Indian origin CEO sues and gets sued
By Shalini Singh

Naveen Jain grew up in middle-class Uttar Pradesh but always aimed for the top.  To his credit,   he studied at IIT (Roorkee) and then did an MBA for the prestigious XLRI.  Naveen got his first big break when he joined Microsoft and had a chance to study the success of his role model, Billionaire Bill Gates.  He made his way up to one of the Group Managers at Microsoft.

But his heart was always on running his own business.  Naveen founded and was the CEO of InfoSpace, a company set-up to deliver real-world information on the internet.  It was the late 1990s and the dot com boom was doing very well.  At one point Naveen’s InfoSpace was valued at a staggering $30 billion dollars and was being touted as the next Microsoft.

Some of the fundamentals of InfoSpace were a bit shaky.  And then the dot com crashed happened.  From $30 billion dollars it had been reduced to one percent of its value of 300 million dollars in mid-2008.  InfoSpace Board of Directors ‘let go’ Naveen in 2002.

Next, he floated Intelius which was dubbed by American super tech blogger and commentator, Michael Arrington, as a ‘scam’.  (Details at the end of this article)

Now, Naveen Jain is in the American news again, but for all the wrong reasons.

Techflash is reporting:

“
Perkins Coie has sued Internet entrepreneur Naveen Jain, claiming he failed to pay legal bills from October 2001. The suit, filed in King County Superior Court earlier this month, alleges that the Intelius founder did not pay for legal services that arose from a house purchase.

Perkins Coie is asking the court for monetary damages of about $188,000, plus interest on unpaid invoices. Litigation is nothing new between Jain and Perkins Coie, Seattle's largest law firm.

In early 2004, the former InfoSpace CEO filed a malpractice suit alleging that Perkins Coie did not provide adequate legal advice in an insider stock trading case. Jain was hit with a $247 million judgment as a result of the insider stock trading case, later settling the matter for $105 million.

………….
“

(Techgoss had reported the following on June 3, 2008)

Fake Bill Gates pickup lines
By Shalini Singh

Late last month, techgoss had reported on how powerful sections of the American tech media were criticizing some business practices of Indian born and trained American tech businessman Naveen Jain.  Naveen had made and lost billions in US during the heady dotcom days.

These days Naveen runs Intelius which has come in for some criticism for billing some people $20 a month after they take what looks like a quick survey. 

The reader response to the article has been staggering.  Some praised Naveen while others had more harsh words.  Quite a few felt that Naveen may be following the letter of the law, but not the spirit.

However, one comment left at techcrunch.com which broke the story, is particularly interesting.  Or petty and vengeful depending on your views.  One of Naveen’s ex-Microsoft colleagues Phillip wrote in to techcrunch.

“
I worked on an off with Naveen from 1993 and 1997. The man is a complete and utter sleazeball. He’ll lie to your face at the drop of a hat. He is 100% focused on himself and is very close to delusional. I sat in a bar in Long Beach and watched him try to pick up woman after woman by telling them he was Bill Gates. He finally finds one either stupid or drunk enough to go back to his room, which he advertised as the “Presidential Suite”, but was in fact a regular room, booked for him by Microsoft Travel.
“

In real life the Microsoft founder Bill Gates is happily married with an impeccable personal reputation.  What would he think of someone allegedly using his name to impress women at bars? 

America has very strong laws protecting freedom of speech.  What is considered libel and defamatory in European countries is just normal cut and thrust of American journalism.  It would be interesting to see if Naveen initiates legal action against media carrying the reports and comments.

(Techgoss had reported the following on May 31, 2008)

US Media investigates NRI
By Shalini Singh

Naveen Jain grew up in middle-class Uttar Pradesh but always aimed for the top.  To his credit,   he studied at IIT (Roorkee) and then did an MBA for the prestigious XLRI.  Naveen got his first big break when he joined Microsoft and had a chance to see first hand the success of his role model, Billionaire Bill Gates.  He made his way up to one of the Group Managers at Microsoft.

But his heart was always on running his own business.  Naveen founded and was the CEO of InfoSpace, a company set-up to deliver real-world information on the internet.  It was the late 1990s and the dot com boom was doing very well.  At one point Naveen’s InfoSpace was valued at a staggering $30 billion dollars and was being touted as the next Microsoft.

Some of the fundamentals of InfoSpace were a bit shaky.  And then the dot com crashed happened.  From $30 billion dollars it has been reduced to one percent of its value of 300 million dollars these days.  InfoSpace Board of Directors ‘let go’ Naveen in 2002.

Next, he floated Intelius which has run into controversy just before it goes for a public float.  One of America’s leading technology commentators, Michael Arrington, is accusing Intelius of being a scam and duping people into paying $20 a month for answering what seems like a simple survey.   Michael Arrington is considered among the most powerful men in tech America and so whatever he says is noticed by the rich and powerful.

A few years ago, newspaper Seattle Times ran a series of articles on how much of InfoSpace was built on bluff and bravado.  Naveen Jain never sued the newspaper.  There is even less of a chance that he would consider legal action against Michael Arrington.

Techgoss note:  Check out the article at
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/29/naveen-jains-intelius-prepares-to-go-public-how-much-of-their-revenue-is-a-scam/