline to apply to Y Combinator is October 13th
• People can learn more about net neutrality and take action by visiting EFF.org and fightforthefuture.org
• Alexis Ohanian is a guest on the podcast and is of Armenian descent.
• Tim Ferris suggests that Alexis should take up boxing to represent his Armenian heritage.
• Tim Ferris also suggests that Alexis should visit a Muay Thai and Brazilian Ju Jistu school in New York City.
• Tim Ferris mentions that the school is coowned by Josh Waitzkin, who was the basis for the movie Searching for Bobby Fisher.
• Alexis jokes that he could tell his grandkids that Bobby Fisher kicked his ass.
• Tim Ferris will provide links to the school in the show notes.