Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.
Billionaire Jared Isaacman made history in space - again.
Isaacman recently spent 10 minutes floating in the vacuum of space outside a SpaceX capsule. The billionaire CEO and founder of Shift4 Payments participated in the first-ever all-civilian spacewalk, three years after leading a 2021 SpaceX mission as the commander of the world’s first all-civilian orbital flight.
Both private missions were funded by Isaacman himself for undisclosed amounts. His estimated net worth stands at $1.9 billion, according to Forbes.
"I decided I was going to go to space when I was 5 years old," Isaacman shared in a 2021 interview. "I was pretty calculated about it at that point; it just took me a little while to get it into motion."
At 41, Isaacman is a skilled pilot who set a world record in 2009 for the fastest flight around the globe in a light jet. He is also a strong advocate for the growth of the private space industry, envisioning “a future where everyone can explore the stars.”
Here's how he transformed from a teenage entrepreneur running a business out of his parents’ basement in New Jersey to a billionaire floating in space.
From Teen Entrepreneur to Billionaire Astronaut
As a teenager, Isaacman’s computer skills helped him land an IT consulting job at a payment processing firm, causing him to drop out of high school. Within months, the 16-year-old decided to create a rival company, simplifying his clients’ experience by having business owners fill out their applications online.
He used a $10,000 check from his grandfather as seed money and set up shop in his childhood home’s basement. ”$10,000, you know, you needed to build a couple of computers,” Isaacman said. “That wasn’t expensive. And, you needed some phones, and that was enough to get you going.”
His first employees included his friend Brendan Lauber, who was Shift4′s chief technology officer until last year, and Isaacman’s dad, a salesman who had previously worked for a home security company.
Shift4 went public in June 2020, and has a market value of $7.4 billion, as of Friday afternoon. It’s based out of a 75,000-square-foot headquarters in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, and the company has over 2,000 employees across the country.
“There’s just no way, at that age, you could ever imagine” the company becoming worth billions of dollars, said Isaacman. “One of the best times at a startup is when you’ve got the eight people in the basement eating Chinese food and everybody kind of shares knowledge, and you share in your successes and failures together, and you learn together.”
Flying to Beat Burnout
Working nonstop to launch his business at such a young age nearly led Isaacman to early burnout. As a lifelong aviation enthusiast, he took up flying lessons in his 20s as a way to unwind.
In 2009, he broke a world record by flying around the world in a Cessna Citation CJ2 in just under 62 hours, shaving about 20 hours off the previous record. Three years later, he founded Draken International, a company that trains student pilots for the U.S. Air Force, which he sold to Blackstone Group in 2020 for a “nine-figure sum,” as reported by Forbes.
As the private space industry began to take off, Isaacman saw a chance to elevate his flying passion. Starting around 2007, he said he began contacting SpaceX and other private aerospace firms, expressing his interest: "Hey, if space travel ever becomes a reality, keep me in mind."
His opportunity arrived in 2021 when he led a three-day mission in orbit with a four-person crew. During his recent five-day journey, he suited up and ventured outside the capsule for a spacewalk.
“I consider myself incredibly fortunate,” Isaacman told Bloomberg before the spacewalk. "From a teenage startup in a basement, just trying to buy pizza on the weekends, it’s grown into something extraordinary."
