I enjoyed catching up with the James Altucher Show this morning, and thought I would share some of the program with CEO.ca readers.
Altucher’s had a diverse career as an entrepreneur, hedge fund manager, and angel investor, and he has a penchant for spilling his guts out. As a writer, he’s become something of a self help Guru in recent years.
Jason Calacanis was the guest on Altucher’s show this week. Calacanis founded Silicon Alley Reporter, an influential New York City based startup publication, in the 1990s, which folded after the dot-com bust. He also created Weblogs Inc which sold to AOL for $25 million in 2005. Calacanis is currently the host of This Week in Startups, an excellent twice weekly startups focused podcast. He is also an active angel investor in Uber and countless other companies. Over the past two decades, few journalists have covered the startup scene more than Calacanis, and he has built a master network in the realm as a result.
So when I heard that James and Jason were going to spend an hour together with the audio recorders rolling, I had to tune in.
Calacanis said he loves angel investing and podcasting because it allows him to hang out with friends and make new ones. It also appeals to his gambling nature.
The notoriety gained from podcasting also helps him meet potential talent. iOS developers are the most competitive hires currently, Calacanis believes. He also said he could meet 20 of them next week because of his podcast connections.
As an angel investor, Calacanis likes to back founders with obsessive knowledge of their competitors, including the nuances and history of their products. Then he looks for awesome execution in terms of design, copy, and other details.
“If you are really knowledgeable and you are executing at a high level on a product basis, that’s a good start,” Calacanis said. He is a founder-focused investor.
The conversation turned to Elon Musk, a longtime friend of Calacanis. Space-x, not Tesla, is Musk’s true passion, Calacanis said. And talk about lofty goals, Musk’s is to reach Mars within his lifetime.
Calacanis relayed that Google co-founder Larry Page believes it would be more interesting to give his fortune to Musk to solve the world’s problems rather than other causes.
Calacanis spent some time promoting Angel List syndicates, a web based equity crowdfunding tool for startups embraced by several venture capital celebrities. He believes that syndicates are perfect for investors without access to early stage technology deal flow. He also said that somebody with a $3 million net worth may want to consider investing $3000 in 30 different deals, and put $90,000 to work, which speaks to his thoughts on asset allocation and the risks associated with venture investments.
According to Calacanis, IPOs are becoming irrelevant, as there is already tremendous demand for shares of private startups through secondary markets.
The podcasting duo went on to discuss books of interest. Calacanis is currently reading Creativity Inc by Pixar founder Ed Catmull. Both men like Bird by Bird, a book on life and writing. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin is another book that both gentlemen love. Altucher gave praise to Zero to One by Peter Theil, calling it one of the best business books he’s read.