Gurbaksh Chahal
| Gurbaksh Singh Chahal | |
|---|---|
 G. Chahal with U.S. President Barack Obama |
|
| Born | July 17, 1982 [1] Tarn Taran Sahib, Punjab |
| Residence | San Francisco, California |
| Occupation | internet entrepreneur as Chairman & CEO of RadiumOne |
| Net worth |  US$100 million+ |
| Website | |
| www.chahal.com | |
Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (born July 17, 1982) is an Indian-American internet entrepreneur and a best-selling author.[2] By the age of 25, he had founded and sold two advertising companies for a total of US$340 million.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Chahal was born in Tarn Taran Sahib in Punjab, India to Avtar Singh and Arjinder Chahal. In 1985, his parents received a visa for America through the Diversity Visa (DV) program, also known as the Green Card Lottery, and the following year, when he was four, the family settled in San Jose, California.[citation needed]
[edit] Business ventures
On December 15, 1998, aged 16, Gurbaksh Chahal dropped out of high school [3] to work full time at his first venture, ClickAgents. ClickAgents was an advertising network focused on performance-based advertising. Two years later, on November 1, 2000, ValueClick announced it agreed to buy ClickAgents in a $40 million all-stock merger.[4][unreliable source?] Chahal had a three year non-compete agreement with ValueClick.
On January 12, 2004, Chahal formed BlueLithium. BlueLithium specialized in behavioral targeting of banner advertising (a process that tracks web users' habits online in order to show ads they are most likely to respond to).[5] The advertising network which was recognized as an innovator in the online advertising space in a Business 2.0 article.[6] In 2006, under Chahal's leadership, BlueLithium was named Top Innovator by AlwaysOn.[7]
On October 15, 2007, Yahoo! bought Blue Lithium for $300 million in cash. Chahal remained CEO of the company through the transition period.[8]
In September 2009, Chahal started his third venture, an advertising company focused on bringing brands into social media. On December 1, 2009, it raised its first institutional round of financing totaling $12.5 million from Adam Street Partners, Trinity Ventures, Stanford University and various others.[9] On October 18, 2010, a few days after Chahal's non-compete expired, the Company re-branded itself as RadiumOne, and launched an ad network focused on overlaying social and intent data together.[10] On March 2011, RadiumOne announced it had raised another $21 million in financing which valued the Company at $200 million. [11]
[edit] Television appearances
On October 23, 2008, Chahal appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss his life and business journey. In his interview, Oprah Winfrey introduced him as "one of the youngest and also the wealthiest entrepreneurs on the planet Earth".[12]
Chahal appeared on an episode of the Fox TV reality show Secret Millionaire, where he went undercover in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco to give away at least $110,000 of his own money.
On January 8, 2009, he was featured on Extra TV as America's Most Eligible Bachelor.[13]
[edit] Personal life
Chahal currently lives in San Francisco, California.
On April 29, 2010, Chahal was awarded the Leaders In Management Award and an Honorary Doctorate degree in Commercial Science from Pace University for his career achievements as an entrepreneur.[14] In April 11, 2011, Men's Health also recognized him as one of the world's richest and fittest guys. [15]
[edit] Publications
- The Dream, Palgrave Macmillan (October 23, 2008) ISBN 0-23-061095-1
[edit] Awards and recognitions
- 2006: AlwaysOn Top Innovator of the Year [16]
- 2010: Anokhi Awards, Excellence in Digital Entrepreneurship [17]
- 2010: BusinessWeek, Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs [18]
- 2010: Pace University, Leaders in Management Award [19]
- 2010: Darpan, Extraordinary Awards - International Sensation [20]
- 2010: MensXP, X51 - India's Most Influential Business Man of the Year [21]
- 2011: Most Influential CEO - Under30CEO [22]
- 2011: Forbes Greatest Risks [23]
[edit] References
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.fastcompany.com/1743178/radiumone-ceo-talks-mcdonalds-rejection-social-ads-and-do-not-track-legislation
- ^ Zinko, Carolyne (October 26, 2008). "Advice from young millionaire Gurbaksh Chahal". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/24/LV8P13K9P3.DTL&hw=gurbaksh&sn=001&sc=1000. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
- ^ http://www.clickz.com/502181
- ^ Yahoo Snaps up BlueLithium
- ^ Big Innovations: BlueLithium, Business 2.0, September 20, 2006.
- ^ The 2006 AO 100, AlwaysOn.
- ^ Yahoo! press release re purchase of BlueLithium
- ^ http://venturebeat.com/2009/12/01/gwallet-raises-12-5m-for-more-ethical-virtual-currency-system/
- ^ McMahan, Ty (October 18, 2010). "New Ad Network RadiumOne Aims To Tap Social ‘Mega Trend'". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/10/18/new-ad-network-radiumone-aims-to-tap-social-mega-trend/.
- ^ http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/10/social-retargeting-ad-network-radiumone-raises-21m-at-a-200m-valuation/
- ^ Appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show
- '^ Extra TVs "Secret Bachelor"
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://www.menshealth.com/fiscally-fit-man/worlds-fittest-richest-guys/page/3
- ^ http://www.adotas.com/2006/07/bluelithium-named-top-innovator-of-the-year/
- ^ http://www.anokhipulse.tv/shows/episode7.shtml
- ^ http://images.businessweek.com/ss/10/04/0419_best_young_tech_entrepreneurs/4.htm
- ^ Zinko, Carolyne (April 29, 2010). "S.F. venture capitalist Keith Benjamin dies". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-04-29/entertainment/20878087_1_venture-capitalists-internet-gwallet.
- ^ http://www.darpanmagazine.com/2010/11/a-recap-of-darpan-magazines-extraordinary-achievement-awards/
- ^ http://www.mensxp.com/x51/results1.html
- ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/30-founders-under-30-who-are-shaking-up-industries-2011-1?slop=1#slideshow-start
- ^ "Gallery: Big Achievers Share The Greatest Risks They Ever Took". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/07/greatest-risk-they-ever-took-2011-entrepreneurs_slide_5.html.
[edit] External links
- 1982 births
- Living people
- American memoirists
- Indian emigrants to the United States
- Businesspeople in software
- American chief executives
- American computer businesspeople
- Child businesspeople
- Dot-com people
- Innovators
- People from the San Francisco Bay Area
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Silicon Valley people
- American Internet personalities
- Punjabi people
