“Waffle House changed my life!” – Alexis Ohanian. The Waffle House chain, established in 1955 by two neighbors in Georgia, has now spread across 2,000 locations in 25 states in the US. The Waffle House off US 29, just north of Charlottesville, is known for two things: its 24-hour breakfast and a ‘billion-dollar business idea.’ Ohanian has a special story with them! Recently, Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer passed away at the age of 58. Under his leadership, the company became a significant part of American culture. On his sad passing, the Reddit co-founder penned a heartfelt message to the Ehmer family.

Ohanian shared a post on his X handle and wrote, “Walt really was special. I have some stories I wanna share I just gotta put the words together. Prayers and love to the Ehmer family.” The Georgia Tech Alumni Association, also Ehmer’s alma mater, initially confirmed his death. According to his wife, Kara Ehmer, the cause of death was likely due to complications from a new immunotherapy treatment he had received for pancreatic cancer. On Sunday, the Waffle House board of directors released a statement saying, “He will be greatly missed by his entire Waffle House family.”

Waffle House witnessed quite a few historic and remarkable moments during Ehmer’s tenure. For instance, President Joe Biden visited a Waffle House in the Atlanta area after his CNN debate, where he was outperformed by former President Donald Trump. Not only that, Waffle House may have also inspired Alexis Ohanian to start a company instead of becoming a lawyer.

During a conversation with students in 2021, Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, revealed that he had been planning to become a lawyer. However, thirty minutes before his law school admission test, he felt hungry, so he went straight to a nearby Waffle House. Explaining that pivotal moment in his life, Alexis Ohanian stated, “That place is amazing for waffles and epiphanies. While I was there in Booth 19, I decided I probably shouldn’t be a lawyer if I walked out of the LSAT and instead, I should start a startup. So if it weren’t for being hungry, I don’t think I’d have ever started Reddit.” However, Ohanian thinks the inception of Nvidia Corp at Denny’s is more interesting than Reddit at Waffle House.

Alexis Ohanian admits Nvidia has a better story than his Reddit

Ohanian has visited Waffle House several times, and he even has a plaque installed in his name at Booth 19. It reads, “Waffle House changed my life…I was going to be a lawyer and then I walked out of the LSAT to go get breakfast, I never looked back.” Later on, he thanked their staff for taking the initiative to put up this remarkable plaque.

He shared a post on his X handle stating, “I’m back at UVA and this had to be my first stop. I really do love Waffle House and stop by every time I come back to Charlottesville. Thank you for the plaque & great service.”

However, did you know Nvidia also has a similar story of a humble beginning? In 1993, three friends, Jensen Huang, Curtis Priem, and Chris Malachowsky, went to Denny’s to discuss developing a chip that could make lifelike 3D graphics on home computers. That’s how it all started, over several sips of coffee. Renowned news anchor Jon Erlichman once shared the story of Nvidia getting started during a breakfast meeting at Denny’s. He claimed that now Nvidia makes more money in four hours than Denny’s makes in a year. Alexis Ohanian commented on that post, saying, “OK, that’s better than my @WaffleHouse + @reddit story.”