Jason Calacanis is a technology entrepreneur, angel investor, and the host of the popular weekly podcast This Week in Startups. He’s the founder of a series of conferences that bring entrepreneurs together with potential investors. As a “scout” for the top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and later as an angel investor, Jason has invested in 150 early-stage startups including 4 that have achieved billion-dollar valuations (so far). His book “Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups: Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000” was published by Harper Collins on July 18th, 2017. Jason lives in San Francisco, California.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Jason’s dad
- Criminals
When business started difficulties overcame:
“Largely I didn’t know what I was doing and the information wasn’t on the internet or in books or in videos in the way it is today, so in the 90s, or late 80s and into the 90s if you wanted to understand a term sheet or you wanted to understand what venture capital was you had to go find somebody who had done it”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Man’s Search for Meaning Book by Viktor FranklFavourite Quote:
“Most people overestimate the downside risk”
Recommended Online Resources:
Podcasts
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Don’t be afraid to start, starting you’re going to do a lot by starting, starting will put you in a whole different bucket. For people who are existing entrepreneurs I would say you really want to build a business that will become very large and will become very meaningful to you, find a business that has no capped upside and that you love running”…[Listen for More]
More About Jason Calacanis:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Inspiration in the wee hours of the morning is the golden ticket.” Ginny Toole
Other Quotes From the Chat with Jason Calacanis:
- “Not giving up is probably number one to be honest, everybody gives up, the number one reason a start up fails is not because they’ve run out of money it’s that the founder gives up, a lot of times businesses will continue even though they’ve run out of money”
- “You have to have skills and that’s the thing people don’t want to put the time into”
- “If you’ve never built a sales team, learn how to build a sales team”
- “It’s okay to have no experience and skills but to have no experience and no skills? Why should you get money?”
- “You need to be able to build things without writing a check to somebody”
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