Naval Biography Timeline + Background
Timeline (p21, source-stated)
| Year | Age | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 0 | Born Delhi, India |
| 1985 | 9 | Moved from New Delhi to Queens, NY |
| 1989 | 14 | Attended Stuyvesant High School |
| 1995 | 21 | Graduated Dartmouth (CS + economics) |
| 1999 | 25 | Founder/CEO Epinions |
| 2001 | 27 | Venture Partner, August Capital |
| 2003 | 29 | Founded Vast.com (classified ad marketplace) |
| 2005 | 30 | Called "Radioactive Mud" in Silicon Valley |
| 2007 | 32 | Founded Hit Forge (small VC fund / incubator) |
| 2007 | 32 | Launched VentureHacks blog |
| 2010 | 34 | Launched AngelList |
| 2010 | 34 | Invested in Uber |
| 2012 | 36 | Lobbied Congress to pass the JOBS Act |
| 2018 | 43 | Named "Angel Investor of the Year" |
Self-told background (pp24–25)
- Single-parent household; mother working, going to school, raising Naval and brother as latchkey kids.
- "We were poor immigrants." Father was pharmacist in India; degree not accepted in US, worked in a hardware store. Family split up.
- Mother provided "unconditional and unfailing love" against the hardship backdrop.
- "Not very safe" part of NYC; library was after-school center. Reading filled the friend-shortage.
- "Books make for great friends — the best thinkers of the last few thousand years tell you their nuggets of wisdom."
- First job at 15: illegal catering company, back-of-van Indian food delivery. Earlier: paper route, washing cafeteria dishes.
- Passing the Stuyvesant test "saved my life" — Ivy League access → tech access. "Intelligence lottery: blue collar to white collar in one move."
- Dartmouth: CS + economics. Considered econ PhD.
- Today: investor in ~200 companies, advisor to many more, on multiple boards, partner in a crypto fund. Founder/chairman of AngelList.
- Self-summary: "I was born poor and miserable. I'm now pretty well-off, and I'm very happy. I worked at those."
Mother's prophecy (pp42–43)
When Naval was 15–16, talking to a friend about being an astrophysicist, his mother said from the kitchen: "No, you're going to go into business." She had spotted his specific knowledge (sales/pitching/analytical pattern-recognition) decades before he did.
Related
- Specific Knowledge — discovery arc.
- Long-Term vs Status Games — career as iterated game.
- Accountability — pivot to public philosophy under his own name (~2013–14).
Sources: [Almanack pp21, 24-25]