Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian's 5 fundraising tips

 Alexis Ohanian​ started ​Reddit​ in 2005 with his college friend Steve Huffman. They built it as a simple website where people could share links and vote on what was interesting. After getting $12,000 from Y Combinator, they launched and quickly saw the site grow. Just over a year later, Reddit was sold to Condé Nast.

Here are five of the most important fundraising lessons:

1. It’s not what you know, but who you know: “If you maintain great networks of great founders, what you'll find is that there are amazing ideas birthed every single day. And…money into helping that CEO bring that idea to fruition.”
2. Capital follows execution: “Execution is everything. Ideas alone are worthless. What ultimately makes or breaks a successful business comes down to the nitty gritty of execution.”
3. Rejection is the norm: “There is not a single founder, there's not a single CEO out there, who has not been told no more times than yes. And that's the nature of startup investing. It's the nature of fundraising. And it's the nature of being an entrepreneur, which is getting really comfortable hearing ‘no.’”
4. Never pay to pitch: “The folks who will charge you money in order to pitch your startup to a room full of investors are charlatans. Do not pay anyone to pitch your startup. Instead, look for opportunities.”
5. Ditch the jargon: “If someone is giving you a pitch that's full of jargon, 90% of the time it's bullsh*t. The best CEOs can explain anything in simple enough terms so anyone can understand.”

*References/deep dive: Ohanian on ​MasterClass​; his ​X account​.  

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