About Alexis Ohanian
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and founder of Seven Seven Six, has been speaking about his investments in women's sports and space technology. He described the SpaceX IPO as "a milestone moment" and said he has been excited about space tech for five to seven years, calling it an investment thesis that was "unthinkable a decade ago." Ohanian also discussed the state of venture capital, noting that 65% of VC money has gone to just 0.05% of companies, and said he believes it is positive for retail investors to gain access to companies that previously stayed private longer.
Ohanian has continued to promote his all-women track and field league, Athlos, which he founded after the Paris Olympics. He said the league is modeled on NCAA track and field with a team-based point system and that athletes are given equity as partners. Ohanian described women's sports as "the only pillar of entertainment that is durable" and an "anti-AI bet," arguing that live sports are fundamentally human and cannot be replaced by AI-generated content. He also said he has been investing in women's sports for five to six years and called it an "institutional great asset."
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Alexis Ohanian's recent appearances.
Browse all interviews →
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
I
Interviewer0:00
Andy, I'll come to you first, if I may, because obviously there's a growing number of space-related companies out there. Just tell us exactly what's different about yours—low-cost, reusable rockets, is that right?
A
Andy0:12
Yeah, thanks so much. So Stoke is going fully and 100% rapidly reusable rockets designed specifically for the satellite market. Companies like SpaceX are a freight train to space, and that's great. We are the low-cost, on-demand sprinter van that takes you directly to your final orbit. First of all, the addressable universe, as you say, is large and it's growing. But I think as much activity as there is in space, there's still very few parties who are able to get to space, and there are even fewer focused on the 100% reusable aspect of what we're doing. It's very important also to think about things that are reusable and things that we consider operationally reusable, or reusability 2.0. So these are things that can turn around very quickly, much more like an aircraft and less the way we think about traditional rockets.
I
Interviewer1:22
Alexis, I know you're investing, and you're surely giving Andy a lot of money, but how do you compete with the deep pockets of Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos—literally the two richest people in the world? And Bezos has said he cashes out, what, a billion of Amazon stock every year to fund this.
A
Alexis Ohanian1:36
Bring it on. I think one of the reasons why I get to do my job and one of the reasons why we're so excited to invest here at 776 is because the nature of startups, the nature of innovation, is all about small, obsessed, dedicated, high-performing teams of individuals coming together to move faster, more effectively than the large incumbents. And as amazing as the work is that those two companies have done to pioneer the space, it actually really just sets a sort of precedent now that a startup like Stoke can far exceed. I mean, what this company's done in just eight short months—to prove out manufacturing techniques, to actually build and ship—is really nothing short of remarkable. And so, just like Google and Amazon exist in the tech ecosystem to inspire and push folks to build billion-dollar companies, I think that's the role that those rocket companies are playing for companies like Stoke.
I
Interviewer2:34
I'm interested, Alexis, how many other space companies you've researched and looked at and perhaps rejected, choosing Stoke instead of them? Is this your way of playing a very attractive subsector, or was this the only company for you?
A
Alexis Ohanian2:49
You know, we looked at about a dozen others over the last year or so. Admittedly, this is a nascent space; I mean, we were very much in the earliest days of this. But what was so exciting was Andy and his team have tremendous bona fides. When we're looking at mission industries, you know, when making a seed investment in Coinbase in 2012, there weren't that many other crypto companies to be looking at, but you get to know all the folks building pretty quickly, and then you find the CEOs that you have the highest conviction around. And that was the case with Andy here and reusable rockets.
I
Interviewer3:22
So Andy, just talk us through quickly your timeline as to when this is going to become a reality and what you have in store.
A
Andy3:30
So we closed our seed at the end of last year, as we said. We are building very quickly. We're focused on reusable second stages that turn around with 24-hour turnaround. That's the last big domino to fall in what we consider the holy grail of rocketry: 100% rapidly reusable rockets. So that's what we're focused on, and we'll be designing, building, and flying that reusable second stage by the end of next year. From there, we scale up and work on the first stage and go orbital.
