The ability to find solutions to problems and pursue seemingly unattainable goals rubbed off on the three Jain children. Ankur Jain graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania while Priyanka and Neil Jain graduated from Stanford.
Priyanka helped build a school for girls in Afghanistan when she was only 14 years old. Both Neil and Ankur work at Kairos, a startup incubator founded by Ankur that supports businesses tackling global issues.
Ankur, whose own startup Humin was acquired by Tinder in 2016, created his first business at the age of 10. Although he has a billionaire father, Ankur says his parents were often strict about spending money frivolously. So when he wanted something that wasn't essential or educationally beneficial, it had to come out of his pocket.
Ten-year-old Ankur had one goal in mind:he wanted to dunk a balloon basketball.
As a “little, skinny Indian kid,” in Ankur's words, he knew he had little chance of making the basketball team. But there was a product on the market that promised to improve his odds. "I read online about these plyometric things you can wear on your shoes to help with your vertical jump," Ankur recalled. "They were like $110 and my parents wouldn't buy them for me.
That didn't deter Ankur. Instead, he decided to be like his father. He started his own business, but instead of finding an industry he didn't know he focused on something every 10-year-old loved back then, and created a quiz-based portal. for AOL Instant Messenger. According to Ankur, it exploded in popularity. Using this new found success, Ankur made his move.
“I called the company that made this plyometric stuff and asked for the CEO and somehow the 'assistant put me on the phone with the guy,' says Ankur. "I told him about my portal and told him that I would like to promote their product through my portal, but he had to send me a free pair as payment. ”
Ankur did not touch his moonshine. He didn't develop calves of steel or become the next Vince Carter.
"I never dunked," says Ankur. “But I hit the rim. »
