Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian reveals one thing that 'beats talent' as the key to breaking out as a startup founder

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian is a proven entrepreneur and investor. He recently shared some integral keys to breaking out of the early stages as a founder.

Ohanian co-founded Reddit in 2005 and has since made a mark in the world of entrepreneurship and investment. He leads 776, a venture capital firm focusing on investing in early-stage tech companies. The 41-year-old founder shared some important tips for bussing entrepreneurs.

"Breaking out of early stage as a founder is simply about surviving—conserving cash + continuing to improve the business the right way, every day," he wrote on X

He added that "persistence" is more important than "talent."

"Persistence beats talent when talent gets bored, gives up, or just isn't able to stay relentlessly shipping + talking to customers," he wrote.

The Reddit co-founder claimed that not many have the determination to continuously ask for feedback, ship something new, and continue repeating the process.

Ohanian emphasized that not everyone is made for the relentless pace of startup life, but for founders, it’s essential to embrace it. Reflecting on his time building Reddit, he credited Paul Graham’s constant pressure as both a user and investor, writing:

"We thankfully had PG breathing down our neck every week, asking why we hadn't shipped some new feature or fixed some bug."

From an investor’s perspective, he likened stagnating founders to a "Groundhog Day" scenario, stating:

"Even though time has passed they're still doing basically the same things as before, haven't learned anything new about customers, haven't shipped anything new as a result."

Serena Williams married Alexis Ohanian in 2017, two months after they became parents to daughter Olympia. In 2023, they welcomed their second daughter, Adira. Williams has also taken up entrepreneurship, managing her beauty line 'WYN' and her own venture capital fund, Serena Ventures.

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Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian urged founders to take charge and create history

Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian at the TGL - Source: Getty

Serena Williams' husband Alexis Ohanian, in a separate advice for founders, urged them to create history instead of watching it being made from the sidelines.

"You can either watch history being made or be the one making it. Choose wisely. It's important that we have as many intentional builders as possible in the coming years," Ohanian wrote on X.

Notably, the tennis legend and her husband have also invested heavily in sports. They own a stake in several teams including Angel City FC in NWSL, and Los Angeles Golf Club in golf's TGL.