"It wasn't easy" - Serena Williams' husband makes his feelings known on leaving Reddit and starting 776 Foundation to prove his worth

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian recently opened up about his decision to resign from Reddit and start his own venture capital firm known as the Seven Seven Six (776) Foundation. Ohanian, along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz, co-founded Reddit back in 2005.

Ohanian remained with the social media network company until 2010, at which point he decided to pursue non-profit projects. He was later brought back to Reddit in 2014, this time as an executive chairman.

In 2020, amid nationwide protests against police brutality following the tragic death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man at the hands of Minneapolis police, Ohanian made the decision to step down from Reddit. He also urged the board to appoint a Black director in his place. Subsequently, he established his own venture capital firm, 776.

Recently, Ohanian took to social media and expressed that leaving Reddit in 2020 after investing so much of his life into the platform, "wasn't easy" but ultimately the right decision.

He explained that aside from his resignation being a sign of protest, another motivation for his departure was to challenge himself to create another successful venture.

“Been a busy four years since I resigned in protest from the @Reddit board. It wasn't easy leaving something I'd put so much of my life into. But it was the right thing. Same with splitting @initialized in half," Ohanian captioned his Instagram post.

The 41-year-old pointed out that since leaving Reddit, he has launched multiple companies and invested in women's sports ventures such as Angel City F.C., a professional women's soccer team in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), and Athlos, a female-only track and field competition series, all of which have achieved notable success.

“TBH, I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do it again... and again... And... Launched a few companies since then @weareangelcity @offseasonfc @athlos made a little bit of noise - but more to do. Thanks for supporting me on my @776fund & @776foundation journey. We're always on the starting line," he added.

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When Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian revealed the reason for naming his venture capital firm Seven Seven Six (776)

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian speaking at an event [Source: Getty]

Earlier this year, Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian shared the story behind naming his venture capital firm Seven Seven Six (776). Ohanian said the he originally wanted to name the firm after their eldest daughter, Olympia.

“People want to know what 776 stand for? Well I was originally naming the firm after Olympia, our first born daughter, because she was a part of the inspiration for me to resign and start Seven Seven Six,” Ohanian said.

However, Williams pointed out that naming the firm after their daughter might cause jealousy if they had more children in the future. Therefore, Ohanian decided on 776, a reference to 776 B.C.E., the year when the first Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece.

“I didn’t name it Olympia Capital because my wife [Serena Williams] wisely pointed out that if we’d had another kid, spoiler we do have another kid, they would be jealous. Instead, thinking back to my ancient Greek history classes, 776 BCE was the year of the first ancient Olympic Games. The domain was available and I just went with 776,” he added.

Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian first met in May 2015 and got engaged in 2016. Their first daughter, Olympia Ohanian, was born on September 1, 2017. The couple then got married two months later on November 16. Their youngest daughter, Adira River Ohanian, was born in August 2023.