Alexis Ohanian Shares How A German Comment Fueled His Rise To Success

Another truly entertaining episode in the “Spicy Ohanian Stories” tracks Alexis Ohanian telling of one random comment about his German that really irritated him but secretly fueled his climb. And honestly? I could relate.

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In 2005, basically the Kali Ma of Y Combinator, Paul Graham had told him that he sounded smarter when he spoke German. One would take this as a compliment. It actually rubbed Ohanian the wrong way. Then comes 2009: Alexis just got the standing ovation off the TED stage, and his very first thought was: “Where’s Paul now?” Classic small-mindedness.

He tweeted in support: Let the stuff that makes you mad just fuel your climb to the top. I did. I mean…yeah, that’s a vibe.

And then, of course, the internet had to respond.

First came Olivia P. Walker: “Wait, you speak German? Fluently? That’s awesome.” Girl, the same here. Alexis being casually bilingual is just something else that we can add to our ‘why Alexis is cooler than us’ kind of list.

Mario Schlosser continued in German: “What’s so bad about that? You gotta be able to do it first.” Fair. Not everybody can just so easily switch between languages as we do.

Volatility Smile continued: “German is the language of the gods, and of Kant and Hegel—of course we all sound smarter speaking it.” Philosophy flex!

The icing on the cake was Ohanian’s intervention: “Technically he told my cofounder, who then told me.” The massive layers of this story can go on. Drama!

Meanwhile, Quin Lori speculates: “maybe German really is his mother tongue since his mother is German.” Which…makes sense? But also, why is this the first we hear about this?

Then, Cynthia Reid rolls in hysterical with: “I would have thought this was a compliment!!!! 😂🤣 Danke.” Mood.

At the end of the day, Ohanian’s tweet pretty much reminds us that sometimes what irks us the most can become our best source of motivation. Whether it’s the doubters, or are backhanded compliments, or just petty grudge-holding, channel it.

Second sidenote: Can we please have a video of Alexis casually dropping some German in an interview? For science.

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So yeah, next time somebody tells you that you sound smarter in another language, maybe just take it as a challenge. Or you know, use it as fuel to get that standing ovation. Win-Win.  Still mad? Good. Keep it up. It’s working for Alexis.