Calm Co-founder Risked House Fund to Launch App Now Valued at $2 Billion

Calm co-founder Michael Acton Smith revealed he used money saved for a house deposit to help launch the mindfulness app, a decision that laid the foundation for what would become a $2 billion company.

In an interview on The Diary of a CEO, Acton Smith recalled the pivotal moment when he and co-founder Alex Tew considered acquiring the domain Calm.com. “We thought Calm was the perfect name for this company, this mission,” Tew told CNBC Make It. Initially listed at £1 million ($1.2 million USD), the domain was out of reach. However, a year later, the owner contacted Tew willing to negotiate.

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Pooling their resources, the co-founders bought the domain at a significantly reduced price. Acton Smith contributed funds he had set aside to buy a house. “I’d earmarked this money to put a deposit down on a house, but thought buying Calm.com might be the more sensible thing to do,” he said. “My parents thought it was the silliest idea.”

Despite initial investor skepticism, Calm grew steadily. “If you think back like a decade, it’s hard to imagine now, but no one really was talking about mental health back then,” Acton Smith noted.

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Since its launch, the Calm app has been downloaded over 150 million times. “To build successful companies, you have to go to the edges, you have to do things differently and think differently,” Acton Smith added.