Early Life and Education
Travis Cordell Kalanick was born on August 6, 1976, in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in Northridge, Los Angeles. His parents are Bonnie Renée Horowitz Kalanick and Donald Edward Kalanick. Bonnie worked in retail advertising, and Donald was a civil engineer. Kalanick attended Granada Hills Charter High School. He later studied computer engineering and business economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was a member of Theta Xi fraternity. In 1998, he dropped out of UCLA to pursue full-time work at Scour, a multimedia search engine and peer-to-peer file-sharing service.
Rise to Success
Kalanick's entrepreneurial journey began with Scour Inc., where he handled sales and marketing. Following Scour, he co-founded Red Swoosh, a peer-to-peer content delivery network. Red Swoosh was sold to Akamai Technologies in 2007 for approximately $19 million. In 2009, Kalanick co-founded Uber with Garrett Camp. The company quickly grew from a San Francisco-based startup to a global transportation giant operating in numerous countries and cities.
Key Business Strategies
Uber's initial success was fueled by its innovative use of smartphones, cloud computing, and GPS technology, offering a convenient and efficient ride-hailing service. Kalanick focused on rapid expansion into new markets, establishing Uber as a dominant player in the transportation sector. Kalanick was known for his aggressive and combative style, pushing boundaries and challenging established taxi industries. The company went public on May 10, 2019.
Philanthropy
In 2019, Kalanick sold his Uber stock and transitioned to philanthropic pursuits. In 2020, he donated $10 million to a new medical school at the University of California, Riverside. He has also contributed to various charitable causes in the areas of education, healthcare, and disaster relief.