# Naval Ravikant

> Naval Ravikant is an Indian-born American entrepreneur, angel investor, and philosopher best known for co-founding AngelList, the platform that democratized startup fundraising. An early investor in Twitter, Uber, and over 200 companies, he is equally renowned for his unconventional wisdom on wealth, happiness, and meaning - distilled in 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant' and a podcast followed by millions worldwide.

- **Role:** Co-founder and Chairman at AngelList
- **Organizations:** AngelList, Spearhead, MetaStable Capital, Airchat, Impossible
- **From:** New Delhi, India
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** High School Diploma, Stuyvesant High School, B.A. Computer Science and Economics, Dartmouth College
- **Known for:** Co-founded AngelList, democratizing access to startup fundraising and venture capital, Early-stage angel investor in 200+ companies including Twitter, Uber, Notion, and Stack Overflow, Co-founded Venture Hacks, demystifying VC term sheets for entrepreneurs

## Career timeline

- **1998** — Founded Genoa Corp (later acquired by Finisar)
- **1999** — Co-founded Epinions.com with $8M seed funding from Benchmark and August Capital
- **2003** — Epinions acquired by Dealtime; later merged to become Shopping.com
- **2004** — Shopping.com IPO - major career milestone
- **2005** — Filed lawsuit against Benchmark Capital and August Capital over merger structure; settled December 2005
- **2007** — Founded The Hit Forge ($20M early-stage VC fund); co-founded Venture Hacks blog with Babak Nivi
- **2010** — Co-founded AngelList with Babak Nivi, revolutionizing startup-investor connections
- **2014** — Co-founded MetaStable Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund
- **2017** — Launched Spearhead, an investment fund empowering founders to angel invest
- **2023** — Co-founded Airchat, a voice-based social media platform
- **2025** — Exploring AI business management at a company called Impossible

## Achievements

- Co-founded AngelList, democratizing access to startup fundraising and venture capital
- Early-stage angel investor in 200+ companies including Twitter, Uber, Notion, and Stack Overflow
- Co-founded Venture Hacks, demystifying VC term sheets for entrepreneurs
- Published (via Eric Jorgenson) 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant' - freely available and widely read
- Launched Spearhead to empower founders as angel investors
- Built one of Silicon Valley's most influential podcast and social media presences
- Recipient of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship
- Co-founded MetaStable Capital as an early institutional crypto fund

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — Released podcast episode 'Sell the Truth' on persuasion, charisma, and dealmaking
- **2026-04** — Released podcast episode 'A Return to Code' exploring AI coding agents
- **2026-02** — Released 'A Motorcycle for the Mind' podcast episode on AI and cognition
- **2025-11** — Commented publicly on crypto replacing fiat money with a free-market system
- **2025-01** — Began working at Impossible, exploring AI-managed businesses
- **2024-12** — Appeared on Arjun Khemani's podcast discussing 'The Beginning of Infinity' and AI

## Links

- Website: https://nav.al/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/navalr
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/naval
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NavalR
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naval_tweets_/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/naval-ravikant
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-19