The Dream: How I Learned The Risks And Rewards Of Entrepreneurship And Made Millions

Gurbaksh Chahal started the Internet advertising company ClickAgents from his bedroom at the age of 16, having emigrated to the United States with his Sikh family from the small town of Tarn Taran, India. He dropped out of high school to pursue the venture full-time, and two years later sold ClickAgents for $40 million, making him one of the youngest self-made millionaires in history and allowing him and his entire family to realize their dreams. Chahal went on to become the youngest executive of a multi-billion dollar NASDAQ-listed company, and then sold his second company, BlueLithium, to Yahoo! for $300 million, turning many of his employees into multi-millionaires as well.

In "The Dream," Chahal's refreshing advice for entrepreneurs encourages them to embrace risk and to carve out new niches in the marketplace. He emphasizes the value of good business timing: how to execute an idea and get it to the marketplace, how to create and maintain solid business relationships, how to stay grounded, and--most importantly--how to teach yourself that failure is not an option. Chahal's story not only shows how a 16-year-old immigrant overcame discrimination and adversity to fulfill his highest ambitions, but also provides aspiring entrepreneurs with valuable hands-on advice on how to achieve success.

Gurbaksh Chalal's family emigrated from India to San Jose, California when he was six years old. Without a high school diploma, he started the internet advertising company ClickAgents from his bedroom at the age of 16, making cold calls to advertising networks, and sold the company two years later for $40 million, turning his sibling employees into millionaires and saving his family's dream house. Chahal moved away from home and worked at ValueClick for two years, becoming the youngest executive of the multi-billion dollar NASDAQ-listed company. He then went on to found his second company, BlueLithium, which he sold to Yahoo for $300 million in 2007. In this unique and inspiring account, Chahal interweaves his entrepreneurial story with his struggles with family pressures and discrimination due to his Sikh background. He has been on the forefront of every internet advertising trend since 1998 and has shown incredible foresight and natural financial skill from a remarkably young age. This is a success story like no other of a young and charismatic entrepreneur who made hundreds of millions of dollars and saved his family from a life of discrimination and financial ruin. In "The Entrepreneur's Dream," Chahal encourages young entrepreneurs like himself to effectively harness risk and discipline for their own gain, sharing his daring personal vision and his extraordinary experiences to reveal that success is much closer than most aspiring entrepreneurs realize.

Advice for hopeful entrepreneurs:

-FIND SOMETHING THAT ALREADY EXISTS, BUT YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO BETTER: At 16, Gurbaksh spent six months observing the dot-com market and the performance of firms like DoubleClick, ValueClick, and Advertising.com. These companies tracked the number of clicks on different ads to measure web traffic, with varying success. Through his first company, ClickAgents, Gurbaksh used external tracking software purchased from a British company to track the clicking behavior by "consumer," a breakthrough in the field--a differentiator that meant a rapid increase in profits.

-RISK IS GOOD: After three months of delivering growing web traffic to clients, Gurbaksh changed the course of his life by dropping out of high school to pursue the venture full-time. Later that year, ClickAgents had revenues of $300,000 per month.

-TIMING IS EVERYTHING: The summer of 2007 brought a spate of industry mergers, and Gurbaksh knew it was time to sell BlueLithium. He put the word on the street: BlueLithium is in play. By October, he had sold the company to Yahoo for $300 million, giving his financial backers more than $100 million returns on their investments.

-BUILD A VARIETY OF NETWORKS: Gurbaksh's investments and venues of outreach have reflected his changing and growing interests. They have ranged from the sophisticated behavioral targeting of his second company BlueLithium's personalized web ads, to the Planet Bollywood restaurant venture and massive real estate development on The Ranch at Silver Creek, to the new charitable Chahal Foundation he is now establishing with his brother.