Jason Calacanis is an American entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, and author. In October 2005, he sold his first company, Weblogs, Inc., to AOL for $30 million.
He then started a number of web businesses, such as Silicon Alley Reporter and Mahalo.com, a web directory. He is mostly an angel investor now. By far, his best investment as a venture capitalist was an early bet on Uber. As we explain further in this article, Jason’s paper holdings were worth about $124 million on the day Uber went public.
Early Life of Jason Calacanis
Jason was born on November 28, 1970, and grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Brooklyn. Calacanis is the middle child of three. They are all boys with Irish and Greek roots.
He went to Xaverian High School for his high school education, and he graduated from there in 1988. He then went to Fordham University to study psychology and get a degree.
Jason didn’t go right into business when he got out of college. In the 1990s, he started his career as a reporter in New York, where he wrote about the growth of the online business.
Professional Life of Jason Calacanis
Calacanis saw that there were a lot of business opportunities on the internet. So, he started Rising Tide Studios, a company that made magazines in print and online. Venture Reporter, Silicon Alley Reporter, and Digital Coast Reporter are some of the magazines it puts out.
But his first attempt to do something online didn’t go very well. In 2003, he got his big break when he and another internet entrepreneur, Brian Alvey, started Weblogs, Inc. Mark Cuban, a billionaire, helped them out with angel investment, and the blog network became a hit right away.
Weblogs were bought by Time Warner’s America Online for more than $25 million two years after it began. Jason worked at Netscape and Sequoia Capital in the future. He also started the Mahalo.com search engine, which was shut down in 2014.
Other Projects of Jason Calacanis
Calacanis tried different business ideas in 2009. He set up the Open Angel Forum, a way for early-stage companies to connect with angel investors. With the LAUNCH Conference, they were in charge of events.
In 2009, he also began a weekly hour-long podcast called “This Week in Startups.” The show-stopped for a short time in 2012, but it is now one of the most important podcasts about angel investing. In 2022, Jason worked with Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, and David Friedberg to host another podcast called “All In.”
In 2017, he wrote a book called “Angel: How to Invest in Tech Startups.” Jason made The Syndicate, a club for angel investors that has three groups of investors called “syndicates.” He also started the Sydney Launch Festival in Australia, which gives small businesses there a chance to go global.
How Did Jason Calacanis Get Rich?
According to celebritynetworth American entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, and author Jason Calacanis has a net worth of $60 million.
Jason Calacanis has put money into more than 300 businesses in the last ten years. He started investing in well-known companies like Trello, Thumbtack, Uber, Calm, Wealthfront, and Robinhood as an angel investor. But before that, he had already made a lot of money from the sale of Weblogs, Inc.
People say that the famous businessman makes $4 million a year from his businesses and investments. He also makes money from podcasts, book sales, and the angel investing club he runs.
Which Was the First Web Browser of the Jason?
After selling his Weblogs, Jason became the general manager of Netscape, which was one of the first web browsers. He worked for Netscape until 2006 when he joined Sequoia Capital as the Entrepreneur In Action.
After getting $20 million to start the search engine Mahalo.com, he left Sequoia in 2007. After getting $20 million in venture capital funding from people like Sequoia, Mark Cuban, and Elon Musk, he started Mahalo. Unfortunately for Jason, Mahalo was destroyed by a Google algorithm update in 2011. At one point, it had 15 million visitors per month. The business shut down in 2014.
Also read: Star Jones Net Worth: How Did Star Jones Start Her Writing Career?
How Much Did Jason Invest in Uber?
By FAR, Jason’s best investment so far has been in Uber. When Jason worked at Sequoia Capital in 2009, he had the chance to put $25,000 into Uber, which was worth $4 million at the time.
He was one of the first 15 people to put money into the business. If he had kept his whole stake, as he has said, Jason’s shares in Uber were worth $124 million after the company went public in May 2019.
Also read: Horacio Pagani Net Worth: Who is the Owner of Pagani?
How Jason Made Embarrassed Elon Musk?
Elon Musk‘s attempt to buy Twitter put Jason in a bad light and made him feel embarrassed. In September 2022, as part of the lawsuit between Musk and Twitter, a group of text messages and emails that Elon got about the Twitter deal were made public.
Elon’s texts included Jason more than once. Jason sent Elon a lot of unsolicited advice in April 2022. One of the things he said was that Twitter should cut the number of employees in half on “day zero.”
Conclusion
Jason Calacanis is an American entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, and author. In 2005, he sold his first company, Weblogs, Inc., to AOL for $30 million. He also started the Mahalo.com search engine, which was shut down in 2014. Jason Calacanis is an American entrepreneur, angel investor, podcaster, and author.
He started investing in well-known companies like Trello, Thumbtack, Uber, Calm, Wealthfront, and Robinhood as an angel investor. Jason makes $4 million a year from his businesses and investments. Jason worked at Sequoia Capital and Mahalo.
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