Travis Kalanick, born on August 6, 1976 (48 years old) in Los Angeles, United States, is a businessman from the country who founded Uber with his partner in 2009. He is also often categorized as a programmer, due to his ease with software and the invention of several startups.
Currently, Kalanick left the position of CEO of Uber after a couple of controversies that engulfed the company and now serves as CEO of Storage Systems, a company dedicated to addressing problems in the real estate world. Microsoft was one of the company’s investors and bet on Travis’s new business.
Travis Kalanick and dropping out of college
Most of the billionaires we know today tend to begin their studies in Business Administration, Finance, Economics, etc. However, this was not the case for Kalanick, who dropped out of college to focus on his ventures.
After finishing high school in Los Angeles, he entered the University of California, Los Angeles, where he enrolled in computer engineering while working in sales and commerce. At 22 years old, in 1998, he decided to leave his studies to start his first business.
Startups were Kalanick’s first steps, which are emerging companies founded with the goal of commercializing. They are based on technology, communications, and software to allow rapid growth and capture market share.
Scour was the name of Kalanick’s startup with his college classmates, although the project ended poorly due to copyright issues. Ultimately, the company declared bankruptcy to avoid a legal battle that would not have been fruitful for Scour.
Later, with the same group that founded Scour, at the age of 25 they launched another startup called Red Swoosh, which was dedicated to exchanging large assets like movies and more. When the company gained popularity and started making profits, a new legal issue shut the project down, and it was sold for 19 million dollars to another company.
Uber and the leap to success
As we can see, the story of Travis Kalanick never seems to end due to his drive and eagerness to start new things. With the financial backing from his previous startup, he first spent a year traveling the world and then returned to focus entirely on new ideas, which led to the creation of Uber.
Uber arose from a need Kalanick had to connect drivers with customers through a button or a tap. That’s precisely how the idea for the app came about, founded in 2008 by the Californian and Garret Camp. The app also aimed to allow passengers to share rides.
Immediately, the company generated a boom in the market, profits, and unusual success. Companies like Amazon and Google were eager to invest in the jewel Kalanick and his partner had founded. The rapid expansion resulted in connections with over 500 cities and 66 countries.
However, all of Uber’s success caused controversies in the transportation world. The competition with taxis and their discontent with this ride-sharing service through an app caused tensions, and in 2017, several complaints promoted Kalanick’s removal from the company.
The story ends with Travis stepping down as CEO of Uber, a company that continues to operate very successfully but without its founder’s leadership. In fact, a series and audiovisual content recount Kalanick’s process from the invention of the app to his departure.
Present
Kalanick’s drive to try new things didn’t stop, and combined with Uber’s financial backing, he entered another industry: real estate. Today, the Californian is CEO of Storage Systems, which, among other things, invests in the real estate sector, specifically to solve storage problems or bankruptcies.
A few years ago, one of the company’s operations was valued at nearly 900 million dollars, and among the investors was Microsoft, which recognized the potential of Storage Systems. Kalanick is not currently among the richest people on Forbes, but during Uber’s peak, he was ranked among the top 500.
While some wondered where Kalanick was, his role as CEO of Storage Systems has been fruitful, and he continues to work as an entrepreneur in the United States. The ambitious young man who left college to dive into startups ended up creating Uber, one of the most important transportation apps in the world.
This is the story of Kalanick, who as a child wanted to be a spy and ended up being a prominent businessman in his country.