Naveen Jain’s Career in Review
Intelius CEO and President Naveen Jain is one of the most recognizable names in the IT industry today. The India-born entrepreneur was born in 1959 in Uttar Pradesh, India where he finished an engineering degree from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from Xavier School of Management. His ambition would take him to the United States in 1979 to take part in a business exchange program to study the U.S. high tech market.
Software giant Microsoft took notice of his potential, employing him as a group manager in 1989. At Microsoft, he had the opportunity to grow and work alongside some of the best technological minds in the industry while working for his personal hero, Bill Gates. Naveen Jain became a part of Microsoft’s achievements in software applications and operating systems, including helping launch Microsoft Network.
It was in 1996 when Naveen Jain first gained prominence, after he left Microsoft in order to start his own company, InfoSpace. InfoSpace specialized in providing a wide range of content to major Web properties. In 1998, the neophyte company went public on the NASDAQ with Jain driving 24 new acquisitions two years after. In 2000, InfoSpace became “the most successful company you have never heard of”, and Jain was valued at $2.2 billion. It was also the time he became a member of Forbes’ Richest 400.
He left InfoSpace in 2002 and in 2003, co-founded Intelius, a certified INC. 500 company that supplies intelligence and security information that consumers and businesses need for protection. Intellius’ awards in product excellence and innovation include Best New Product for IDWatch and Most Innovative Company.
Naveen Jain’s rise to the top of the entrepreneurial chain was through his visionary thinking, work ethic and aggressive desire to succeed. By proving his tenacity to thrive amid the highs and lows of business, his continued presence in the IT world is as certain as sunrise.
