Naval Ravikant

American entrepreneur and investor (born 1974)

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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]

Early life and education

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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

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

Epinions

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.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}Main article: 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

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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

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Main article: 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

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Ravikant in 2011

Find Best Sellers Product Here

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

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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

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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

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

References

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.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}body.skin-vector-2022 .mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:27em}body.skin-vector-2022 .mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:22.5em}.mw-parser-output .references[data-mw-group=upper-alpha]{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .references[data-mw-group=upper-roman]{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .references[data-mw-group=lower-alpha]{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .references[data-mw-group=lower-greek]{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .references[data-mw-group=lower-roman]{list-style-type:lower-roman}.mw-parser-output div.reflist-liststyle-upper-alpha .references{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output div.reflist-liststyle-upper-roman .references{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output div.reflist-liststyle-lower-alpha .references{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output div.reflist-liststyle-lower-greek .references{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output div.reflist-liststyle-lower-roman .references{list-style-type:lower-roman}

^ .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:”””””””‘””‘”}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg”)right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg”)right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg”)right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url(“//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg”)right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(–color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(–color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}Jorgenson, Eric (2020). The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (PDF). Magrathea Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5445-1420-8. Retrieved March 19, 2021.

^ Clifford, Catherine (April 3, 2019). “Top Silicon Valley investor: This is what gives Elon Musk ‘true superpowers’ in business”. CNBC. Retrieved March 15, 2020.

^ a b Bertoni, Steven (October 22, 2019). “How AngelList’s Naval Ravikant Is Creating A New Generation Of Angel Investors”. Forbes. Retrieved May 21, 2024.

^ “Edmund Hillary Foundation Alumni Directory”. EHF. Retrieved July 2, 2025.

^ nav.al

^ a b c d Smillie, Eric (November 1, 2014). “Avenging Angel”. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. Retrieved October 11, 2024.

^ a b c Rivlin, Gary (January 26, 2005). “Founders of Web Site Accuse Backers of Cheating Them (Published 2005)”. The New York Times.

^ Rivlin, Gary (December 23, 2005). “Suit Over Epinions.com Is Settled”. The New York Times.

^ “AngelList’s Naval Ravikant on His Syndicates Program, Two Months In”. Strictly VC. November 21, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2020.

^ a b Halperin, Alex (March 24, 2014). “Silicon Valley’s Avenging Angel”. Fast Company.

^ 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)

^ a b Wieczner, Jen (July 26, 2016). “Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz Are Secretly Backing This Cryptocurrency Hedge Fund”. Fortune. Retrieved October 21, 2024.

^ “Spearhead will give $1M to 15 founders to invest freely”. TechCrunch. October 15, 2019.

^ “FAQ”. spearhead.co.

^ Parrish, Shane (August 17, 2019). “Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher [The Knowledge Project Ep. #18]”. Farnam Street Blog.

^ “Almanack of Naval Ravikant”. navalmanack.com.

^ 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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Naval Ravikant

Early life and education