She's one of the best tennis players on the planet, and he's... wait — who is he? This is all you need to know about Serena Williams' husband.
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00:00She's one of the best tennis players on the planet.
00:04And he's… wait, who is he?
00:07This is all you need to know about Serena Williams' husband.
00:11Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian are the very definition of a power couple.
00:16Even before they were an item, each had found success in their own right.
00:20Williams is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, of course, while Ohanian is a
00:24serious player in the tech space.
00:26Williams and Ohanian met at a hotel in Rome.
00:29After a short scuffle over a vacant table, the athlete asked Ohanian to join her, eventually
00:33inviting him to watch her play her next match in Paris.
00:36Ohanian told Vanity Fair that, at the time, he thought,
00:40"'Even if she blows me off and we don't even hang out, I'm still going to have an amazing
00:43time in Paris, and I'll have an even better story for all my childhood friends.'"
00:47Luckily, they did get the chance to hang out, and they learned all about each other in the
00:52six hours they spent walking around the streets of Paris.
00:55"'And then she asked what I did, and I said, oh, I started this company called Reddit,
00:59and I do investing, and she said Reddit.
01:02Never heard of it.'"
01:03Even though Ohanian had been trying to flourish in his own industry, he was always incredibly
01:08supportive of Williams and had no problem putting her first — or being known solely
01:13as her husband.
01:14He told a fan on Twitter,
01:15"'I'll be a self-made billionaire one day, and most people will still know me as Serena's
01:20husband.
01:21And that's fine by me.
01:22And he's not lying about becoming a billionaire, either.
01:25In fact, Ohanian founded one of the most visited websites on the internet.
01:30While still studying at the University of Virginia, Alexis Ohanian set his sights on
01:34becoming a lawyer.
01:35But during one of his study sessions for the LSAT, he realized that his passion lay elsewhere.
01:40In an interview with Inc., he recalled,
01:42"'I didn't want to be a lawyer.
01:44I wanted to make a dent in the universe.'"
01:46He then partnered with his college roommate Steve Huffman to develop an app for ordering
01:50food.
01:51He ended up pitching it to the scientist and investor Paul Graham, who rejected their idea,
01:56but invited the duo to join his startup Incubator.
01:59Ohanian added,
02:00"'In our conversation,' Paul said,
02:01"'You guys need to build the front page of the internet.'"
02:04In just three weeks, they built Reddit.
02:07Sadly, over a year later, tragedy struck twice.
02:11Ohanian's then-girlfriend was involved in an accident, and his mother was diagnosed
02:15with terminal brain cancer.
02:16He and Huffman brokered a deal with Condé Nast to sell their website, which would eventually
02:21become worth far more than what they sold it for.
02:24In 2020, he tweeted,
02:25"'My mom's illness weighed on me the most.
02:27She was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer just a couple months into founding the company,
02:32so the idea of rewarding her lifelong, unflagging confidence in me with a $10 million exit was
02:37tremendously appealing.'"
02:39After helping build a few more startups, Alexis Ohanian became a venture capitalist.
02:44In 2016, he partnered with businessman Gary Tan to kickstart Initialized Capital, an early-stage
02:50VC firm with $500 million in assets.
02:53Come 2021, Ohanian started his very own VC fund called 776 that has already invested
03:00in over 60 companies.
03:01He told CNBC that Serena Williams plays a big part in maintaining his work-life balance,
03:06saying,
03:07"'She was like, you work more than I do.
03:09And at first I was so flattered.
03:11I was like, wow, thank you so much.'"
03:13However, his wife later clarified that it hadn't been a compliment.
03:17Ohanian shared that Williams taught him that while hustling is crucial, downtime is just
03:21as important.
03:22"'Family and friends, that's where I want to be spending and really investing my dollars
03:28and my time as much as possible.'"
03:30Ohanian also learned to put Williams' needs in front of his.
03:34He said,
03:35"'At the end of the day, sometimes her career really does have to come first.
03:38I try to be the most supportive partner I can be.
03:41I'm far from perfect, but I try to get behind her and let her know I'm there for her and
03:45our daughter, no matter what.'"