How civilian astronaut Jared Isaacman built his billion-dollar business

Billionaire Jared Isaacman makes space history again.

Isaacman floated in the vacuum of space outside a SpaceX capsule for 10 minutes Thursday. Isaacman, the billionaire CEO and founder of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, was part of the first-ever civilian spacewalk, three years after leading the mission as commander of the world’s first civilian mission to orbit. SpaceX’s 2021 missions.

Both private space missions were reportedly funded by an undisclosed amount by Isaacman, whose net worth is estimated at $1.9 billion. Forbes.

Isaacman said in an interview with CNBC: “I decided to go to space when I was 5 years old. I thought about it deeply at the time, and it just took me a while to take action.”

Isaacman, 41, was an accomplished pilot who set world record In 2009, it won the record for the fastest around-the-world flight by a light jet. He is a long-time advocate for the expansion of the private space industry, which he said could lead to “a world where everyone can have interstellar adventures.”

Here’s the story of how he went from teenage entrepreneur running a business out of his parents’ New Jersey basement to a billionaire floating in space.

Teen Entrepreneur Turns Billionaire Citizen Astronaut

As a teenager, Isaacman’s computer skills helped him land an IT consulting job at a payment processing company, leading him to drop out of high school. Within months, the 16-year-old decided to create a rival company that would streamline the customer experience by letting business owners fill out applications online.

Using a $10,000 check from his grandfather as seed capital, he opened a store in the basement of his childhood home. “You know, you need $10,000 to build a few computers,” Isaacman said. “That’s not expensive. Plus, you’ll need some cell phones, and that’ll be enough to keep you going.”

His first hires included his friend Brendan Lauber, who served as Shift4’s chief technology officer until last year. isaacman’s fatherwas a salesman who worked for a home security company.

Shift4 went public in June 2020 and had a market capitalization of $7.4 billion as of Friday afternoon. it is based on a 75,000 sq. ft. headquarters The company is based in Pennsylvania’s Center Valley and has more than 2,000 employees nationwide.

“At that age, you just couldn’t imagine” that the company would be worth billions of dollars, Isaacman said. “One of the best times in a startup is when you have eight people eating Chinese food in the basement and everyone is sharing knowledge, sharing your successes and failures together, and learning together.”

Fly to avoid burnout

Isaacman’s constant struggle to get his career off the ground at such a young age put him on the verge of burnout early on. Isaacman is a lifelong airplane enthusiast who took flying lessons in his 20s to free up some energy.

In 2009, Isaacman set a world record by flying around the world in a Cessna Citation CJ2 Less than 62 hours — about 20 hours shorter than the previous record holder. Three years later, he founded Draken International, a company that trains cadet pilots for the U.S. Air Force. He reportedly sold it to investment firm Blackstone Group in 2020 for a “nine-figure sum” Forbes.

As the private space industry grew, Isaacman saw an opportunity to take his flying hobby to greater heights, saying, “Starting in about 2007, I started knocking on SpaceX and a few other[private space]companies. company) door, just expressed my interest and you know, ‘Hey, if there’s an opportunity, come to me.

That opportunity came in 2021, when he commanded four astronauts for three days in orbit. During this week’s five-day trip, he must don a spacesuit and exit the capsule.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’ve been very lucky in life,” Isaacman tell bloombergbefore the spacewalk. “You know – a teenage basement startup that just wanted to buy pizza on the weekend and then it turned into an empire.”

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