Chris Sacca is more than just a Silicon Valley investor wearing a pseudo hipster cowboy shirt. He’s not your typical billionaire and certainly not a guy that you just want to overlook as a stuffed shirt business guy. Chris Sacca is a motivator and can sniff out good projects! In the last nine years of his life, he has gone from nowhere, to being worth over a billion dollars without having to invent a thing, or create a company from scratch. He has simply found the right innovators and gotten in early...and he’s done this a lot! Sacca is not like a lot of other venture capitalists though. He marches to the beat of a much different drum and is not ashamed to be cut from a different cloth.

He’s made multiple guest appearances on the hit ABC series Shark Tank where he has invested a lot of money with entrepreneurs. To add to the entertainment, he’s gotten crossways with fellow billionaire Mark Cuban on the show and certainly doesn’t hold back his opinion from the other sharks or those making their pitch on the show. With such an interesting guy comes a very interesting story and here are 15 pretty amazing facts about Sacca that will blow your mind!

Owns 70 Cowboy Shirts

Chris Sacca has taken his cue from other fellow billionaire technology geniuses like Steve Jobs. Years ago when on the way to Reno, Nevada for a speech, he picked up an embroidered cowboy shirt on a whim. He got a huge reaction from the wardrobe choice and quickly determined that he was on to something. Chris looks at the shirts as something of a uniform and has remarked that lots of the most successful people in the world do the same thing to avoid spending time worrying about what to wear. Today, Sacca has nearly 70 of the shirts and keeps several handy everywhere he goes. It has become associated as part of his personal branding and while they are each just a bit different, they are all following the same cowboy theme.

Has a Law Degree

Many people look at Chris Sacca and think he is a computer scientist that designed something big and got lucky. That’s the typical path to millions and even billions in Silicon Valley, but it may surprise you to learn that Chris himself didn’t travel down that path. He holds both his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University and he got his start practicing law. While he has surrounded himself with people that understand computer science and the technology industry, he doesn’t personally do any of that. His training in the law has given him some great tools to use in the business world for sure, but it’s his passion to motivate others and certainly the ability to see untapped potential that has made him so successful! At least he knows if it doesn’t work out, he can get a gig chasing ambulances.

Almost Got Fired From Google

Sacca got himself a gig doing legal work at Google. The word is that when at Google, he was something of a bull in a china shop. He would nose his way into all kinds of meetings to get as close as possible to lots of different projects. Even when working at Google, his sights were set on investing in new startups. But it was when he was speaking at a conference and made a statement about wireless carriers being to blame for Google Maps not showing up on British phones that he just about lost his job. His statements resulted in some bad press for Google where he almost lost his job. This didn’t come to pass however, as Sacca was reassigned, but learned a valuable lesson. He is still a very outspoken guy that doesn’t hold back his feelings, but when you’re a billionaire, you can do as much of that as you want!

Allegedly Threw a Fit on Broadway

Chris Sacca flew to New York in May, 2016 to see the Broadway smash hit Hamilton with his wife. The couple did like so many others and purchased their tickets on the online platform StubHub. When they walked up to the ticket scanner, it was revealed that the tickets they purchased were actually counterfeit. That is more than enough to upset anyone, celebrity billionaire or not, but Sacca allegedly made the disastrous mistake of saying the six worst words a celebrity can say: “Do you know who I am?!” He allegedly made kind of a scene and got very rude with the theater employee. Sacca has denied this, but the bad press came anyway. He wound-up going and catching an Off-Broadway show and probably had a magical evening, but that evening, his manners escaped him.

Manhattan Beach Estate

Chris Sacca loves the Manhattan Beach community! It’s got beautiful views and is the perfect place for him and his family to call home. He purchased two houses right next to one another and has spent a lot of time and money building his mansion pretty much from scratch. While the main 5,000 square foot home has been worked on, Sacca and the family have been bunking down in the guest house right next door. In addition to his Manhattan Beach estate, Sacca has other properties in his portfolio that match all his interests, including a cabin, a Montana home and beach property. This is all pretty standard for a typical billionaire and Sacca is just falling in the ranks like a good soldier in the ten digit club!

Enjoys Busting Mark Cuban’s Balls

Anyone that has watched Chris Sacca’s appearances on Shark Tank knows that he and Mark Cuban tend to go back and forth with one another. This could be because Cuban is more like Sacca than he would care to admit. Both are self-aware and very outspoken billionaires, which can be a recipe for disaster when in the same room competing for speaking time. But according to Sacca, it’s a mutual give and take that they both have with one another. Sacca has claimed to have a good relationship with Cuban and that the two keep each other on their toes. But if you ask Sacca, “busting his balls” is one of his favorite things to do to fellow ten digit club member Mark Cuban on the hit television show.

Laid Off From His First Lawyer Job

Chris grew up in the Buffalo, New York area as the son of a lawyer and college professor. He followed in his father’s footsteps all the way to Georgetown like his father. After school though, he pretty quickly realized that being a traditional attorney wasn’t quite the mold for him. It may surprise you to realize though that Sacca didn’t leave his first job after school willingly. During the crash of the dot coms, his associate position at the firm of Fenwick & West was no longer available. It’s doubtful that he was back to eating ramen noodles and sleeping on a cot, because he quickly realized that the venture capital world was where he wanted to be. But that call from the school of hard knocks came quick for Sacca, when he was told to take a hike!

Bought His Parents A Home

When you are a billionaire investor, you can afford to be the best son ever! In the case of Chris Sacca, he likes keeping his parents close by and showing them just how much he cares. He bought in 2014, a Mediterranean style home for his parents for a hefty $6.3 million price tag (chump change for such a high flying baller). The home is just eight miles from his Manhattan Beach home and is in the South Bay area of Los Angeles. They are on a quiet street with gorgeous views of the Pacific Ocean! This expression of his love is more than generous and puts him in the running for son of the year. It certainly gives extra incentive to make sure you raise your children well!

Cabin in the Woods

Sacca invested over $400,000 in a tiny (somewhat unattractive looking) cabin in the woods. The cabin was very close to another property that he has owned since 2009. The property is near the North side of Lake Tahoe and this cabin is only about 1,200 square feet. The other, larger cabin has over 2,200 square feet including a loft and a hot tub. All together, the two cabins cost him over a million dollars and it’s not clear what he does with them these days. Maybe they’re for family getaways, letting friends and colleagues use them or a combination of the two, but a retreat in the woods on Lake Tahoe is a pretty great idea of a vacation spot for anyone, including Silicon Valley investors like Sacca.

Missed Out on Snapchat

While Sacca is definitely a savvy investor when it comes to finding some big ticket ideas early on, that is not to say that there aren’t a couple of sweet little gems that got away. One of those is the social media platform Snapchat. The founders of Snapchat actually approached Sacca early in their endeavor about an investment. At the time Sacca was pretty lukewarm to the idea. When he spoke in passing to his partner about being approached with Snapchat, he was quickly informed that he was crazy for not jumping. By the time he tried to schedule a meeting, he already missed out and they had moved on to another investor. Sacca wishes them well and uses Snapchat on a daily basis, even though he’s not an investor.

Refused To Wear A Suit On Shark Tank

We’ve already talked about Chris Sacca’s urban cowboy attire, but what you may not know is that the producers of Shark Tank actually had to battle with him over the issue. They stated that he would have to wear a suit on the show, much like all the other sharks in the tank. He said that there was no way he could do that, because the cowboy shirts were part of his identity. They tried to make it a condition of his appearances on the show and he said if he wore a suit, it would do more harm than good. When they realized that he wasn’t budging and was more than willing to let the deal fall through, they gave him the greenlight to wear his signature shirts. To this day, he is the most casually dressed shark that has been asked to be a shark.

Teaches His Daughters The Stock Market

Chris Sacca has three very young daughters and no sons. While many little girls are interested in being Disney Princesses, Sacca’s girls are learning how to be leaders of the business world. He has stated that he feels there are not enough women involved in the business world and he wants his daughters to grow-up to have more opportunities available to them than past generations. So each morning, while they are having breakfast, he is teaching his daughters to how to read the stock page of the newspaper and online. They are learning the ropes of what the green and red colors mean in the market and he believes this is great for developing specific skills. Surely it is not all work and no play around the Sacca house these days.

Daughters Are Master Negotiators

In addition to teaching his girls about the stock market, Chris also proactively develops their senses as master negotiators. He recognizes that negotiation is a vital part of the business world and he wants his daughters to be sharp with this skill. So every night before bedtime, Chris and his girls negotiate over the number of books he will read to them. They start out with some crazy number and he counters back at one, from that point they reach an acceptable number that will satisfy everyone. While it is a fun and entertaining way to end the day, he believes that it is also teaching them a very important set of skills that will stay with them and benefit them throughout their lives. I wonder if the girls' mother does the same negotiating when Chris isn’t there?

His Wife Is An Advertising Genius

Chris Sacca’s wife is Crystal English Sacca. Crystal isn’t just some run of the mill billionaire’s wife either. She also holds degrees from Georgetown University and has lived in seven different countries throughout her life! Crystal has carved her place in the advertising world, having won multiple awards and recognition for her work through the years. She and Chris raise their three daughters in Los Angeles now, but don’t think for one minute that she’s just wasting the day away! As a freelance art director and advertising guru, Crystal has kept herself very busy and continues to do so. Certainly being a mom and managing a guy like Chris will take a big chunk out of the day, but she stays professionally active and in touch with the advertising and entertainment industry.

Eco-Friendly Home

There are all kinds of eco-friendly folks in Southern California, where it’s a very cool and hip trend. But Chris and his wife Crystal are and have been very ecologically-minded people. He has invested in companies that have responsible environmental practices. In addition to his investments, Chris feels that it is very important for him to live his personal life as green as possible. As a result, his Manhattan Beach home has been designed as eco-friendly as possible. His other homes and property also have environmentally responsible materials included in them as well. Chris has made statements previously on Shark Tank about his beliefs in being environmentally responsible, so his decision to include those types of materials in all his properties is very natural, making him a leader in that effort.

Sources: Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, Daily Entertainment News, Forbes