Naval Ravikant came to the US from India at age 9, grew up in New York, went to Dartmouth, built two companies, sued his own VCs, and then co-founded AngelList, which opened up startup investing to far more people. He became arguably the most quotable person in Silicon Valley without running a giant fund or writing his own book. His 2018 "How to Get Rich" tweetstorm has been read by more people than most bestselling finance books. He made this look effortless. It was not.
Net Worth
Not publicly disclosed
Verified Sep 2026
Nationality
Indian-American
Time Horizon
Long-Term
Risk Appetite
8 / 10
CAREER & BACKGROUND
Naval Ravikant was born in New Delhi and moved to New York at age 9. He went to Stuyvesant High School and then Dartmouth.
He co-founded Epinions in 1999, a consumer review site that raised $45 million and merged with DealTime in 2003 to form Shopping.com. That merger ended in a lawsuit.
In 2005 Naval and three co-founders sued Benchmark Capital, August Capital and co-founder Nirav Tolia, saying they had been misled about the value of their stock. It settled later that year.
He then co-founded Vast.com, an online marketplace. In 2007 he started The Hit Forge, a small fund that backed Twitter, Uber and Stack Overflow early, and co-wrote the Venture Hacks blog on term sheets.
That blog turned into AngelList in 2010, a platform that let accredited investors back startups alongside top angels. AngelList also owns Product Hunt and raised money at a $4 billion valuation in 2022.
He also co-founded the crypto fund MetaStable Capital in 2014 and the voice app Airchat in 2023.
COMPANIES & ROLES
AngelList (co-founder, 2010, now chairman). Epinions (co-founder, 1999, merged into Shopping.com).
Vast.com (co-founder). The Hit Forge (a $20 million early-stage fund, 2007).
Venture Hacks (blog, 2007, the seed of AngelList). MetaStable Capital (crypto hedge fund, co-founder, 2014).
Spearhead (fund that gives founders money to angel invest, 2017). Airchat (voice social app, co-founder, 2023).
Angel investments include Twitter, Uber, Postmates, Stack Overflow, Notion, Foursquare and Yammer, among hundreds of others.
INVESTING STYLE & PHILOSOPHY
Naval is an early-stage angel investor who backs founders he believes are building something real in large markets. He does not run a traditional fund.
He invests personally and through AngelList's syndicate model. His edge is pattern recognition built from hundreds of investments and deep engagement with the startup ecosystem.
He has said the best investments are in people, not companies — he bets on the founder's unique insight and personal character. He is known for saying yes or no quickly and not wasting founders' time.
THE PLAYBOOK
Risk Approach
Naval's approach to angel investing is explicitly probabilistic: make many small bets, expect most to fail, and let the power-law distribution of outcomes do the work. He does not try to pick the single winner from first principles.
He backs enough founders with genuine specific knowledge that the portfolio math works. He went deep on crypto early, co-founding MetaStable Capital in 2014, years before most investors took it seriously.
He has argued that in early-stage investing, returns are so concentrated in outliers that you want maximum exposure to them.
Money Habits
Naval has spoken extensively about meditation and about protecting his mornings for thinking. He avoids a packed calendar.
He reads constantly, physics, philosophy and evolution, not just business books. He rejects hustle culture and argues for working deeply on a few things.
BIGGEST WIN
His early bets through The Hit Forge, a $20 million fund he started in 2007. It backed Twitter when it was a chaotic startup with no business model.
Twitter went public in 2013 at about a $14 billion valuation and Elon Musk later bought it for $44 billion. The same fund got into Uber very early, before it became the most valuable private startup of its era.
He also backed Notion when it was a tiny seed-stage company.
BIGGEST MISTAKE
The Epinions exit. When Epinions merged into Shopping.com, the founders' common stock was worth next to nothing, even though Shopping.com went public in 2004 and was bought by eBay in 2005.
Naval felt he and the other founders had been misled about what their shares were worth. In 2005 he and three co-founders sued Benchmark Capital, August Capital and fellow co-founder Nirav Tolia.
The case settled, but it burned relationships with some of the most powerful VCs in Silicon Valley. The lesson stuck with him: know exactly what your equity is worth and who controls it.
FINANCIAL PHILOSOPHY
His wealth philosophy has been distilled into what people call "How to Get Rich" — a tweetstorm and podcast that has been read or heard by millions. The core thesis: specific knowledge (what you know that cannot be taught), leverage (code, media, capital that works while you sleep), and judgment.
He argues that wealth is built by owning equity in things, not selling your time. He is deeply skeptical of trading time for money as a long-term strategy.
FAMILY & PERSONAL LIFE
Born in New Delhi, India, in 1974. Moved to New York at age 9 with his mother and his brother Kamal Ravikant, who is also an author and entrepreneur.
He is a father and keeps family details private. He has been open in public about his meditation practice and personal growth.
EDUCATION
Stuyvesant High School in New York (1991). Dartmouth College — degree in computer science and economics, 1995.
BOOKS & RESOURCES
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QUOTES (5)
The most important skill for getting rich is becoming a perpetual learner. You have to know how to learn anything you want to learn.
Wealth is assets that earn while you sleep.
Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.
Code and media are permissionless leverage. They're the leverage behind the newly rich. You can create software and media that works for you while you sleep.
NETFIGO SCORE
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Sam Altman
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Head-to-Head
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