Travis Kalanick is a computer entrepreneur. Uber is one of its best successes, but far from being the only one. Back on the journey of this multi-talented entrepreneur.
The beginnings of Travis Kalanick
Travis Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976, in Los Angeles, California. Son of an engineering father and an advertising mother, nothing predestined him to become a successful entrepreneur. He grew up in a suburb of Los Angeles and became interested in computers from a young age. He also learned to code from college. After college, he joined UCLA or the University of California at Los Angeles, where he studied computer engineering. He did not want to pursue a career as a computer engineer but rather aspired to become an entrepreneur.
In 1998, with a group of friends, he decided to give up his studies to start entrepreneurship. Together, they founded Scour Inc, a multimedia search engine offering one of the first interfaces for sharing files from particular to particular. The site was a pioneer in this area. His services quickly became popular with the public. However, Scour had to file for bankruptcy in 2000 and sell all of its assets. Three fairly powerful companies: Motion Picture Association of America, National Music Publishers Association, and Recording Industry Association of America are suing her. These companies accuse Scour Inc of copyright infringement.
Far from being let down, Travis Kalanick repeats the exploit a year later. In 2001, he founded Red Swoosh, another company that specializes in file-sharing technology. Like Scour, this new company allows file sharing between people. Its interface also allows the rapid transfer of massive files. The success was such that in 2007, Akamai Technologies bought the company for the modest sum of $ 19 million.
Uber: one of Travis Kalanick’s great successes
Kalanick then obtains the reputation of “serial entrepreneur”. He continues his entrepreneurial adventure by founding Uber, with Garrett Camp in 2009. Uber is a mobile application intended to connect drivers and individuals. The concept is very successful, and the network is rapidly developing in several cities around the world. In 2014, the value of the company was estimated at $ 17 billion. Uber’s success is controversial. If the smartphone application is very successful with individuals, the welcome has been far from warm with taxi drivers. The latter tax Uber with unfair competition. The company has therefore been subject to several total or partial bans in several major cities around the world.
These various controversies did not prevent Kalanick from doing everything with his team to ensure the development of Uber internationally and, more particularly, in Asia. To ensure the development of his business, Kalanick and his team have also diversified their offers by now offering motorcycle taxi services. Despite everything he could bring to Uber, Kalanick is not very appreciated, especially after the scandal he had with an Uber driver and who made the buzz on the internet. Many also criticize his managerial practices. Investors fear it will tarnish the image of the company. So he is forced to resign from his executive position in 2017. After his resignation, Kalanick sold his shares, thus closing the Uber page for good.
Dana Khosrowsahi took the reins of Uber after Kalanick left, is grateful for the tenacity and vision of Kalanick and his expertise in building Uber.
Travis Kalanick after Uber
After selling his shares of Uber and other assets, Travis Kalanick pocketed the tidy sum of 2.4 billion dollars. The entrepreneur has no shortage of ideas. In March 2018, he founded his investment fund named 10100. This name does not refer to a computer code. Relatives of Kalanick claim that this choice refers to the address of his childhood home. It is, in fact, a subtle tribute to the mother of Kalanick, who had just died recently.
This investment fund is exclusively dedicated to real estate, emerging innovations in India and China as well as e-commerce. Travis Kalanick set up this investment fund to finance all types of projects, whether for profit or not. He also bought shares in the real estate startup City Storage Systems for $ 150 million. He joined the company as CEO. Through his investment fund, he founded a small real estate startup, which he called City Storage Systems. This startup, of which he is also the principal director, buys real estate properties in bad condition. It renovates these properties and then makes them available to digital companies. The startup is still a small structure currently and has only 45 employees. Yet Kalanick says his ambitions are limitless. He says his goal is to set up a startup with a larger scale than Uber in the future.
Travis Kalanick net worth: $2.6 billion
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