
Reddit Cofounder Alexis Ohanian To Join Y Combinator - razin
http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/reddit-cofounder-alexis-ohanian-to-join-y-combinator/
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mattjaynes
That's awesome news. I've always been impressed with Alexis - particularly his
sense of humor and genuine friendliness.

For example, a few years ago I ran into Alexis and Steve in an Italian
restaurant when my Mom was visiting me in San Francisco. They were sitting a
couple of tables over in the mostly empty restaurant and I took a moment to go
over and say hi to them since I recognized them from Startup School. In the
conversation I mentioned my Mom was visiting me and when I gestured towards
our table Alexis excitedly declares "Hi Mom!!" to her. The funniest and most
endearing part was how sincerely pleased he was about meeting my Mom. It was a
great bonus to our evening to run into him.

Anyway, great news for a great guy.

~~~
kn0thing
I'll have you know that is the only time Steve & I have ever been 'spotted' in
the wild. We still joke about it because we can't believe it actually happened
-- thanks for making _our_ day.

And yes, I'm a big fan of moms. They carry our lazy, parasitic asses around
for 9 months, after all ;)

~~~
danielha
Getting that on a shirt

"And yes, I'm a big fan of moms." \-- Alexis Ohanian

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xutopia
I met Alexis in Thailand. I approached him not knowing who he was because he
had a Reddit t-shirt so I assumed it would be cool to chat with him. We didn't
chat very long but he sent me a Reddit bobblehead when he arrived back from
his trip. He's an unpretentious all-round nice guy.

~~~
kn0thing
Whoa, I remember you! I rarely get approached while wearing a reddit shirt;
leave it to a random encounter in Thailand for me to finally meet a redditor
excited about our site.

What you didn't see was that I was actually "backpacking" around the country
in a gold-plated helicopter.

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tibbon
Congrats Alexis! From my time with you at the Awesome Foundation I know you'll
do great things with YC.

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Keyframe
_which has generated over $150,000 for charities_

Wow, I had no idea. Serious props!

~~~
kn0thing
I was thrilled that made it into the TC piece ~ 2 years in and things are
beyond my wildest expectations for breadpig.com (in fact, I'm announcing my
first full-time hire shortly).

We're aiming to be a Newman's Own for Nerds: We sell geeky things (LOLmagnetz,
xkcd book, shirts) and donate the profits.

I humbly suggest you sign up for our mailing list & drop our RSS feed into
your reader :)

~~~
JacobAldridge
_I humbly suggest you sign up for our mailing list & drop our RSS feed into
your reader :)_

And I second that opinion, replacing 'humbly suggest' with 'order you to'!

The cultural foundation of Breadpig has motivated me to pursue a small idea
I've had for a while, but which was never going to be super profitable -
switching into the charitable mindset, however, makes it a much more
energising project. So thanks for that inspiration, I guess.

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far33d
Very cool - the return of an East Coast presence for YC is a good thing for
New York and Boston based early entrepreneurs.

~~~
j_baker
Good for the individual entrepreneurs? Sure. Good for the overall East coast
tech scene? I doubt it. I could be wrong, but I doubt that pg has changed his
stance on startups needing to move to Silicon Valley. More than likely, this
will serve as a "funnel" for companies from NYC to SV.

Of course, not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that I doubt
this is a good thing for the overall east coast entrepreneur community.

~~~
pg
Actually we have 3 startups in the current YC batch who plan to move back to
NYC now that the YC cycle is over.

I've always emphasized that seed funding isn't a local business in the way VC
is. Startups come to YC from all over and can go anywhere they want afterward.
I honestly believe the optimal route for founders who want to live in NYC
would be to come to the Bay Area for YC, then move back to NYC afterward--
just as a lot of New Yorkers choose to go to Boston for college, then move
back to NYC afterward.

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samratjp
I wonder if this is what Harjeet meant by the new announcement
<http://twitter.com/Harjeet/status/22654064109>

~~~
jackowayed
I would hope so. Otherwise that tweet is telling Alexis, "you're cool and all,
but that thing we're announcing next week is what I'm _really_ excited about",
which wouldn't exactly be the warmest welcome.

But I'm sure it is.

~~~
samratjp
You're right - <http://twitter.com/Harjeet/status/22722432968>

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tyng
Wow, I wonder how big the YC network is now after so many years in operation.
Has anybody done any statistical analysis? Like how many cofounders walked out
the programme and where their startups are currently located

~~~
pg
About 450 people. I would guess more than half are in the Bay Area.

~~~
tyng
Thanks for the reply pg! We are based in Australia and are putting together an
application for the next round of YC. Hopefully we'll join the YC community
and broaden its global presence!

~~~
pg
We like Australians. They seem to make good founders. You may want to talk ask
the founders of Omnisio, Adioso, and Whereoscope for advice.

~~~
tyng
Yes we know Tom and Fenn from Adioso, and we are going to the next local HN
meetup before the submission deadline - I think the biggest thing that anybody
would get out of YC is becoming part of a community of very passionate people,
which makes a hell lot of difference!

~~~
KateKendall
Yeah, having Australian YC founders is awesome for championing our local
startup communities too. There was a decent turnout at the the YC Melbourne
meetup in February.

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Zak
I met Alexis at Startup School in... 2006? I can't think of many people better
suited to an "ambassador" type role.

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speek
Alexis is awesome. He flew down from NYC to Boston a week or two ago just to
come talk to a bunch of young startups (well, I'm sure he had other reasons
too, but it really meant a lot to us).

P.S. Cupcakes are generally a great way to introduce yourself :-)

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ohashi
Can't think of a friendlier person to represent YC. Congrats!

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maxklein
What compensation do these people get? A salary? Equity?

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prakash
Congrats, YCombinator and Alexis! Great news.

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_pius
Very cool news for YCombinator ... met Alexis at a DC Drankkit and he's a
ridiculously down-to-earth dude.

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jeremymims
Welcome to New York City, Alexis (again). We're damn glad to have you back!

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theycallmemorty
I wonder if he'll be listed as a 'co-founder' of Y Combinator?

~~~
jrockway
I think he's an employee that's _workin' for the man_ now!

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abstractbill
Congrats to both Alexis and YC!

