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RAGS TO RICHES

STORIES OF INDIAN

LEADERS

SUBMITTED BY

SHAFALI

OM

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Naveen Jain

SerialentrepreneurNaveen Jainasked for the moon, literally, and got it. His is a typical rags-to-

riches story. Brought up in poverty where even getting a basic education was difficult, today Jain

is amongst the most successful Indian-born Americans.He was ranked 121 on the Forbes 400

Richest Americans.Naveen grew up in different small villages of Uttar Pradesh and occasionally

lived in New Delhi and later at Roorkee to pursue his B.Tech.his early years to be very difficult

and that he never had lived in one city for more than six months to a year and there was no place

for him to call home. Sometimes, he had to spend his day hungrynothing to eat. His father

was a typically honest public servant whose unwillingness to accept bribes made him vagabond

or refugee in his own country.His transfer was inevitable and it would happen frequently

sometimes thrice in a year and was often posted at remotest areas. Despite the acute poverty, he

somehow managed his engineering degree from IIT Roorkee followed by an M.B.A fromXLRI

School of Business and Human Resources.On completion of M.B.A, he was hired by Burroughs

and invited to the United States for year long training.

In 1989, Jain joinedMicrosoftinRedmond, Washington, working in the capacity of Program

Manager. He initially began working onOS/2and then moved on to several of Microsoft's

flagship products, includingMS-DOS,Windows NT, andWindows 95. Jain is listed on three

patents from his time with Microsoft. He later moved to the development of theMicrosoft

Network. Jain left Microsoft in 1996 to form InfoSpace.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/entrepreneurhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/entrepreneurhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://www.xlri.ac.in/http://www.xlri.ac.in/http://www.xlri.ac.in/http://www.xlri.ac.in/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsofthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redmond,_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redmond,_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redmond,_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_95http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_NThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redmond,_Washingtonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsofthttp://www.xlri.ac.in/http://www.xlri.ac.in/http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jainhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/entrepreneurhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Naveen%20Jain

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In 1996, Naveen Jain startedInfoSpace to provide quick and immediate information on cellular

phones as well as other mobile devices.

After two years, in 1998, he made his idea public and within less than a year, the company was

valued at $35 billion. The idea of InfoSpace seemed crazy to many industry analysts but he

succeed to prove that it truly was worth multi-billion dollars.

Naveens key to success is self-trust, to which he gives utmost priority. He says, if you have

guts to trust your own instinct, its worth pursuing and your efforts will never go in vain.

InfoSpace was his first successful venture which made him a billionaire. In 2002, he quit his own

company due to some irreconcilable differences with the board and the partners and founded

another creative venture a U.S. based public record businessInteliusin 2003.

The company provides information services to consumers as well as businesses which includes

background checks and identity theft protection. Later, he co-founded a privately held seed-stage

companyMoon Expressalong with a group of Silicon Valley as well as space entrepreneurs.

Naveen Jain has been honored on many occasions for his leadership skills, entrepreneurial

success and overall accomplishments including Albert Einstein Technology Medal for pioneers

in technology; Six People Who Will Change the Internet by the Information Week; Top 20

Entrepreneurs by Red Herring and many more. In 2011, he was awarded Light of India

Business Leadership Award by The Times Group for his visionary entrepreneurship and

received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Red Herring Global 2011 Conference.

http://infospaceinc.com/http://infospaceinc.com/http://infospaceinc.com/http://www.intelius.com/http://www.intelius.com/http://www.intelius.com/http://moonexpress.com/http://moonexpress.com/http://moonexpress.com/http://moonexpress.com/http://www.intelius.com/http://infospaceinc.com/

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KALPANA SAROJ

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