Alexis Ohanian

“Pitch tip: Speak confidently about your product, but be able to admit when you need more information, and get it to the people you're pitching quickly after the meeting.”

“On my father's side, I'm descended from immigrants, one of whom was a Syrian refugee from the Armenian genocide, and my mother was an immigrant from Germany whose visa had expired and, for a year and change, was undocumented here in the U.S.”

“The reason people need advice on using social media is that they're a much more complex and nuanced way to communicate than a conversation or email.”

“It's a fight to get anyone other than your mom to care about your startup.”

“What makes Reddit special is that people feel free to express themselves. Where we want to draw the line is where that feeling of being able to express oneself freely starts to infringe on someone feeling like they can express themselves.”

“I get a lot more out of the - the touchy feely stuff that happens on reddit. And while I love the snark, and it makes me laugh, I am happy that there is this wonderful balance that plays out on reddit. Or you can get both. I enjoy having my cake and eating it too, especially if it's not a lie, and chocolate.”

“It takes discipline not to let social media steal your time.”

“Word of mouth now has a unprecedented influence because it spreads so far and so fast.”

“People want a remarkable experience; it's what they'll talk about, largely because the bar has been set so low by so many companies.”

“My entire career has been built on the understanding that I am not only not the smartest person in the room, I am definitely not the smartest person in the world. And I am instead going to try to create as many opportunities to connect those great ideas and help them be great.”

“Reddit was created for people to speak freely and authentically and also for us to protect and value privacy. We're sort of the anti-Facebook in that regard.”

“If you've never seen people taking the pledge of allegiance for the first time as U.S. Citizens, it will move you: a room full of people who can really appreciate what I was lucky enough to grow up with, simply by being born in Brooklyn.”

“Until we actually get legislation that protects our rights online, we will continue to fight against stupid, lobbyist-bought legislation. We want bills that protect us, not ones that destroy us.”

“Status quo just means that everyone's doing it. It doesn't mean that this was divinely ordained, and of course this is the right decision.”

“Let's all strive to be more entrepreneurial, and I think we'll all be in a better place.”

“Unless it's really an emergency, I'm not going to bother you. And you can see people chafe at that. 'You're in the same office and instant-message each other? Why don't you just walk over?' That's the perfect example of how ingrained the status quo is. To certain people, it may seem lazy, but I would argue it's much more efficient and considerate.”

“I'd like to see the word 'entrepreneur' knocked off its pedestal. Being 'entrepreneurial' is something I look for not only in founders to invest in, but also employees to hire.”

“It thrills me to write reference letters for enterprising founders who are looking to get visas to start their companies here, to create value and jobs for these United States.”

“I am consistently impressed by reddit. I'd say on a near weekly basis, by little things. Whether it's - I absolutely love seeing the Photoshop jobs that people do. Not of silly cats, but of redditors who are like, 'I have this photo of like my mom. This is the last photo I took with her. She was in the hospital. Can any of you clean this photo up?'”

“So much of Reddit as a product was built on the shoulders of giants... We did some novel remixes of it but, at the end of the day, it was that: Grit and good luck.”