Ron and All: Article from India Oct 99 re: Naveen Jain...
KLP
indiainfo.com
Naveen Jain among America's most wealthy
By Rashmee Sharma
October 12, 1999, 20:10 Hrs (IST)
Seattle: Yet another Indian, Naveen Jain, is riding the
Internet wave in the United States and is now among
America's most wealthy.
His name has been published in the latest Forbes list of
the 400 richest people of any age in the U.S. with a net
worth of $930 million.
Jain, founder and chief executive officer of InfoSpace.com,
had already figured in magazines such as Newsweek,
Time and Wall Street Journal. He was in the 12th place
on a list of Americans under 40 with the highest net worth
- appraised at $861 million till recently - until it increased
to $930 million.
Founded in 1996, Info-Space.com compiles Yellow pages,
maps, weather reports, classifieds, horoscopes and other resources
into an online index for over
1,800 websites, making the site available to an estimated 85 per cent
of all Internet users.
"Our goal is to provide information and services that people find
useful in their daily lives," Jain told
the California newspaper India-West. The company's affiliates
include AOL, Lycos, Netscape,
Microsoft, go2net and ABC LocalNet.
Based in Seattle, near Microsoft chairman and America's richest
individual Bill Gates (net worth
$85 billion), Jain, a former group manager at Microsoft, has had a
meteoric rise that has elicited
comparisons with his former employer. Over the past three years he
and his website have been
dubbed in the press variously as "Baby Bill's Website," "Smarter than
Bill," "Fireball of Energy."
and "Miracle in Net Directory."
The company has added a shopping index that assists Internet users
to learn about products,
compare prices and contact merchants. InfoSpace recently acquired
instant-messaging
technology from Seattle-based Active Voice for $18 million and has
moved twice to larger
locations to accommodate expansion.
There are many address listing services in the market, but where
InfoSpace differs from
competitors lies is in its source of information and its linking ability,
said Jain.
"InfoSpace.com's success was built on the quality of our directory
services offering, which has
grown to include the other real world content, community and
commerce services," Jain told
India-West.
Jain, 40, was voted a finalist by Ernst & Young as an "Emerging
Entrepreneur" in 1998. A
technology graduate from the University of Rourkee, Uttar Pradesh,
he is a fireball of energy. Like
other entrepreneurs he believes in taking up challenges, going for
calculated risks. He devotes
most of his time to building his company.
Jain strongly believes that "if you have a vision or strongly feel about
something and work hard for
it, everything is possible. It's very important to have fun in what you
do and feel passionately for it,
and like any entrepreneur, you should be ready to spend almost 18
hours a day on your work. It's
possible only if you love what you do."
Jain doesn't feel that Indians in the U.S. are held back by
discrimination. "Only those who do not
excel use discrimination as an excuse," Jain said.
Friendly, self-assured and articulate, Jain said his company's goal is to
"make a name for
integrating information, a portal in a box. We will offer new services,
like online stores to promote
businesses and be a part of the Internet revolution." Inspired by Bill
Gates, he sees "world
domination" for his company, "just like Microsoft."
The newfound wealth hasn't changed Jain's lifestyle though. "I still live
in the same house, drive
the same car and wear the same ripped jeans," he joked. Outside
work he leads a simple family
life with Indian values. He said that he worries less about money and
focusses instead on what he
most enjoys - expanding his company.
His wife, Anu, Jain said, makes sure that part of their income is used
for good causes. Jain's
father looks after the funds donated to charities in India. His
five-year-old son Neil and
nine-year-old daughter have already been inculcated with their
father's hard-work ethic. They say
they would rather start their own companies than inherit the family
fortune.
Jain said he wants to promote technically skilled people from India.
"Those who apply for a job
and are from India or any other immigrants, just by the fact that they
have managed to come here,
are considered above average by me and I always give them the
benefit of doubt."
And Jain believes that there is still room to grow. "It is very early in
the life cycle of this
company," he said. "I would say most of the potential is yet to
come."
India Abroad News Service |
