Status quo just means that everyone's doing it. It doesn't mean that this was divinely ordained, and of course this is the right decision. Alexis Ohanian More Quotes by Alexis Ohanian More Quotes From Alexis Ohanian It turns out the Internet is this amazing resource for everyone who has access to it. Alexis Ohanian turns resources internet The problem is these politicians have very, very big interests in being re-elected, and the money that gets them there is provided by people who don't necessarily have the interest of the public in mind. Alexis Ohanian problem mind people I can't begrudge anyone who opts to get a job instead of creating one for themselves. Alexis Ohanian creating i-can jobs Net neutrality is one where we the people are definitely on the ropes. Alexis Ohanian rope neutrality people At the end of the day, how many ads did it take to convince you to use Facebook or Twitter? It wasn't marketing or advertising that convinced you to use these services. It was their value. Alexis Ohanian the-end-of-the-day marketing use Having ideas and doing them - that's what entrepreneurship comes down to. That's something that makes you not just a great founder who I want to invest in, but also a great employee or someone I want to work with. Alexis Ohanian entrepreneurship want ideas The Internet is, as a communication platform and a learning platform, unparalleled because whether you want to learn something or share something, it's simply a few clicks away. Alexis Ohanian internet communication want The stage of investing that I do is seed stage, so it's really early. Here's a pair of founders who maybe have a prototype. They have a little bit of traction, maybe one employee, tops. At that stage, you really, really can only evaluate a company based on those founders and what they've been able to build. It's very, very team driven. Alexis Ohanian investing team littles I want to be in an industry where the upstarts can grow and displace the incumbents, because that's why there's so much innovation. Alexis Ohanian upstart innovation want Do not be scared of the incumbents. Alexis Ohanian scared incumbents I think we are a better and a more efficient society when people actually get to do the things that they really are passionate about, and really are amazing at, because it's going to mean better stuff for us, too. Alexis Ohanian mean people thinking Every founder has to delude themselves into thinking, "Yes, it's going to be big. It's going to take over the world." Alexis Ohanian bigs world thinking Let's do 150 stops. Let's go to 75 universities, and let's spread this gospel of Internet entrepreneurship everywhere we go. Alexis Ohanian entrepreneurship spread internet I don't have a crystal ball, but if you can ever put yourself in a situation where you are indispensable - where you aren't part of what looks like a fad, but you actually are a company, a brand that people trust and go to - at this point, you could put some of the mainstays of tech on anything, right? Alexis Ohanian balls people looks You can throw - and we've seen plenty of these kinds of companies - millions of dollars in advertising for a website or a service, and in the end if it's not useful no one's going to use it. Alexis Ohanian dollars kind use Not everyone is going to end up being a founder of a company, but the skill of being entrepreneurial, having ideas and going through with them - that skill is so important. Everyone should be imbued with it. Because once you have that, once your brain has been wired for that, all these problems, obstacles, all these things start looking like things you can hack. Alexis Ohanian skills brain ideas Obviously solving the education problem is big and complex, and there's already so many failings, but coding is the new fluency. This is the most valuable skill of this century. If you want to be a founder of a company, and not even just a tech company, but like a founder of a company, because I'm telling you software is going to play a role. Alexis Ohanian roles skills play Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention spans. They're only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that cat. And that can be a high bar. Alexis Ohanian cat media mean The first version of everything is janky. Alexis Ohanian versions firsts I guess if you include contractors that are six or seven people working on reddit, but when we got acquired there were basically three and then in the years since, we've added three more developer hires full time, and a community manger. But the site is still remarkably small. Alexis Ohanian community people years
