Naval Ravikant
Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, investor, and author who has significantly contributed to the technology industry. He was born on May 31, 1974, in New Delhi, India, and grew up in New York City. Ravikant attended Dartmouth College, where he earned a degree in economics
In 1999, Ravikant co-founded the consumer product review site Epinions, along with several other individuals. The company raised $45 million in venture capital from Benchmark Capital and August Capital. In 2003, Epinions merged with comparison pricing site Dealtime, and the company became Shopping.com. After its first day of trading in October 2004, Shopping.com was worth $750 million. However, in January 2005, Ravikant and three of his co-founders filed a lawsuit against Benchmark, August Capital, and co-founder Nirav Tolia. They claimed they were misled into believing the company was worth less than the $45 million raised in outside capital, making their shares worthless. The lawsuit was settled in December 2005.
Around 2007, Ravikant started a $20 million early-stage venture capital fund named "The Hit Forge," which invested in prominent startups, including Twitter, Uber, and Stack Overflow. In 2010, Ravikant co-founded AngelList, a fundraising platform for startups to raise money from angel investors. AngelList also operates Product Hunt. In 2022, AngelList reached a $4 billion valuation. Naval is the co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of AngelList.
In 2014, Ravikant co-founded MetaStable Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund that owned Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, and several other cryptocurrencies. A June 2017 regulatory filing reported its assets as $69 million. Investors in the fund include Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
In 2017, Ravikant launched Spearhead, an investment fund that raised $100 million for its third fund to provide founders with $1 million each to invest in technology companies as angel investors. The first two classes of Spearhead include founders from 35 companies. Together, these companies are worth over $10 billion, and four of them are unicorns.
Naval runs a short-form podcast at Nav.al and Spearhead. co, discussing philosophy, business, and investing. He has also been a podcast guest on several popular shows, including The Joe Rogan Experience, The Tim Ferriss Show, and Coffee with Scott Adams.
