Thread: Kairos Society -- I have my thoughts on this what do you think?

I've met his father........and well "like father like son"

When Ankur Jain was 12 years old, he knew, absolutely knew, what he needed to make the eighth-grade basketball team: $100 contraptions called Jumpsoles.

These are strap-on foot weights that look like Birkenstocks stuck to chunks of asphalt, yes, but they promised to help him jump higher, maybe even dunk, and Ankur needed to make up for lost time: He was a skinny seventh-grader who had spent the summer learning to program websites instead of playing hoops. But his parents said no. Even though they were rich (his dad, Naveen Jain, was the CEO of InfoSpace; Forbes had recently called him a billionaire), and Ankur himself now made around $200 a month from his websites, they said $100 was too much for some foot weights. They wanted to impress on him the value of money.

It was a coming-of-age moment—a test, in a way, of Jain's character. He could grudgingly honor his parents' wishes. He could throw a tantrum or secretly spend the money he'd earned without their knowledge. But Jain did none of those things. What he did was call the CEO of an online retailer that sold a lot of Jumpsoles. He told the CEO, truthfully, that he ran a website aimed at young teen consumers. He was considering featuring Jumpsoles, he told him, but would need to try out a pair first. Jain had his pair the next day.

Both Ankur and his father tell the story proudly. Ankur had his Jumpsoles. Naveen and his wife, Anu, felt as if they had taught their son not to spend money foolishly. And the retailer felt as if he had put his product in front of the teenager market online. Ankur had found a way to produce what he still prizes above everything: the win-win.

"Everything I ever wanted, if I had to buy new shoes or whatever, I would have to find a way that makes them happy, do an extra school thing, or something, where everybody wins—then I'd end up with the reward," says Ankur. "If I just asked for a favor from my parents, they would always say no."

"Your responsibility as a parent is to let them know what makes you proud of them," says Naveen. Dealmaking was, and is, a sort of family value.

Nine years later, Jain has stacked win-win on win-win on win-win-win-win-win, and he has turned himself into possibly the world's best-connected 21-year-old. He's Wharton '11 and the founder of the Kairos Society, a network of college entrepreneurs dedicated to, according to the mission statement, "solving the world's greatest challenges." I find him at a café beside a canal on the cobblestoned streets of The Hague, in the Netherlands, enjoying a sunny April afternoon with his best friends: Jacob Medwell, Jonathan Shriftman, and Daniel Pourbaba. The gang, uniformly dressed in dark suits and designer sunglasses, have traveled to the Netherlands for something called the World Foresight Forum, a conference hosted by investor Joel Wyler, the father of another Jain friend, David Wyler. They landed last night. This morning, they took chauffeured Porsches (available to certain forum attendees) from their hotel to the conference. Now it's 2 p.m., and jet lag notwithstanding, it feels like lunchtime. Tagging along with them are Jain's girlfriend, Kate Rems; one of their Dutch hosts, Jelle Brouwer; and Dylan Reid, a Jain protégé.

They sit at a long table overlooking the canal, spring sun beaming onto their shades. Brouwer orders them Bloody Marys. When the waitress comes again, they order traditional Dutch sandwiches, which are like club sandwiches with an egg inside, and Jain, who adheres to his family's traditional vegetarianism, orders one with just egg and cheese.

As they sip their drinks, Reid, the new CEO of Kairos, shows off the new Kairos lapel pins, which look like little red washers with silver trim. Jain loves them—they're more practical than the ornate gold medallions he'd had made when he started the group.

"Now we've got people walking around The Hague with Kairos pins—people we don't even know!" says Jain.

Brouwer orders a round of beers for the table, and Jain shifts his attention.

"Jelle, I love you," says Jain.

They start talking about travel plans after graduation. Pourbaba and his dad, a prominent real estate developer based in Los Angeles, are going to Dubai to check out construction projects. Jain and David Wyler are going to Dubai, too, to work on their "game changer," shorthand for their ambitious new business idea. "We've got some meetings, like with the CEO of Aramco," Jain says.

Reid chimes in. "There's gonna be a Kairos trip to Mexico, hopefully. Have you met Jorge yet?"

"Aw, I heard about this," says Jain.

"Youngest politician in Mexico, Kairos fellow…" says Reid.

"Isn't he a senator now?" asks Jain. As it turns out, Jorge Miguel Martin is actually a regidor, the equivalent of a city councilor, in Playa Del Carmen. But no matter; Jain rushes on. "One of our fellows is the youngest senator ever in Mexico. He just invited the Kairos team down to Mexico."

"State sponsored," adds Reid.

"The government's paying for it," says Jain.

"Oh, hell, yeah!" says Pourbaba in a falsetto.

Jain turns his attention to Reid. "How many kids is he paying for?"

"Probably 14, 15," Reid says.

"Get him higher than that," Jain says.

"Dude, he got inaugurated yesterday," says Reid.

"Is he here?" asks Jain.

"He's coming tomorrow."

"Sick!" says Pourbaba.

"He was like, 'There's no way I can make it to the Netherlands; I'm being inaugurated,' " says Reid. "But then he was like, 'All right, screw it, first official tour of duty…' "

Jain starts clapping his hands in appreciation. "Kairos Europe Summit!" he crows.

Long article click through to finish

Meet Ankur Jain, the Best-Connected 21-Year-Old in the World, Page 4 | Inc.com

So what are you thoughts? Are you looking for opinions on the "Kairos Society" or "Ankur Jain" ?

I read this article a few weeks ago, i enjoyed it and think it is a great idea to have a solid network of entrepreneurs that are friends and jetset and network ... mix that with some fast cars and great food and that is the life i am shooting for!

Just thoughts on Jain and his buddies.......they come across as trust fund douche bags.

Originally Posted by rossii

Just thoughts on Jain and his buddies.......they come across as trust fund douche bags.

I agree, but that seems a bit harsh, because it seems like he/they want to make a positive impact in the world. They aren't d!cking around with daddy's money.

I never understood what people have against trust fund..... I sure wouldnt mind being one.

Originally Posted by RAWMEAN

I never understood what people have against trust fund..... I sure wouldnt mind being one.

+1

Jain wouldnt have any of those connections if it wasnt for his daddy's money......nothing against trust funds.....just douche bags who try to come off as self made when that's not the case.

Article was horrible. Got to page 3 and couldn't continue anymore. I'll check out the Kairos website itself.

Originally Posted by RAWMEAN

I never understood what people have against trust fund..... I sure wouldnt mind being one.

Nothing against trust funds babies...some are cool, most are douche bags that think everyone else is beneath them.

Originally Posted by rossii

Jain wouldnt have any of those connections if it wasnt for his daddy's money......nothing against trust funds.....just douche bags who try to come off as self made when that's not the case.

this. he's probably a nice kid and all. and i wouldn't mind having a trust fund either, but sometimes kids that might think they are self made, aren't, because as rossii said, they had connections and resources (not necessarily money) at their disposal to begin with.

but i think it also might be because of the way the article was written, it seems very amateurly written, and was just like, yeah these are cool kids that do a lot of cool stuff. but it kind of made them seem pretentious.

When I meet Jain downstairs in the hotel lobby, he's already consumed his latest Red Bull, and he, Rems, and I head out to the parking lot and get in one of the Porsches. "Can we get some house music, bro?" Jain asks the driver. "Like some DJ Avicii or Swedish House Mafia?" The driver complies. "Put it loud, dude! Bump it!" The driver, also a guy in his 20s, grins and nods his head to the music. We speed toward the Peace Palace in the Cayenne Turbo.

We arrive at the gates of the palace. "Coolness!" says Rems.

that right there just makes that kid sound like he's trying so hard to be "cool". he reminds me of the kids i went to high school that took all AP/IB classes and got 4.0's never drank or smoked. now they're in top tier schools and they're posting Skrillex and dubstep on their facebook walls. same goes with this kid, he seems like he's having a mid life crisis already, like a 50 year old buying a harley and acting like he's a die hard biker. this article just makes these kids seem so fake. he's asking for Avicii or SHM, but when's the last time he rolled and raged at a rave? probably never.

while this might sound like jealousy on my part, i assure it isn't. these guys are great entrepreneurs and businessmen, and will be very successful. but to me, they're fake and i wouldn't trade my position in life with theirs ever.

oh and who says "coolness". gtfoh