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Fortune
Fortune
Rachel Ventresca

Alexis Ohanian ignored Paul Graham’s warning that Reddit’s ‘terrible’ name would be ‘poison’. Now it’s a $38 billion business

(Credit: Iman Al-dabbagh/Fortune)

Alexis Ohanian once rejected business advice from one of Silicon Valley’s most legendary investors–and it led to a multibillion-dollar success story. 

“One of my favorite worst pieces of business advice was given to me by Paul Graham,” the Reddit cofounder revealed on the sidelines of the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October. The Y Combinator cofounder thought Reddit’s name was “terrible” for a fledgling company, and he wanted Ohanian to ditch the orange-eyed mascot he had designed, the alien named Snoo.

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