Jason Calacanis
Encyclopedia
Jason McCabe Calacanis is an American Internet entrepreneur and blogger. His first company was part of the dot-com
era in New York, and his second venture, Weblogs, Inc., capitalized on the growth of blog
s before being sold to AOL
.
, New York
. He graduated from Xaverian High School
in 1988. He then attended Fordham University
, where he majored in psychology.
community and in 1996 began producing a publication known as the Silicon Alley Reporter. Originally a 16-page photocopied newsletter, as its popularity grew it expanded into a 300-page magazine, with a sister publication called the Digital Coast Reporter for the West Coast. Calacanis's tireless socializing earned him a nickname as the "yearbook editor" of the Silicon Alley community. With the end of the Dot-com bubble
, Silicon Alley Reporter failed.
Calacanis co-founded Weblogs, Inc.
with Brian Alvey
in 2003, supported by an angel investment from Mark Cuban
. Time Warner
's America Online agreed to buy Weblogs, Inc. in October 2005 for $25–30 million.
website. Calacanis used the model pioneered by Digg
, Del.icio.us
, and Furl
and added an editorial layer to the system. The project has launched and occupied the front page of Netscape
. Calacanis started by hiring a team of eight "anchors" to follow up users' top stories. He then hired some of the top users of social bookmarking
sites like Digg
, Reddit
, Newsvine
and Flickr
to go to Netscape as Netscape Navigators, which prompted a public debate with Kevin Rose
, founder of Digg
.
On November 16, 2006, TechCrunch reported that Calacanis had resigned from his position as CEO of Weblogs, Inc. and General Manager of Netscape
. Calacanis later confirmed this with a post at his blog.
reported that Calacanis was going to announce his new position at Sequoia Capital
as an EIA (entrepreneur in action). Calacanis later confirmed this on his blog.
, a "human-powered search engine", which launched in alpha test in May 2007. During a speech about the site at the Gnomedex
conference in August 2007, Calacanis got into a public confrontation with Dave Winer
that led to Winer's resignation from the panel of experts for the TechCrunch20 conference organized by Calacanis. Winer interrupted Calacanis' speech during the event, calling it "conference spam" and igniting a war of words on their blogs. "I'm not interested in having someone berate me like this," Calacanis wrote on his blog.
As of April 21, 2010 Mahalo had 9.4 million global (5.7 million US) unique monthly visitors, down from a peak of 14.1 million global (7.4 million US) unique monthly visitors, according to Quantcast
.
, an event that connects early stage startups with angel investors. The forum was the culmination of a series of public comments by Calacanis questioning the ethics of pay-to-pitch angel forums. Calacanis believes startups shouldn't have to pay to pitch angel investors. Calacanis is also an Angel Investor in Gowalla
.
to spotlight unannounced start-ups. The first conference was held on February 23rd and 24th 2011 and featured 140 startups. A number of companies received funding at the event and the winners included Room 77 and GreenGoose.
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
era in New York, and his second venture, Weblogs, Inc., capitalized on the growth of blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s before being sold to AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
.
Early life
Calacanis was born in Bay Ridge, BrooklynBay Ridge, Brooklyn
Bay Ridge is a neighborhood in the southwest corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA. It is bounded by Sunset Park on the north, Seventh Avenue and Dyker Heights on the east, The Narrows Strait, which partially houses the Belt Parkway, on the west and 86th Street and Fort Hamilton on...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He graduated from Xaverian High School
Xaverian High School
Xaverian High School is a private, college-preparatory school located in Brooklyn, New York The school was founded in 1957 by the Xaverian Brothers. The school is a member of the Catholic High School Athletic Association . Xaverian is governed by a president and board of trustees...
in 1988. He then attended Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, where he majored in psychology.
Career
During the dot-com boom, Calacanis was active in New York's Silicon AlleySilicon Alley
Silicon Alley is a nickname for an area with a concentration of Internet and new media companies in Manhattan, New York City. Originally, the term referred to the cluster of such companies extending from the Flatiron District down to SoHo and TriBeCa along the Broadway corridor, but as the location...
community and in 1996 began producing a publication known as the Silicon Alley Reporter. Originally a 16-page photocopied newsletter, as its popularity grew it expanded into a 300-page magazine, with a sister publication called the Digital Coast Reporter for the West Coast. Calacanis's tireless socializing earned him a nickname as the "yearbook editor" of the Silicon Alley community. With the end of the Dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
, Silicon Alley Reporter failed.
Calacanis co-founded Weblogs, Inc.
Weblogs, Inc.
Weblogs, Inc. is a blog network of about 90 blogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming . Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained. Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003.-History:...
with Brian Alvey
Brian Alvey
Brian Alvey along with Jason Calacanis co-founded the publishing company Weblogs, Inc., home to such blogs as Engadget, Autoblog, Joystiq, TV Squad, Cinematical and Slashfood. Time Warner's America Online purchased Weblogs, Inc. in October 2005. In November 2006, AOL also purchased the blogging...
in 2003, supported by an angel investment from Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban
Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....
. Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
's America Online agreed to buy Weblogs, Inc. in October 2005 for $25–30 million.
Netscape.com
Six months into his tenure with AOL, Calacanis was offered a chance to be the General Manager of the new NetscapeNetscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
website. Calacanis used the model pioneered by Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
, Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005, and by the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs...
, and Furl
Furl
Furl was a free social bookmarking website that allowed members to store searchable copies of webpages and share them with others. Every member received 5 gigabytes of storage space. The site was founded by Mike Giles in 2003 and purchased by LookSmart in 2004...
and added an editorial layer to the system. The project has launched and occupied the front page of Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
. Calacanis started by hiring a team of eight "anchors" to follow up users' top stories. He then hired some of the top users of social bookmarking
Social bookmarking
Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to organize, store, manage and search for bookmarks of resources online. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them....
sites like Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
Reddit
reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...
, Newsvine
Newsvine
Newsvine is a community-powered, collaborative journalism news website, owned by msnbc.com, which draws content from its users and syndicated content from mainstream sources such as The Associated Press...
and Flickr
Flickr
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community that was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to...
to go to Netscape as Netscape Navigators, which prompted a public debate with Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose
Kevin Rose is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk...
, founder of Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
.
On November 16, 2006, TechCrunch reported that Calacanis had resigned from his position as CEO of Weblogs, Inc. and General Manager of Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
. Calacanis later confirmed this with a post at his blog.
Sequoia Capital
On December 5, 2006, TechcrunchTechCrunch
TechCrunch is a web publication that offers technology news and analysis, as well as profiling of startup companies, products, and websites. It was founded by Michael Arrington in 2005, and was first published on June 11, 2005....
reported that Calacanis was going to announce his new position at Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...
as an EIA (entrepreneur in action). Calacanis later confirmed this on his blog.
Mahalo.com
Calacanis founded Mahalo.comMahalo.com
Mahalo.com is a web directory and Internet-based knowledge exchange launched in alpha test in May 2007 by Jason Calacanis...
, a "human-powered search engine", which launched in alpha test in May 2007. During a speech about the site at the Gnomedex
Gnomedex (conference)
Gnomedex is a single-track technology conference hosted by Chris Pirillo, the owner of Lockergnome, LLC and is produced by Chris Pirillo and his staff at Lockergnome. Pirillo was the co-host of the show Call For Help on the former cable television channel TechTV. Gnomedex started as an outgrowth...
conference in August 2007, Calacanis got into a public confrontation with Dave Winer
Dave Winer
Dave Winer is an American software developer, entrepreneur and writer in New York City. Winer is noted for his contributions to outliners, scripting, content management, and web services, as well as blogging and podcasting...
that led to Winer's resignation from the panel of experts for the TechCrunch20 conference organized by Calacanis. Winer interrupted Calacanis' speech during the event, calling it "conference spam" and igniting a war of words on their blogs. "I'm not interested in having someone berate me like this," Calacanis wrote on his blog.
As of April 21, 2010 Mahalo had 9.4 million global (5.7 million US) unique monthly visitors, down from a peak of 14.1 million global (7.4 million US) unique monthly visitors, according to Quantcast
Quantcast
Quantcast is a California based company that provides publishers and marketers with the ability to understand, deliver and reach their best audiences at a massive scale...
.
Angel Investing
In 2009 Calacanis founded the Open Angel ForumOpen Angel Forum
The Open Angel Forum is a recurring event designed to aid early stage startup companies seeking funding, via presentations to prospective angel investors....
, an event that connects early stage startups with angel investors. The forum was the culmination of a series of public comments by Calacanis questioning the ethics of pay-to-pitch angel forums. Calacanis believes startups shouldn't have to pay to pitch angel investors. Calacanis is also an Angel Investor in Gowalla
Gowalla
Gowalla is a location-based social network. Users 'check in' at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive virtual "items" from check-ins. Items have developed to become a promotional tool for...
.
ThisWeekIn.com
Calacanis is a co-founder of ThisWeekIn.com and host of the live streamed "This Week In Startups" on the network.LAUNCH Conference
Calacanis announced the creation of the LAUNCH ConferenceLAUNCH Conference
The LAUNCH Conference was created by Jason Calacanis. Although it is legally unrelated to the TechCrunch40 and TechCrunch50 events, it has been perceived as the natural evolution of those events citing Calacanis' involvement, and then split, from Michael Arrington and the TechCrunch series of events...
to spotlight unannounced start-ups. The first conference was held on February 23rd and 24th 2011 and featured 140 startups. A number of companies received funding at the event and the winners included Room 77 and GreenGoose.