A video showing Uber CEO Travis Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver that was leaked to Bloomberg is not representative of him, said Jason Calacanis, Inside.com founder and an investor in Uber on "Squawk Alley."



"Travis is going to turn into one of those legendary CEO's that we have seen like Bill Gates, like Larry Ellison -- people are not perfect, they need to improve and I think he's on that journey."



"I have known Travis for two decades," said Calacanis. "I don't think the tape represents him as much as the apology does."

Kalanick understands he has to improve and has taken full responsibility for his actions, "he's not blaming anyone else," said Calacanis.

"When you look at this technology companies you can count on one or two hands the number of executives who have built a company form five people to five thousand or 50,000 -- Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Larry [Page] and Sergey [Brin], [Mark] Zuckerberg -- and if you look at all those individuals, they all have this kind of crises of leadership," he said.

That said, it is well understood in Silicon Valley that "what got you here will not get you there, and Travis understands this very well," he said.

Right now he is smartly surrounding himself with people who will help him improve his leadership skills, like venture capitalist Bill Gurley, also an Uber investor, and Arianna Huffington, an Uber board member.

"What we've seen over the past couple of weeks are self-inflicted wounds," he said.

Like Airbnb, Uber has had to fight to even exist, said Calacanis.

"If you spend all your time fighting, sometimes you get a fighter mentality," he said.

That said, it's time for Kalanick to hang up the boxing gloves, which will be the next phase of his career, he said.