The Story of Reddit and a Blueprint for How to Change the World

Alexis Ohanian’s, “Without Their Permission,” is a great book that outlines the new rules of entrepreneurship. Ohanian effectively explains that with the invention of the Internet, entrepreneurs now have the freedom to create and run lucrative businesses without going through conventional and often daunting avenues. As long as you are willing to learn some basic programming skills, taking your idea to the World Wide Web is easy and extremely affordable. Ohanian reflects on his positive experience with Y-Combinator to show that having a simple idea that solves a problem can evolve into a profitable and realistic venture. Also, he thoroughly discusses every step in creating an internet business; from starting with a basic idea to seeking funding and branding your product. “Without Their Permission” leaves no question unanswered. I am incredibly satisfied with how Ohanian authored this book. Overall, the book offers a fresh perspective to today’s and the future’s entrepreneur.

I am currently a student at University of Baltimore. I am taking a survey Entrepreneurship course and I am extremely grateful that my professor gave me this book as an assigned reading. Being a Reddit subscriber and a fan obviously helped in relating to the material. Ohanian’s insight was humorous, down-to-earth, and helpful. His personable account of his entrepreneurial journeys gives great hope to up-and-coming inventors. Ohanian’s humble demeanor is inspirational as well is his commitment to Y-Combinator and giving back to the community. We should all take a chapter from this book and apply it to our lives. Here’s to breadpig!

Alexis’ book should be read by anyone thinking about venturing out on their own. Readers will be treated to many inspiring stories and personal anecdotes related to his and Steve’s first forays into the internet and application development business. While not a step-by-step guide on getting your idea started, Alexis’ offers many tips and personal observations on how to focus your energy. Ignore the competition, pay attention to people, the users, and don’t hate the haters.

I recommend Alexis Ohanian’s book, Without Their Permission (#WTPBook) to anyone needing a push to get started, to any young person wanting a revealing look inside how a couple people take an idea from concept to realized endeavor. A high school kid will get as much from this book as any retired person, bored from a daily routine and looking to reach out and engage with the world.

I was required to read “Without Their Permission” as a part of my University of Baltimore Entrepreneurship 300 coursework. Immediately, I was drawn to the uniqueness of the black cover, with the three glowing symbols displayed. It was a genius move to turn the “no” symbol in three steps, into the the universal “on” symbol. Especially when relating to the subject matter of this book.

Without Their Permission is written the way that I like my books to be written. It’s a super easy read, has a bit of humor, and written in a plain, straightforward manner. Alexis Ohanian seems very relatable to me, like a regular everyday guy. He didn't come from substantial means, so he comes across as a regular, albeit a very smart, and now rich one. The book was motivational for anyone who wants to start a business, in any field, because it tells of the unexpected fortune of turning an idea into an opportunity.

For me, the least relatable aspect of this work was the fact that it is largely written for internet startups. Although the concept is transferable, an idea brought up through the development phase, and to fruition. I found myself uninterested in all of the stories of working in rooms for hours and securing “angel investors”. We all, of course, can take away the story of a young person rising to the occasion of achieving the dream that so many of us would like to reach, and yes Without Their Permission.

Kudos to Ohanian for writing a solid biopic about his experience as a successful tech entrepreneur; his message is simple: driven creative people can create viable businesses on the internet (and stop making excuses and go out and do it already!). HOWEVER, success comes to the "relentlessly resourceful" who are constantly "giving damns, giving lots of damns." Some of the other reviews argue that Ohanian's - and Y-Combinator's - message of creating products that people want is trite; perhaps, but for many entrepreneurs in love with their own ideas it might help reorient them to the customer and/or get them into the next Y-Combinator round.

I was interested to learn that Ohanian has not written a line of code since his first week at Y-Combinator; he has instead exclusively focused on the people / operations / marketing elements of his companies. Maybe you don't need to drop everything and learn to code, but - Ohanian argues - it won't hurt if you do.

If you're up to your eyeballs in all things internet and business, this might not curl your whiskers like Thiel's "Zero to One," but how many of us shoulder the burden of returning the fund? Maybe best to create / transition / optimize your business for the web, and osmose some of Ohanian's wisdom into your efforts.

Alexis Ohanian has furnished well over a hundred speeches through the years, so we already knew that he was a captivating orator and storyteller.

Perhaps the most powerful Ohanian speech is one he delivered thirteen years ago. In 2001, a pimply-faced Ohanian stood in front of his graduating high school class and told them to measure their success in life “not by how much media coverage [they] receive, or the number of figures on [their] paychecks, but rather, by the effect [they] have on the world.”

Watch his commencement address here: http://youtu.be/K0ie-5RZaGA

Has Ohanian followed his own advice? Only he can answer that question, but I suspect that he has. In fact, every page in his latest book seems to suggest that he has.

I wholeheartedly believe that if you read this entire book, without skipping a single sentence, you’ll be 200 to 300 times more likely to succeed as a startup founder.

Yesterday, I was thinking about the 100th episode of South Park. The episode ends with the characters breaking the fourth wall. They acknowledge that they are on a TV show, and instead of trying to resolve their conflict, they throw their hands up and say, “For the war, against the war -- who cares? 100 episodes!”

Well, look at where we are right now. This book has finally received 100 reviews on the store. So, who gives a bag of scorched popcorn about the reviewers who tried (and failed) to throw this amazing book under the bus? Without Their Permission is still standing. It’s still standing after 100 reviews, and I do declare that it will still be standing after 100 more.

Without Their Permission, written by Alexis Ohanian is about an entrepreneur and his journey through many businesses he created along with his insight on what good the internet is to entrepreneurs. Alexis is the developer of Reddit, Hipmunk and Breadpig. The first part of the book discusses his businesses and how they developed and how the internet helped along the way. With his first company Reddit the internet was not as powerful as it was when he launched Hipmunk but the internet still played a major role in all his companies and how he achieved success. The second half discusses how the internet was used for not just the development of businesses but also in helping the world. He talks about a teacher who used the internet to donate school supplies to those teachers that lost all their supplies in the Joplin tornado a few years back. He also discusses the political stride he takes to make the internet open to all. I absolutely loved the first half of the book. His insight on how the development happened with his businesses is fascinating and his added comments and doodling keeps it upbeat and entertaining. As he dove a little deeper in the political side of the internet Alexis did start to lose me a bit, but I did see his point he was trying to convey. Overall the book was an easy read and did motivate you in the end to go out there and do what you are passionate about; you don’t need anyone’s permission. (This was a required reading for an Entrepreneurial class taken at University of Baltimore)

mybooklust.wordpress.com

One of the founders of reddit wrote a book! Don’t know what reddit is? It’s only one of the best websites there ever was, one of the most popular sites in the US (but also popular internationally). It allows users to submit links from around the web and vote them up or down, so that really great links are the most visible, and links that suck fall into oblivion.

It also allows users to create their own sub-forums (called subreddits) around any topic you can imagine. I’ve pulled information from /r/books for this blog before. Besides links, users can also submit text posts to ask questions or share information.

The book is both a memoir of the author’s life thus far and a guidebook for entrepreneurs looking to start their own online businesses or websites. As I am no entrepreneur, I enjoyed the book for its anecdotes and insight into the formation of reddit, as well as Ohanian’s other projects like hipmunk (my favorite place to book flights). It’s also a great inspiration to do anything worthwhile, including charity work or political activism (via the interwebs, of course). However, it could make you feel bad about yourself seeing as Ohanian is now known internationally and he’s barely 30. But his tone throughout is humble, not at all condescending.

It’s a quick read and at times made me laugh out loud. It also introduced me to a lot of great new websites.

Verdict:

If you’re looking for some inspiration for a business or are a reddit fan, it’s worth picking up a copy of your own, though the $27.00 list price seems a bit much for so small a book. Otherwise, find a copy at the library.

Alexis Ohanian does a great job breaking down the endless possibilities of creating a business using the Internet in his book, Without Their Permission. An easy book to read, Ohanian connects to readers by describing his personal life (including photographs from his past), showing how simple it is to start an online business and the endless possibilities of an online business. Ohanian kept the book entertaining and informative from the first to last page. The titles throughout the book such as “The American Dream Lived Online” and “Using the Internet’s Power to Make the World Suck Less” proactively kept my attention. One element I did not enjoy was the Breadpig doodle that popped up every so often. It made the book amateurish and childlike. The author gave great advice but I couldn’t take it serious after seeing the pig with bread wings.

As a University of Baltimore student, enrolled in an entrepreneurship course, I am grateful to have had this book as my required reading. Being around the Internet as a kid, a light bulb went off when he stated he turned the Internet from “being [his] babysitter to being [his] boss.” Any future entrepreneur should take advantage of a boss that allows its employees to have free will with minimum restrictions, think outside the box or create a new box if it is something people will love and make the world suck less.

reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian successfully wrote a quirky (humorous doodles of pigs are sprinkled throughout), modern, book on doing business on the Internet. Although he doesn't give step-by-step advice to get your startup off the ground, you will finish the book inspired and thinking about how to put his advice into action.

The book is divided into three parts: an autobiographical section, a section on what it takes to start your own online venture, and a section on Internet freedom and his involvement in the SOPA/PIPA debacle of 2012.

The autobiographical section sets the tone for the book; he explains his upbringing, his beginnings on the Internet, along with the founding of reddit and its backing by Y Combinator. Ohanian's writes conversationally, in a manner that makes you feel like you're reading a long email from a friend. He puts on no airs, no false expertise, and tells his story in a honest, frank, revelatory way.

The next section on building your own startup is written just as enjoyably. His advice isn't all that unique, but he puts his own unique spin on it. He reminds readers that "Attention spans are short, and there's always a cute cat video just a click away. That means you've got to be compelling." And, "Give more damns than anyone else, because there aren't a lot of things a startup has going for it, except that its founders and employees certainly care more than the competition. And that makes all the difference."

The only criticism I have of this section (and partly why my rating is 4 stars instead of 5) is that he seems to urge readers into seeking funding and seed capital from external investors. While capital is certainly important and a critical factor in whether startups sink or float, he gives no mention to the fact that exchanging a percentage of your company's equity at such an early stage could mean parting with millions of dollars years down the road -- a tradeoff that a more traditional method of funding (a business loan at a bank, e.g.) wouldn't require. He does, however, speak quite a bit about more modern methods of funding (like crowdsourcing on Kickstarter), but this option may not be ideal depending on the stage of your business's growth.

The final section details Ohanian's participation in the SOPA/PIPA debate in Congress. If you're not familiar with the topic, he does a good job of bringing you up to speed, educating you on why the fight was important, and how it will enable the Internet to continue blossoming as it has. If you closely followed the news regarding this proposed legislation, you probably won't find this section as interesting and compelling as the first two. Even so, the book is well worth the read. And, if it does inspire you to give that business idea you've been tossing around a shot, it may be the best $11 you've ever spent (Kindle edition).

It is hard to undervalue the importance of Reddit in the digital revolution that we are witnessing right now. As it says on Mob76Outlook, Reddit is one of the Internet's arteries.

Alexis Ohanian is a co-founder of Reddit and has all the grounds to write a book that tells the story of internet freedom through his personal projects and observations. This book is primarily for those who are just thinking to create a start-up and need someone prominent to tap them on the shoulder and say: you can do it boy!

I've already passed that point five months ago, but even for somebody who had already started a company it is a very interesting and entertaining read. Besides of tons of start-up tips and inside advice from Y Combinator, Reddit and Hipmunk you will enjoy Alexis's thoughts about the free internet. The two versions of his graduation speech in 2025 give two scenarios making it clear that we live in an age of fighting for internet freedom even though most of us don't realize it while enjoying it.

I am currently a senior at the University of Baltimore enrolled in a survey entrepreneurship course and I have been assigned to read “Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed” by Alexis Ohanian. The author explicitly describes his negative and positive experiences throughout his journey to internet entrepreneurship. He begins his journey as an average kid from Columbia, MD with a strong interest in video games and internet. As a freshman at the University of Virginia, Ohanian met Steve Huffman and the two formed a friendship that would ultimately grow into a business partnership. Together, the two ambitious college students received funding from Y Combinator to launch Reddit.com, Breadpig, and Hipmunk (also founded by Adam Goldstein). Just 16 months after college graduation, Ohanian was a millionaire.

I would recommend this book to any entrepreneurship student who aspires to utilize freedom to achieve their goals. Ohanian emphasizes that one does not need permission to change the world through internet creativity and freedom. The principles that he provides are quite versatile and applicable to any profession. He teaches that one must ask themselves questions such as, “what is the problem and how can I fix it”, “what can I do that others aren’t doing.” The most profound statement the author made was, “I want to be a disturber.” Ohanian gained his success by providing a new alternative to old methods. This is what I liked most. The only part I didn’t like was excessive cursing.

Total waste of time

2% great stuff about marketing for start-ups
18% average stuff about internet
30% poor stuff about life
40% unbearable stuff about writer's life
...
10% missing for vacuity

What's good: He's overwhelmingly positive about everything, and his natural entrepreneurial spirit is goofy inspiration for anyone with a decent idea or motivation. Sections are broken up into web-friendly chunks that are easy to digest and usually wrapped up one important learning.

What's bad: I felt like there were a few persistent memes that were heavily repeated (enough to notice anyway).
These included : "give a damn", making stuff that "sucks less" and that "people want", "all links are created equal" and the titular you "don't need permission". These are all great maxims, but because it's such a short read you feel like he's really smashing you over the head with this stuff. He's not a great writer so at times you feel like he could have been more efficient and packed in more research and informaiton - especially in the final chapter. Important (and massively relevent) issues like privacy on the internet are hardly touched on, which is a shame because it would have been nice to hear his thoughts.

Without Their Permission is Alexis Ohanian's rallying cry for the 21st century, an age where the sociocultural monolith erected by the Internet has bestowed unprecedented independence and distribution--powers that were once the exclusive domain of traditional gatekeepers--upon individual content creators and opportunistic upstarts.

It's a big, fat middle finger to the powers that be, but unfortunately manages to accomplish little else. In trying too hard to weave his personal triumphs (from building startups to fighting unjust legislation, not to say they aren't impressive) into a broader message of seizing one's destiny in the permissionless cyber frontier, his pseudo-memoir becomes muddled and polarizing, much like the temporal black hole that is reddit.

By nature of being the poster child for Silicon Valley in the public sphere, Ohanian's casual tone and pedestrian approach to storytelling make sense if maximizing readership is the goal, all the more made self-evident when Ohanian appeared on The Colbert Report to promote the book. (It's also the only logical conclusion I've drawn as to why some parts of the book can sound downright condescending, as if the reader has had zero experience with the series of tubes we call the Internet.) It came at the cost of alienting those in the tech scene who follow him closely and would benefit from Ohanian's insights as an entrepreneur--this is not a book for those who want to learn about startups, and certainly not for those who frequent Hacker News.

The very message championed by Ohanian and his stories in Without Their Permission--that by embracing the open the Internet we stand to make the world suck less--is ultimately drowned out by an incoherent narrative that nonetheless reveals an endearingly optimistic voice that has come to embody the zeitgeist of a generation who grew up and found home on the web.

Originally published here: http://wikichen.is/reading/without-their-permission/

The back cover promises 5-hour reading time. Well, I’ve done even better: 4 hours 17 minutes and 43 seconds. I also visited meeting with Alexis Onanian in San Francisco and he seemed really humorous and emphatic personality.

The “reddit chapters” were brilliant piece of writing which I enjoyed like an ice-cream on a hot sunny day. But in terms of his reddit story I just thought “wow, those two founders found their four-leaf clover. What is the luck ingredient % compare to idea, talent and determination in modern American salad bowl”

Anyway, let talk about the book

LIKE
- No book name on the cover. (You can afford it when you are famous)
- Like I said, first two chapters are totally fascinating read
- Lots of stories, humorous style (Story how his dad adapted to changed in travel industry, that what business supposed to do -adapt model, not pass legislation; Awesome story about yahoo meeting and rounding error; Great story how internet defeated sopa and pipa lobbyists )
- Common sense about modern buzz words “pivoted” (popular euphemism for failed and adapted) and MVP (simplest possible solution to the problem)
- Comparing startup to modern MBA with explanation why business schools are outdated for entrepreneur
- Powerful and creative last words with viision for 2025 - two imaginary speeches, interesting explanation of stealing car and stealing picture.

MEMORABLE QUOTES
- Everyone who creates something online has lost control of their message but in the process has gained access to a global audience
- Perfect angel investors - people who themselves got rich from technology
- Make something people wan and, solving their problem is the most effective thing one can do to generate buzz. (Well, too idealistic now. Think about Appstore and iPhone apps)
- Picking a co-founder is actually quite a bit like marriage, only there is no sex.
- In the internet industry we are used to ideas winning just because they are better
COULD BE BETTER
- Did not quite get football descriptions and analogies, I think that wasn't a great idea for general public
- Chapter 6 and 7 – No, I was not entertained. Those are the weakest ones in my view.
- Is Internet a Wonderland without any problems? I guess some problems deserved at least suggestion for a solution. Consider my country, Ukraine. Probably less than 10% of people pay for music, movies, books, apps and it became a cultural thing. What can be done about piracy?
- It's good thing we don’t have gatekeepers, but don’t we need some quality assurance not to turn web into giant garbage dump?
Web is kind of mainstream now, mobile and cloud are hot, so there mush less opportunities on the web than it used to be.

CONCLUSION

In general I agree that internet does much more good than evil.
Read this book to get inspiration about it and to learn a amazing success story of a nice guy.

Very few people are able to tell their story without some type of prophetic polish!

Alex is able to be remarkably honest. The book is not intended to give you a play-by-play into building the next Reddit, it's made to really demystify the barriers to just simply start! It does so in the most humble manner, a personal testament to the not-so-glorious moments of entrepreneurship. If you are looking for a book to tell you the calculated outcomes to every degree of action you can and should take, go read the Founder's Dilemma.

It's a refreshing read and incredibly transparent. You would be believe you are having a genuine conversation with Alexis. I have met many successful entrepreneurs and most of the time, the untold stories are the ones the are the big drivers to their success not a connecting-the-dots-backwards, special formula.

P.S. Yes, this is my first review and yes, that is how strongly I felt about the book.

Alexis Ohanian is an engaging and interesting person but this book is (a) needlessly self congratulatory, (b) prone to belaboring points over and over and (c) full of 'insights' that were fresh 24 months ago.

If you've never read a book about startups, I suppose you'll like "Without Their Permission" but if you've spent any time on HN or /r/startups, you're already well past this primer.

I couldn't make it through the introduction. The writing is so risibly poor. The insights and parallels drawn by the author reveal a gross ineptitude, verging on willful ignorance, especially as they relate to the very platform where he was lucky enough to strike it rich. His most egregious point is his belief that the internet is some utopian paragon where freedom of speech calls home. Such a ludicrous idea that it beggars belief.

And on the author himself: let us not confuse those who were first to market with their rather banal but successful concepts (reddit, facebook, the store et al) with great men or real innovators. This chap seems to think he was anointed with genius... when all he did was create a message board... on the internet (as countless thousands have done). I'm not sure what use that is to mankind but the author seems to rank it alongside the Polio vaccine. Whereas one might rightfully make the case that social media and all its derivations are actually quite damaging to the social fabric and a detriment in general. The countless man-hours wasted on such pursuits - posting social updates and meaningless commenting for self-adulation - constitutes a virtual crime against humanity.

Pass!

Pundits, professors and journalists espouse the criticality of the Internet into the future. But few of these people have directly created that future through their start-ups, mentoring and actions. Alexis Oharian is the exception and this book is both the story of the past and an expression of the internet's future.

The book is an interesting combination of personal biography and professional manifesto for the future. The book is personal, accessible, clear and engaging. A recommended read that provides both a first hand account building the modern web and concerns about its future. As the co funder of Reddit, Alexis shares an insiders view. The book gives you a familiarity with the author that you can call him Alexis.

Recommended reading to get a readily accessible view of the web in the future.

The first lesson Alexis O'hanian teaches you in WTP is one about good parenting. Anke and Chris O'hanian just wanted Alexis to be happy and they insured he was happy by letting him go after his dreams and goals, which he achieved by making his own choices along the way. Maybe your parents have pushed you into something you never intended. Perhaps those youthful desires of entrepreneurship are still embers waiting to burst into flames. Maybe you are older and have young children of your own or you are wondering what your grandchildren are going to do. If so, let them dream and be happy, the same way Anke and Chris did for Alexis. Alexis didn't have their permission to create Reddit, but he did have their permission to be creative, adventurous, brave, and to follow his true desire. This is how parents should make children, not manage them. Thank you Anke and Chris. We are all the better for it.

This is an excellent book... going WAY beyond entrepreneurship alone.

Alexis is the co-founder of reddit, and at the same time is an activist who's objective (in my opinion) is to just make the world a better place to live.

Right now, in our country, we need more entrepreneurs as Alexis describes well in this book. Highly recommended.

I expected much more insight on starting a new business and on how they started Reddit. Turns out the book is more about his life and his current efforts with charities and politics.
I really liked the beginning of the book (quite visionary) but then it gets quickly too simplistic in my opinion. One thing that keeps coming is the message that anyone can start an online business, and there is no gatekeepers to the internet.
To anyone who reads HN and PG's essays: there is nothing new in this book, unfortunately.

Without their Permission" is a guided tour through the Internet startup economy, led with contagious enthusiasm by serial entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian. It describes how the Internet's disruptive power benefits societies and individuals, so long as we protect it as a platform for free speech and free enterprise. It is also a smart, practical strategy manual for any entrepreneur who wants to create a new product that users will love. Whether you are starting your own business or simply want to harness the internet to "make the world suck less", this is a fun and extraordinary must-read.

***>>> "WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION" is a Success & Guide / Tool-Kit, etc. for "ALL" Global Entrepreneurs that shows US how WE can and should use the "INTERNET", the most Powerful and Democratic Source for Disseminating Information, etc., that Humankind has known-to-date to CREATE whatever WE please so the world can draw benefit from our Ideas & Creative Innovations, etc.!!!...>>> Author, etc..Alexis Ohanian ( @AlexisOhanian on Twitter ), in 3+ Parts, 9+ Chapters, 260+ Pages, shows, how his team as successful co-founders of an Internet Success, can help US and put US on our own path to our potential Success by our simply starting...NOW / TODAY!!!...>>> What are WE waiting for???...Someone's permission???...>>> A Suggestion, Invest & Acquire your "WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION and learn how it can and will have the "potential" to work for YOU!!!...>>> Michael....