Nov 19, 2020 · 33m · 20vc
20VC: Alexis Ohanian on Why Now Was The Right Time To Start Seven Seven Six, The 2 Very Distinct Types of Deals In Venture & The Unbundling of Social in 2021
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In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian about launching his new venture firm, Seven Seven Six, his evolving philosophy on venture capital deals, and how personal values and fatherhood shape his investment strategy.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 27.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Harry as informed peer 2.0 Guest teaching 2.1 Guest disagreement 0.4 Harry pushing back 1.0
speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:19 Calling the Olympic cook story a distraction
Alexis forcefully pushes back against the standard inspirational narrative of the first Olympic winner, calling it a distraction from systemic exclusion.
Hardest push from Harry ▶ 5:31 Direct question on leaving InitializedHarry refuses to gloss over the co-founder split and directly asks Alexis to account for what happened at Initialized Capital.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:19 Greek history and VC blind spots lessonAlexis uses ancient Greek history to educate Harry on how VC firms miss immense talent by ignoring half the population.
Harry holds his own ▶ 23:53 Citing Paul Graham conversationHarry demonstrates his network and host authority by surprising Alexis with direct questions provided by Y Combinator's Paul Graham.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Harry as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Harry pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leaving Law School for Reddit at Waffle House | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Harry opens with light banter and prompts Alexis to share his origin story about dropping the LSAT at Waffle House. The dynamic is purely conversational and friendly with no pushback or technical debate. | |
| Moving on from Initialized Capital to Seven Seven Six | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | Harry directly probes the delicate topic of Alexis leaving Initialized Capital. Alexis provides a candid explanation of firm building and co-founder dynamics without any defensiveness. | |
| The Origin and Values of Seven Seven Six | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Alexis takes complete control of the narrative, using ancient Greek history to educate Harry on structural blind spots in venture capital. Harry mostly listens and facilitates with follow-up prompts. | |
| Money, Happiness, and Personal Life Perspective | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | Harry offers a personal reflection on wealth and happiness, prompting Alexis to share how his mother's terminal illness shaped his relationship with money. Alexis delivers a poignant reframe on life priorities. | |
| Fatherhood, Productivity, and Intentional Investing | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Harry asks how fatherhood changed Alexis's operating style. Alexis explains his time management software and intentional investing mindset in an agreeable, self-reflective exchange. | |
| Two Distinct Deal Types in Venture Capital | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Harry references a prior offline conversation about venture deal taxonomy. Alexis breaks down consensus intelligence test deals versus contentious non-obvious deals like Ro. | |
| The Early Y Combinator Meeting with Paul Graham | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Harry demonstrates high industry access by citing a direct conversation with YC founder Paul Graham about Alexis. Alexis is pleasantly caught off guard by Harry's insider intel. | |
| Unsung VC Heroes and Seven Seven Six's Lead Investment in Dispo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Harry asks about unsung industry heroes and Seven Seven Six's investment in Dispo. Alexis outlines the anti-Instagram product thesis in a collaborative closing segment. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Ohanian: Seven Seven Six launched with team from Initialized Capital
“And then yes, very recently went out and brought a few of the folks over from initialized to launch a new firm, a seven, seven, six.”
Ohanian: Leaving LSAT for Waffle House prevented a legal career
“Waffle House really is the reason I'm here before you. Cause otherwise I would just be some like immigration lawyer and you would definitely not have me on your podcast.”
Ohanian: Resigned from Reddit board in 2020 requesting Black successor
“You know, after the murder of George Floyd and really thinking about sort of the role that I want to play in the world, I realized I needed to step down from the board of Reddit. I did that in June and you know, was very relieved to see that they honored my re…”
Ohanian: Ohanian and Gary Tan hold stakes in each other's funds
“I'm a, I like, I'm a personal investor in the new, a reconstituted, initialized Gary's going to be or is an investor in seven, seven, six”
Ohanian: Venture capital is fundamentally an NPS and service business
“Doing this job well is about service. I think most VCs don't realize that they're in the net Promoter score business. And that is really what matters most.”
Ohanian: Individual investor brands will supersede institutional venture firm brands
“Individuals are starting to supersede the brands of firms in a way that we're seeing across industries, right? Substack. I've got a friend of mine who left her job at fortune, you know, a great publication to start a newsletter and she's already making more mo…”
Ohanian: Reddit sale surpassed parents' lifetime earnings in 16 months
“We made more of that, that sale of Reddit than my folks had made their entire lives. And I got it for 16 months worth of work.”
Ohanian: Invested first-round in 12 billion-dollar companies before Seven Seven Six
“I can rattle off the dozen billion dollar companies that we've been First round investors in over the years, right?”
Ohanian: Tremendously wealthy tech figures are often deeply unhappy
“I've watched people who have acquired tremendous wealth, certainly beyond what I have and still be among some of the most dissatisfied, unhappy people.”
Ohanian: Universal basic income is necessary to prevent existential democratic threats
“I do think things like universal basic income and whatnot are going to have to come up more and more in this conversation because well, okay, it's an existential threat to our democracy.”
Ohanian: Uses software to audit weekly time allocation across VC duties
“I keep track of it in software to know if I'm like misallocating, like I'm spending more time than I thought working with portfolio companies versus taking pitches versus working with my team.”
Ohanian: 2020 founder quality and motivation is the best in a decade
“The quality and the motivation of what we're seeing is some of the best I've ever, ever seen in a decade of investing.”
Ohanian: VC deals split between consensus access plays and contentious nascent bets
“There's the like intelligence test type deals where, you know, it's a repeat founder, really strong, obvious market. Maybe they're just taking a second swing at the thing they had done before. So you know, they're capable. You've worked with them before. Like …”
Ohanian: Healthcare startup Ro was a highly contentious early-stage VC deal
“So Roe was an example of a company that like, and actually Z's talked about this, I think publicly there are a number of firms where like, that was a super contentious deal. And when it started, it was a pitch deck and some founders, and you had to believe in …”
Ohanian: Seven Seven Six software will incorporate Super Forecasting principles
“I'm actually going to build in some of what they're doing into the software we're using at seven, seven, six.”
Ohanian: Online community relationships are often stronger than offline ones
“Online communities matter more to people than offline ones, and the relationships that people make, what I mean is, like, the community, like, capital C, like, you're my community, you're my people, you're my tribe, I want to hug you, like, people, like, that …”
Ohanian: Major social networks are actively being unbundled by Gen Z founders
“We're already seeing it. Absolutely. And I'm talking to founders every day. Gen Z founders who are like the way smarter versions of me graduating college. They've seen the mess that we've made over the last 15 years. They are actively building better platforms…”
Ohanian: VC diversity is a capitalism issue, not a social justice one
“I would like to see more people doing this job who don't look like you and me, Harry, because I want to make more money because that's actually how we're going to have better things. Like, and this isn't like a social justice argument. This is a, we have 24 ho…”
Ohanian: Seven Seven Six's first investment was photo-sharing app Dispo
“Well, the first one out of seven, seven, six was Dispo. And I mean, I said yes, because this was a company that already had a few million installs had ridiculously high engagement numbers, which are all good signs for an early stage consumer social app.”
Ohanian: Dispo cracked what a generation wants in an anti-Instagram app
“Dispo has cracked what A generation is looking for as a kind of anti Instagram or anti photo sharing device, because there's nothing wrong with saving those memories. But like I said, they've watched what it's created in the toxicity and the bullying, and even…”