Co-founder of AngelList. Influential angel investor in tech startups including Twitter, Uber, and crypto companies. Known for philosophical tweets on wealth and happiness.
In August 2025, Naval Ravikant donated to the Digital Freedom Fund PAC, a pro-Donald Trump political action committee. While Ravikant did not disclose the amount of his donation, the Winklevoss twins donated $21 million in Bitcoin to the same PAC. The donation reflected Ravikant's increasing political alignment with the Trump administration and its crypto-friendly regulatory stance.
Naval Ravikant endorsed Trump in September 2024, citing concerns about 'lawfare' against Trump. Said Democratic prosecutions were 'really trumped up' and 'disgusting behavior' that could turn America into a 'banana republic.' Offered to serve in Trump administration 'to protect the American Dream for my kids.' Elon Musk endorsed his analysis.
Naval Ravikant has publicly framed decentralized finance (DeFi) as a way to circumvent government oversight, stating: 'They call it DeFi, but I actually think it's more like DEFY as, just defy the government.' He co-founded MetaStable Capital, a crypto hedge fund backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. He has advocated for minimal SEC regulation of crypto, arguing regulators who restrict crypto innovation 'will go into the wastebasket of history as a villain.' He also served as a board member of the Zcash Foundation.
Naval Ravikant gave permission for Eric Jorgenson to curate his tweets, essays, and podcast interviews into 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness,' published in 2020. Ravikant does not earn any money from the book, which is available for free download in PDF and e-reader formats. The book has been widely shared as a resource on wealth creation and personal philosophy.
Naval Ravikant has publicly opposed universal basic income and direct democracy wealth redistribution, stating: 'A basic income plus a direct democracy would essentially lead to a complete economic collapse into socialism, because the moment that the bottom 51 percent figures out they can vote themselves all the money from the top 49 percent, that's what happens.' His philosophy emphasizes individual skill-building and technology leverage over systemic wealth redistribution mechanisms.
In 2018, Naval Ravikant co-founded Spearhead with Jeff Fagnan, an angel investment program that provides successful startup founders with $2M funds to invest as angel investors. The program removes the wealth barrier to angel investing, enabling founders with domain expertise but limited personal liquidity to participate. Across five cohorts, 81 Spearhead leads have invested $112 million into 794 startups, generating $4 billion in follow-on funding. Non-accredited investors can participate.
In 2011-2012, Naval Ravikant spent six months lobbying Congress in support of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which eased securities regulations to make it easier for startups to raise capital. He organized a viral petition signed by 5,000 investors and entrepreneurs, hired lobbyists on contingency fees, and met with Senate and Congressional staffers. The JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama in April 2012, with Title II lifting the ban on general solicitation for accredited investors.
Naval Ravikant co-founded AngelList in 2010 to connect startups with angel investors, addressing barriers that limited early-stage fundraising to Silicon Valley elites. The platform introduced syndicates (2013) and rolling funds (2020), enabling broader participation in venture investing. Over $3.5 billion has been invested via AngelList into 7,000+ startups, with 200+ reaching unicorn status. AngelList also spun off Republic in 2016 to enable non-accredited investor participation in startup equity crowdfunding.