The teenage years tend to be the storm before the calm. They play a very critical role in determining futures. It’s that time of life when the world can either open up like an oyster or seem shut tight like a clam. As the starry-eyed teen sets out to explore the promises and challenges of the world, they come across all kinds of people. Some may prove helpful, others, not quite. Serial entrepreneur Jeffrey Santulan considers himself lucky for meeting the former sort – Grant Cardone. Santulan thinks of the international social media influencer and real estate mogul Cardone as a mentor who encouraged him to excel as a tech entrepreneur.
Today Santulan’s life echoes comfort, luxury, and a happy home. But the edges of his life weren’t always so smooth. As a 16-year-old, Santulan found himself in trouble often, lost, and confused. He knew he had a strong will and a deep desire to maneuver his way through life’s crossroads. He met Cardone during these trying times. Having had walked in Santulan’s shoes in his adolescence, Cardone, the millionaire-extraordinaire, could empathize with Santulan. As the light at the end of the tunnel started to get brighter, Santulan found himself driven to excel and indeed, destined too.
As a student at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Santulan had a technical bent of mind. Cardone saw his dormant talent and fueled the fire. In his own words, he was driven to build “successful businesses and creating a successful self.” And as far as building successful businesses go, Santulan has come a long way from being a wanderer bordering on delinquency in the streets of Los Angeles – his place of birth.
Today, his is a name synonymous with success. He has many great feats to boast of, but since at heart he remains a visionary tech entrepreneur, it’s worth mentioning that he’s a large stakeholder in SpaceX, Tesla, and Square. Apart from this, he is the co-founder of Film Company Argonaut MG, which sources say “recently closed a USD 100 M+ picture deal with Netflix to produce 12 movies in the next three years.” He was also an early investor in SoFi, an online personal finance company currently valued at USD 4.5 Billion, and is the co-founder of investment firm SGM international, which has offices in Los Angeles and London.
At 39, Jeffrey Santulan has achieved much more than his 16-year-old self could imagine. And one can’t help but wonder at the marvel of chance encounters and how they can contain life-sustaining energies. Some might say they are born out of sheer luck; others with a more scientific worldview would argue and call it logic that remains to be explained. Whatever the cause, it’s important to understand that when the ‘Jeffreys’ meet the ‘Grants’ of the world, magic can and will happen.