From Rags to Riches

Okay, so I know that many of you would rather stick something sharp in your eye than have to watch Oprah.  Stay away from sharp objects today then because the word is (thanks M) that Oprah will be interviewing self-made millionaire Gurbaksh “G” Chahal about his memoir The Dream being released later this month [side note: Oprah’s website clearly says her show today is about rudeness so I don’t know what the connection is?!].  For those of you who missed the news a few months ago, Gurbaksh (he actually goes by G because he says he doesn’t have the “easiest first name to pronounce”, but since we can actually pronounce it, we’ll use it)  is the 26-year-old founder of ad network BlueLithium and, more recently, the ecommerce startup gWallet.  Gurbaksh received much media attention when he sold BlueLithium to Yahoo last year for $300 million.  From his website,

G was born in the town of Tarn Taran, near Amritsar in Punjab, India to Avtar and Arjinder Chahal.  In 1985, his parents received a visa for America through a lottery-based system in India, and the following year, when he was four, the family settled in San Jose, California.  His parents had arrived with only $25 to their name, and they struggled at menial jobs to make a future for their four children.  For the Chahal family, as for many immigrants, education was paramount, but G left high school at sixteen to form Click Agents, an Internet advertising company, which he sold two years later for $40 million.

The Dream is Chahal’s personal story of how a 16-year-old immigrant overcame discrimination and adversity to be successful.  He offers advice for entrepreneurs as he encourages them to redefine the marketplace by embracing risks.

My parents, however, are very religious and very cultural and they also brought that with them. For the first 17 years of my life I actually wore a traditional turban. That’s a major part of my book in terms of defining myself when you’re the odd one for the first 17 years of your life; coming from poverty with an immigrant family, and of course the constant struggle to survive. So I am hoping the book touches all sorts of people: the adolescent who’s different, the immigrant family that struggles, and of course every one of us that wants to deliver ultimate success. [link

In addition to his book release, Gurbaksh will also star on the new primetime network show (yes, yet another reality show), “Secret Millionaire” on Fox in December 2008 which actually sounds intriguing. The show will engage viewers in important social issues, extol the virtues of volunteerism and change the lives of disadvantaged people – and the philanthropists who helped them – in unexpected ways.  For those of you who really won’t be tuning into Oprah, here’s a clip about Gurbaksh from CNBC.