The world might not be flat, but the co-founder of Reddit says the World Wide Web is.
Monday night, Alexis Ohanian spoke about the absence of boundaries on the internet as a key enabler for anyone seeking to make a difference.
“The thing that excites me is the internet enabling people, hopefully all of you, to reach your maximum potential for awesome,” said Ohanian, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2005.
Reddit is a social news website that allows users to post articles which are then voted “up” or “down,” and repositioned higher or lower on the site accordingly. It recorded more than 150 million page views in October.
Ohanian, who will speak at 75 universities in the U.S. and Canada before his tour ends in March, is promoting his new book “Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed.”
While his book is the catalyst for the tour, it presents a perfect excuse to talk at universities and inspire students to take the leap and put their ideas into action, Ohanian said.
“Every one of us has amazing ideas,” he said. “And the difference between those of us who just have those ideas and those who actually do them and change the world are the ones willing to put their hands up and do something a little weird and a little random and unrehearsed.”
Ohanian, who was named twice to Forbes’ list of 30 under 30 up-and-coming entrepreneurs, utilized memes, video game jokes and a handful of expletives as he told his entrepreneurial story, which began after he decided law wasn’t for him late one night at a Waffle House.
There are plenty of incredible people in the world, but without the internet their stories would go unnoticed, Ohanian said.
