Naval Ravikant

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Naval Ravikant
Naval Ravikant (cropped).jpg
Ravikant in 2009
Born (1974-11-05) November 5, 1974 (age 51) [1]
New Delhi, India
Education Stuyvesant High School
Alma mater Dartmouth College (BS)
OccupationsEntrepreneur, Investor
Years active1999–present
Known for
AngelList

Epinions

Website nav.al OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Naval Ravikant (born November 5, 1974) is an Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder and chairman of AngelList, a platform for startups, investors, and job seekers. [2] He is an angel investor who has made early-stage investments in companies including Uber, Twitter, Postmates, and Yammer. [3] Ravikant is a recipient of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship. [4] He also co-hosts a podcast with Brett Hall. [5]

Contents

Early life and education

Ravikant was born in New Delhi, India in 1974. He moved to New York City with his mother and his brother, Kamal, when he was 9 years old. He attended Stuyvesant High School and graduated in 1991. [6] In 1995, he graduated from Dartmouth College with degrees in Computer Science and Economics. [6] During college, he interned at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell. [6]

Career

After graduating, Ravikant briefly worked at Boston Consulting Group before moving to Silicon Valley. [6]

Epinions

In 1999, Ravikant co-founded the consumer product review site Epinions. The company raised $45 million in venture capital from firms including Benchmark Capital and August Capital. [7] In 2003, Epinions merged with the comparison pricing site Dealtime to become Shopping.com, which held an Initial public offering (IPO) in October 2004. [7]

In January 2005, Ravikant and three of his co-founders filed a lawsuit against Benchmark Capital, August Capital, and co-founder Nirav Tolia, alleging they were misled into approving the merger under the pretense that the company was worth less than the capital raised, making their shares worthless. [7] The lawsuit was settled in December 2005. [8]

Hit Forge

Around 2007, Ravikant started a $20 million early-stage venture capital fund named The Hit Forge. The fund invested in startups including Twitter, Uber, and Stack Overflow. [9]

AngelList

In 2007, Ravikant began co-writing a blog called Venture Hacks, which offered detailed advice on negotiating term sheets. [10] That blog evolved into AngelList, which Ravikant co-founded in 2010 as a platform for startups to connect with angel investors. [10] AngelList also operates the product discovery platform Product Hunt. In 2022, AngelList Venture raised funds at a $4 billion valuation. [11]

MetaStable Capital

Ravikant in 2011 Naval Ravikant in 2011 (cropped)1.jpg
Ravikant in 2011

In 2014, Ravikant co-founded MetaStable Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund. [12] A June 2017 regulatory filing reported the fund's assets as $69 million, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. [12]

Spearhead.co investment fund

In 2017, Ravikant launched Spearhead, an investment fund that provides capital to founders to enable them to invest in technology startups as angel investors. [13] The fund's third cohort raised $100 million for 15 founders. [3] Companies backed by Spearhead founders include Neuralink, Opendoor, and Rippling. [14]

Podcasting and writing

Ravikant hosts a podcast, Nav.al, where he discusses topics including philosophy and investing. He has also been a guest on podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience and The Tim Ferriss Show . [15]

With Ravikant's permission, Eric Jorgenson curated his tweets, essays, and interviews into a book titled The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. [16]

Airchat

In 2023, Ravikant co-founded Airchat, a social media application that uses voice notes and AI-powered transcription. [17]

References

  1. ↑ Jorgenson, Eric (2020). The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (PDF). Magrathea Publishing. ISBN   978-1-5445-1420-8 . Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  2. ↑ Clifford, Catherine (April 3, 2019). "Top Silicon Valley investor: This is what gives Elon Musk 'true superpowers' in business". CNBC. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  3. 1 2 Bertoni, Steven (October 22, 2019). "How AngelList's Naval Ravikant Is Creating A New Generation Of Angel Investors". Forbes. Retrieved May 21, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Edmund Hillary Foundation Alumni Directory". EHF. Retrieved July 2, 2025.
  5. ↑ nav.al OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. 1 2 3 4 Smillie, Eric (November 1, 2014). "Avenging Angel". Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 Rivlin, Gary (January 26, 2005). "Founders of Web Site Accuse Backers of Cheating Them (Published 2005)". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Rivlin, Gary (December 23, 2005). "Suit Over Epinions.com Is Settled". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "AngelList's Naval Ravikant on His Syndicates Program, Two Months In". Strictly VC. November 21, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  10. 1 2 Halperin, Alex (March 24, 2014). "Silicon Valley's Avenging Angel". Fast Company.
  11. ↑ Jun 2022 (March 8, 2022). "AngelList Venture takes on rare capital at a $4 billion valuation". TechCrunch.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. 1 2 Wieczner, Jen (July 26, 2016). "Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz Are Secretly Backing This Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund". Fortune. Retrieved October 21, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Spearhead will give $1M to 15 founders to invest freely". TechCrunch. October 15, 2019.
  14. ↑ "FAQ". spearhead.co.
  15. ↑ Parrish, Shane (August 17, 2019). "Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher [The Knowledge Project Ep. #18]". Farnam Street Blog.
  16. ↑ "Almanack of Naval Ravikant". navalmanack.com.
  17. ↑ Liao, Taylor (May 23, 2023). "Naval Ravikant Launches Airchat, a Social App Built on Voice". The Verge. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
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