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Sky Dylan Dayton (born August 8, 1971) is an American
entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...
and investor. He is the founder of Internet service provider EarthLink, co-founder of eCompanies, and the founder of Boingo.


Early life

Dayton's father was the sculptor Wendell Dayton, and his mother is Alice Pero, a poet and flutist. Shortly after his birth in New York City, the family moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He lived for a time with his maternal grandfather, David DeWitt, an
IBM Fellow An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM's CEO. Typically only four to nine (eleven in 2014) IBM Fellows are appointed each year, in May or June. Fellow is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achiev ...
, who played a large part in introducing Dayton to technology. At the age of 9, he got his first computer, a
Sinclair ZX81 The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-co ...
, which he used to learn programming in BASIC. At 16, Dayton graduated from The Delphian School, a private boarding school in Oregon, which uses study methods developed by L. Ron Hubbard. He wanted to be an animator but was rejected when he applied to CalArts (the California Institute for the Arts), saying he was too young at the time. Instead, Dayton got an entry-level job at a Burbank, California, advertising firm and three months later headed the graphics department. He moved to a larger advertising agency, Mednick & Associates, where he held a similar role until he was 18."Interview: Boingo Wireless Chairman Sky Dayton". (June 1, 2010). ''Los Angeles Daily News''.


Entrepreneurial career

Dayton started his first business in 1990 at age 19. He and a friend raised money from family and friends to open Mocha Gallery (later Cafe Mocha), an art gallery and coffee house in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. While managing Cafe Mocha, Dayton and friend Adam Wicks Walker opened Dayton/Walker Design in 1992, a
Studio City Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...
advertising and design firm, serving entertainment clients including
Fox Television The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations and ...
,
Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
,
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
, Sony Pictures, and
Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. In 1993, after initially having great difficulties getting his
Macintosh computer The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
to access the Internet, Dayton said that he realized that the Internet was likely to become the next mass communications medium. In an article in '' Vanity Fair'', Dayton described his earliest interest in the Internet and its business potential: In 1994, Dayton founded EarthLink, an
Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
(
ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
) that would offer Internet access to the public. Kevin O'Donnell, father of a childhood friend, and
Reed Slatkin Reed Eliot Slatkin (January 22, 1949 – June 23, 2015) was an initial investor and co-founder of EarthLink and the perpetrator of one of the largest Ponzi schemes in the United States since that conducted by Charles Ponzi himself. Slatkin had b ...
became EarthLink's first financial backers. Other investors followed, including Greg B. Abbott, former
AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
CFO Robert Kavner, Chip Lacy, and eventually larger investors such as
George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
.Margonelli, Lisa (October 1998), "The Sky's the Limit". ''POV''. EarthLink started in a small office of in Los Angeles, California. By the summer of 1995, EarthLink reached an agreement with
UUNET UUNET, founded in 1987, was one of the largest Internet service providers and one of the early Tier 1 networks. It was based in Northern Virginia and was one of the first commercial Internet service providers. Today, UUNET is an internal brand ...
allowing it to provide service nationwide. By 1996, the company was growing at a rate of 5–10% a week. Dayton transitioned his title from founding CEO to executive chairman, handing over day-to-day operations of the company to Charles "Garry" Betty. A long-time Mac user, Dayton led the creation of a strategic partnership with Steve Jobs at Apple in 1998 that made EarthLink the default ISP pre-loaded on the
iMac iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms. In it ...
. This arrangement led to a $200 million investment by
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
in EarthLink. EarthLink grew to become the second largest U.S. Internet service providers, after AOL, with more than four million customers and over $1 billion in annual revenue. In June 1999, Dayton's title changed again, this time to non-executive chairman of EarthLink. He formed eCompanies, an
incubator An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to: Biology and medicine * Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures * Incubator (egg), a de ...
and
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...
fund for developing Internet companies, with former Disney Internet chief
Jake Winebaum Jake Winebaum (born 1959) is an American entrepreneur. Winebaum is the founder of FamilyFun magazine, Business.com, Brighter.com and co-founder of eCompanies and Applied Cognition. Early life Winebaum’s father, Sumner, was an advertising ...
. A privately held company, eCompanies successfully launched LowerMyBills.com, which was purchased by Experian in 2005 for $380 million and
JAMDAT Mobile EA Mobile Inc. is an American video game developer, video game development studio of the video game publisher, publisher Electronic Arts (EA) for mobile platforms. The studio's primary business is producing games for mobile phones. It has also ...
, which went public and was then purchased by Electronic Arts in 2005 for $680 million. Dayton and eCompanies made headlines by buying the Business.com domain name for $7.5 million, believed to be the highest price ever paid for a domain at the time, during the height of the dot com bubble; they later sold the Business.com search portal to RH Donnelly in 2007 for $345 million. In 2001, Dayton started
Boingo Wireless Boingo Wireless is an American company that designs, builds and manages wireless networks. Its public and private networks include distributed antenna systems (DAS), small cells, macro towers and more than one million Wi-Fi hotspots around the ...
to address what he saw as a fragmentation problem inherent in
Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...
networks. Boingo aggregates Wi-Fi hotspots around the globe into a single network, and has grown into one of the largest Wi-Fi operators. Boingo filed for its
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in January 2011, listing Dayton as owning 15% of the company. On May 4, 2011, Boingo Wireless went public selling 5,770,000 shares at $13.50, raising $77.9 million. Dayton served as Boingo's chairman until August, 2014. In 2005, Dayton became CEO of Helio, a mobile phone joint venture of EarthLink and SK Telecom, formed with $220 million in funding from each company. At that time, Dayton resigned as chairman of EarthLink but remained a director. In January 2008, he was appointed Chairman of Helio's board of directors for the months leading up to Helio's acquisition by
Virgin Mobile USA Virgin Mobile USA was a no-contract Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It used Sprint's network for coverage. It licensed the Virgin Mobile brand from United Kingdom-based Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile USA was headquartered in Kansas City, Misso ...
in June, 2008. Dayton is a board member of digital education company Age of Learning, which raised $150 million in 2016 at a $1 billion valuation, and $300 million in July 2021, giving the company a $3 billion valuation. He is an investor in and board member of
Diffbot Diffbot is a developer of machine learning and computer vision algorithms and public APIs for extracting data from web pages / web scraping to create a knowledge base. The company has gained interest from its application of computer vision te ...
, a semantic web and structured data startup, and
Artsy Artsy, formally known as Art.sy Inc is a New York City based online art brokerage. Its main business is developing and hosting website for numerous galleries as well as selling art for them. It utilizes a search engine and database to draw conn ...
, an online art marketplace, which raised a reported $50 million in July, 2017. Dayton said of the art market and company, “only very few people who could afford to buy rtare doing so. Many are held back by high barriers to entry, which Artsy is solving.” He is an investor i
Joby Aviation
a NASA LeapTech participant building an electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, which raised $100 million from
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
,
JetBlue JetBlue Airways Corporation (stylized as jetBlue) is a major American low cost airline, and the seventh largest airline in North America by passengers carried. The airline is headquartered in the Long Island City neighborhood of the New York C ...
and
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
in February, 2018 and went public in August, 2021, at a value of $6.6 billion. Dayton was an early investor in video doorbell company
Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
, which was acquired by
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...
in February, 2017 for $1 billion. Dayton is a co-founder of City Storage Systems and CloudKitchens, which in March, 2018 secured a $150 million investment from
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...
founder
Travis Kalanick Travis Cordell Kalanick (; born August 6, 1976) is an American businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer (CEO) of Uber. Previously he worked for Scour, a peer-to-peer file sharing application company, and was t ...
, who also joined the company as its CEO, with plans as of February, 2019, to expand into China. In January, 2019, Dayton led the Series A investment in micro satellite startup Swarm Technologies, along with PayPal co-founder
David Sacks David Sacks is an American television writer and producer. Biography He attended Harvard College, graduating with a degree in Government. While there he began his comedy writing career as an editor of the school's humor magazine, ''The Harvard ...
. About the investment, Dayton said, “Swarm’s approach reminds me of the early years at EarthLink—stay super scrappy, serve customers and generate revenue quickly.” Swarm was acquired by
SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
in August, 2021, in a transaction described as "a rare deal by Elon Musk’s space company that expands the team — and possibly the technological capabilities — of its growing Starlink internet service."


Politics and social advocacy

Dayton has identified himself as a
libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
and has listed authors
Henry Hazlitt Henry Stuart Hazlitt (; November 28, 1894 – July 9, 1993) was an American journalist who wrote about business and economics for such publications as ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Nation'', ''The American Mercury'', ''Newsweek'', and '' ...
, Frederic Bastiat, and Ayn Rand as significant influences, stating, “It never occurred to me to go to the government for a solution. It seems barbaric. A medieval solution to a Net-age problem.” In 2011, he co-hosted an event to support then Deputy Mayor and Independent candidate Austin Beutner in the Los Angeles mayoral election, 2013.


Other activities and awards

He was chosen as Entrepreneur of the Year in 1999 by the Lloyd Greif Center at the
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
's
Marshall School of Business The USC Marshall School of Business is the business school of the University of Southern California. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. In 1997 the school was renamed following a $35 million donation fr ...
. In 1999, Dayton was named to the
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and editorially independent of the university. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "The" in ...
TR100 The Innovators Under 35 is a peer-reviewed annual award and listicle published by ''MIT Technology Review'' magazine, naming the world's top 35 innovators under the age of 35. at ''Technology Review'' with lists of winners at technologyreview.com ...
, a list of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35, and in 2010 was a recipient of the Dream Keeper award from the I Have a Dream Foundation. In 2007, Dayton served on the advisory board of the
Center for Public Leadership The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. Located at Harvard ...
at the
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.


Personal life

Dayton is a surfer, amateur poker player, and airplane pilot. Dayton is married to novelist
Arwen Elys Dayton Arwen Elys Dayton is an American author of science fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction. The author of seven published works, she is best known for her award-winning novel '' Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful'' and for her ''Seeker'' tr ...
. They have three children and live in the Pacific Northwest."Interview: Boingo Wireless Chairman Sky Dayton". (June 1, 2010). ''Los Angeles Daily News''.


References


Further reading

*Rose, Frank (March 2006), "Sky Dayton Gets Mobile".
Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fr ...
, pp. 154–162. *Young, Shawn (October 26, 2005), "EarthLink, SK Telecom Dial In to Data Venture".
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
, p. B4. *"EarthLink Inc.: Wireless Joint Venture Is Signed With South Korea's SK Telecom". (January 27, 2005). The Wall Street Journal, p. D6. *Ankeny, Jason (March 2005), "Sky Dayton's Newest Next Big Thing (Again)". Wireless Review, pp. 45–50. *"Surfing Book of Records: Most Enterprising Surfer". (October 2004). Surfing Magazine, p. 66. *Dayton, Sky (May 2003). "Education in the Internet Age".
Imprimis ''Imprimis'' is the monthly speech digest of Hillsdale College, published by the Center for Constructive Alternatives. Salon.com described it as "the most influential conservative publication you've never heard of." Its name is Latin, meaning bo ...
, pp. 1–5. *Dayton, Sky (March 25, 2002). "When Capital Corrupts". Forbes ASAP. * Helio: About Helio: Meet our leaders: Sky Dayton's Bio. Retrieved May 9, 2006 *McGarvey, Robert J. (January 1998), "Sky's The Limit".
Entrepreneur.com ''Entrepreneur'' is an American magazine and website that carries news stories about entrepreneurship, small business management, and business. The magazine was first published in 1977. It is published by ''Entrepreneur Media Inc''., headquarte ...
. *I Have a Dream Foundation Dream Keeper Award Recipient (February 2010)

*EarthLink, Inc. company profile, fundinguniverse.co

*
Warren Bennis Warren Gamaliel Bennis (March 8, 1925 – July 31, 2014) was an American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership studies.Center for Public Leadership The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. Located at Harvard ...
,
John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
, Harvard University

*Sky Dayton,
Jennifer Garner Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American actress. Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Charleston, West Virginia, Garner studied theater at Denison University and began acting as an understudy for the Roundabout Theatre Compa ...
,
Dave Winfield David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he play ...
—I Have a Dream Foundation Gospel Brunch, House of Blues


External links


Sky Dayton's blog
*


Selected speeches, writings and interviews



Forbes (2002)
Education in the Internet Age
Speech at Hillsdale College (2003) published in Imprimis {{DEFAULTSORT:Dayton, Sky 1971 births Living people Harvard Kennedy School people American Scientologists American computer businesspeople