The son of a civil engineer, Naveen Jain was born and grew up in Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ever ambitious, Naveen Jain graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee) with a Bachelor of Science in engineering, and then a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the XLRI Jamshedpur School of Management. In 1989, Microsoft hired Naveen Jain through the business-exchange program, and soon Naveen Jain was working with Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Naveen Jain served as a senior executive for the Microsoft Corporation, where he was involved in OS/2, MS-DOS, Windows NT and Windows 95 operating systems. Naveen Jain later became a group manager and helped launch Microsoft’s online service, The Microsoft Network.

Eventually, Naveen Jain developed bigger plans. “It was never easy to leave Microsoft. It is a great company to work for,” Naveen Jain said in a telephone interview. “But, one gets tired of making billions for Bill and we think why not make billions for ourselves.”

After leaving Microsoft, Naveen Jain founded InfoSpace, an internet technology company once heralded as the next Microsoft. Naveen Jain’s vision of InfoSpace was a company that would deliver real-world information on the Internet – anytime, anywhere and on any device. Naveen took the company public on NASDAQ in 1998.

After leaving InfoSpace, Naveen Jain founded the company he currently heads, Intelius. Also an information company, Intelius provides background checks on individuals and companies. This service has been in great demand, especially in the wake of criminal activity and identity theft via the internet. Intelius also operates background checks on properties, potential tenants, driving recordes, and even helps screen out sex offenders and other felons. Intelius also works in credit checks and drug testing, and helps set up identity security solutions.

Naveen Jain is famous for his excitable personality and workaholic tendencies. Sometimes clocking in an 18-hour workday, Naveen Jain is known to keep working even when he’s on vacation. “We took a vacation this February after four years and now we want to do it once every year. But it is difficult to take time off. When Naveen started the company [InfoSpace], it was hectic,” says Jain’s wife Anu.

Naveen Jain is an active philanthropist, and has donated portions of his fortune to many worthy causes, including Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, HopeLink, YouthCare, and the YWCA, among many other nonprofit organizations.