Naveen Jain’s Eventful Career
Posted in Entrepreneurs on August 25th, 2009Intelius CEO Naveen Jain has led quite an eventful life that has seen its share of contradictions along the way, but has culminated into a notable and prominent career. Born in 1959 in Uttar Pradesh, India, Jain migrated to the United States via a business exchange program. This fortunate event would later introduce him to a world where he could maximize his full potentials and capacities as a technologist and entrepreneur.
He had left India with strong academic credentials in hand, a B.S. in engineering obtained from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) and a master’s in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from the XLRI Jamshedpur. In 1989, Microsoft hired him, presenting him the opportunity to work for Bill Gates, someone he considers his “role model.” At Microsoft, Jain’s talents and brains were put to the test as he became part in the development of some of the company’s most important services - Windows NT, Windows 95, MS-DOS and The Microsoft Network. After a flawless finish, he exited Microsoft in 1996 and created his own company, InfoSpace, basically from scratch. Out of his own personal savings, he turned the online content provider into the exclusive supplier of content for big Web properties like AOL, MSN, Lycos and CNET. In 2001, InfoSpace turned into a $31-billion dollar company and Naveen Jain a member of Forbes’ List of America’s Richest 400.
Always willing to go the extra mile, Naveen Jain resigned in 2002 and proceeded with his second startup, a company called Intelius, which provides online intelligence services to individuals and businesses all over America. Naveen Jain’s entrepreneurial sheen has translated to success for the young company; Intelius has been distinguished in several award-giving bodies for innovation and product excellence and its site is one of the most trafficked on the Web, claiming a visitor share of 1 million daily.