Michael Acton Smith

Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chairman, Calm · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveauthor@acton ↗LinkedIn ↗calm.com ↗Wikipedia ↗

Michael Acton Smith is the co-founder and co-executive chairman of the meditation and wellness app Calm. He previously founded Firebox.com and entertainment company Mind Candy, the creator of Moshi Monsters.

9statements → 2claims → 2claims resolved → 3.89/5average certainty → 1.33/5average debate potential → ≈5.0/5argument clarity, estimated →

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted how the 2 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 assertions · 2 opinions · 4 disclosures · 1 what if · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 2 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Michael argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Acton Smith: Calm's revenue surged from $7M to $21M to $80M

“So our revenue went from, you know, seven million to twenty one million to eighty million.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 1:02:54 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Michael Acton Smith on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said9 Episodes1

Everything Michael Acton Smith said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

What-if

Acton Smith: Not selling Mind Candy to Disney was probably a mistake

“When you're an entrepreneur, you do need to think of all the stakeholders and investors and employees. Not selling was probably a mistake in hindsight.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 32:14 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Disclosure

Acton Smith bought Calm.com for $140,000 using his house deposit

“I think 140,000 dollars, about, he sold it for. About that, yeah. I would, I earmarked that money for a deposit for a house”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 40:40 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Opinion

Acton Smith: Silicon Valley offered scaling talent and openness lacking in London

“Silicon Valley was the place to build this business. You know, the, there was more investors who were open to ideas like this. The climate was more open to it as well. A lot of our friends and people we knew in London were very, very skeptical of meditation an…”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 49:59 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Opinion

Acton Smith: Calm's target market is anyone with a mind

“The market we did feel was absolutely enormous. It wasn't just the people who are meditating. It was, you Pretty much anyone with a mind. So we felt there were going to be multiple winners. Not a winner takes all market, but a winner takes most.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 52:47 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Assertion Supported

Acton Smith: Calm's revenue surged from $7M to $21M to $80M

“So our revenue went from, you know, seven million to twenty one million to eighty million.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 1:02:54 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Assertion Supported

Mind Candy buried a $200,000 treasure for game Perplex City

“So that's what Perplex City was, and to cut a very, very long story short, we buried a treasure worth 200,000 dollars somewhere in the world, and then we set about releasing clues across all sorts of different media.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 20:03 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Disclosure

Acton Smith: Calm pitched Sand Hill Road VCs and struck out

“Yeah, we went up and down Sand Hill Road and struck out.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 56:09 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Disclosure

Acton Smith: Calm put all key celebrity partners on its cap table

“So all the key talent we brought on board are on our cap table.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 1:06:35 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Disclosure

Michael Acton Smith: Mind Candy unraveled despite widespread public accolades

“I was on billboards and posters around East London. I was being interviewed on TV shows winning awards left, right, and center, but knowing in the pit of my stomach and at four a.m. That this was unraveling and this was falling apart.”

Michael Acton Smith May 26, 2025 ▶ 33:29 Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith

Appearances (1)

Episode	Date	Speaking time
Calm: Alex Tew and Michael Acton Smith	May 26, 2025	26m

Michael Acton Smith

The record, in short

Their most notable supported claim

How they sound: not measured why? →

Appearances (1)

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