Shubham Gupta: From Family Bankruptcy to ₹300 Crore Valuation with Bonkers Corner
In 2011, Shubham Gupta’s world collapsed. His father’s business went bankrupt, wiping out the family’s finances and stability. At an age when most kids his age were focused on school and cricket, Shubham watched his family struggle to survive. The comfortable middle-class life disappeared overnight. But instead of being crushed by the bankruptcy, Shubham became […]
Travis Kalanick: From Bankrupt Startup Founder to $80 Billion Uber Empire
In 2000, Travis Kalanick’s first company, Scour (a peer-to-peer file-sharing service), went bankrupt after facing a $250 billion copyright infringement lawsuit from the entertainment industry. He was 24 years old. Most entrepreneurs would have quit. Travis started Red Swoosh, another file-sharing company, grinding for seven years before selling it to Akamai for $19 million in […]
Lizzie Velasquez: From ‘World’s Ugliest Woman’ to Global Inspiration
Lizzie Velasquez was born March 13, 1989, weighing just 2 pounds, 11 ounces. Doctors told her parents she would never walk, talk, or live independently. She has an extremely rare condition called Neonatal Progeroid Syndrome—only two other people in the world are known to have it. The syndrome prevents her from gaining weight (she weighs […]
Dr. Amit Kumar Niranjan: The Man Who Passed UGC NET Ten Times to Change India’s Education
From Kanpur Teacher to Record-Breaking Educator and Author Growing up in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Dr. Amit Kumar Niranjan watched students struggle not because they lacked intelligence, but because they lacked good teachers. He himself suffered through mediocre instruction, watching his curiosity crushed under rote memorization and mark-chasing. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a […]
Do Won Chang: From Janitor to $6 Billion Fast Fashion Empire
Do Won Chang immigrated to Los Angeles from South Korea in 1981 with his wife Jin Sook and $11,000 in savings. He spoke no English. Despite having been a teacher in Korea, he couldn’t find professional work in America. He worked as a janitor, pumped gas, and cleaned floors for three years, living in a […]
Howard Schultz: From Brooklyn Projects to Starbucks CEO (Twice)
Howard Schultz grew up in the Brooklyn housing projects. His father was a truck driver who never made more than $20,000 a year and had no health insurance. When his father broke his ankle and lost his job, seven-year-old Howard watched his family struggle. He escaped through education, becoming the first in his family to […]
Nitish Kumar: From Language Barriers in Korea to Breaking Down Barriers for Billions
How an IIT Graduate Built Mednaath to Make Every Phone Call Intelligent and Inclusive Nitish Kumar stood in a Korean office, unable to communicate. The IIT Ropar graduate had just moved to South Korea, leaving behind a successful career leading sales and marketing at Tata Motors. But now, in a foreign country where he couldn’t […]