Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams regularly post photos of their daughter on Instagram. (Photo by Jackson Lee/FilmMagic)
With Serena Williams‘ childbirth complications and a promise made to their five-month-old daughter, Alexis Ohanian is stepping back from his daily duties at Reddit. While he’ll still remain on the board, Forbes reported, the tech guru will have an increased role at his venture capital firm, Initialized Capital.
“Today, I’m very excited to return to Initialized Capital as a full-time General Partner alongside my longtime friend and collaborator Garry Tan,” Ohanian wrote on a company blog Wednesday, Feb. 7.
“We want to be the first [investment] check and we want to do the work — we aspire to be the kind of investors we wish we’d had when we were founders,” he said of hopes for the firm. “And after more than three years of serving back at Reddit, my first ‘baby’ is in a much better place and has a great team in place.
“Now I’m back at Initialized with even bigger ambitions than when we started,” he concluded. “As a new father of a five-month-old little girl, I want to make sure the world she inherits is as great as possible. This depends on the entrepreneurs of today and tomorrow building companies that truly matter.”
Ohanian, whose net worth is an estimated $9 million, according to Newsweek, compared to wife William’s $150 million, according to Forbes, further told Forbes that his choice was fueled by family factors. They include a near-death experience Williams had after their daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, was born. A “promise he made to this little poppy seed” and Reddit’s 16-week paid paternity leave gave him the outlook he neede to make the decision.
”All these dad reflexes kicked in,” said Ohanian, who refers to his daughter as Junior while Williams prefers Olympia.
“I was a believer before, but now I whole-heartedly believe that every single dad should take it.” he added after noting how becoming a dad triggered “superpower and purpose” in him. “That really put into perspective how important these policies are.”
