I don’t want to be biased here – but I wanted to recognize my very own brother for this. He’s turning 29 and chose to celebrate his birthday like this: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9179020. He wasn’t expecting San Jose Mercury News to do any coverage and that just happened by surprise. I know he spent several weeks planning this out to make sure it was an incredible day for all.

This goes hand in hand with my previous post – you always have to remember where you came from and never change who you are. Great job again, big brother! And, ofcourse, Happy Birthday…

This week I was interviewed by the New York Times, and during the interview process – I was asked what famous quote, if any, I live by. After thinking about it, I had an instant flashback. When I was 16 – I took Philosophy 101 – and did a paper on Socrates. I’m not going to say that I’m philosopher by any degree – but I remember one quote that I read about that stood out. And you can say that – I’ve lived exactly like that over the last nine years.

“Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, and undue depression in adversity.”

Read it a few times, as it may have an entirely different meaning for you. But, in my eyes – the way I see it – success is a virtue of control. The more control you have of your success – the more you will continue to rise. Don’t get too cocky or think you are a god – since that’s what will eventually bring you down. And when you fail – it’s not the end of the world – since every true success has had its failures.

In my book – you’ll hear a lot more examples of how I saw my success and managed it carefully. At the end of the day, don’t change who you are as a human being – no matter how successful you get. I’ve seen it happen too many times and that in essence becomes the ultimate fall. Stay humble. Live for yourself and don’t let life, live for you…

Many people have asked me. Why are you raising capital? You don’t need the money – so why not self-fund it yourselves? I’ve been asked this several times in pursuit of the venture financing I’m closing for gWallet. The simple answer is: I know my DNA. You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Let me explain. Generally, here are the top three reasons why people want to raise money:

1. They need the money.
2. They are hoping investors will land them big clients.
3. They’ve reached the natural evolution in their company where they need to add a board.

Fortunately, in my last two companies – #1 never applied to me and even this time around it doesn’t apply to me. #2 – is also a first time entrepreneur’s dream. Venture money doesn’t always guarantee new business. Board members are going to make introductions – which means your product and your sales acumen will still have to speak. #3 – is a natural occurrence when you’re a first time entrepreneur and need expertise on how to grow a real business or if your business has matured and requires the experience of a proper board to take it to the next level.

Now let’s get back to my reasoning. I know my DNA. What does this mean? It means a lot to me. Part of my upbringing – we struggled as an immigrant family. Constantly, we’d have to live under the scenario: need vs. necessity. What do you really need and what is necessary? Survival. They are two very separate ways to live. Think about it. The need maybe a new car – but the necessity maybe just a car with four wheels. That’s how I lived growing up – and that’s how I founded both of my Companies. The first time I never raised any capital and I bootstrapped it the entire way. The second time around, I bootstrapped it for 1 year and then ended up raising $11.5 million but never actually used it (since we remained profitable at all times).

But, here’s what happened to me as an entrepreneur. I changed. My frugal mindset never changed. But, I was more comfortable making all the RIGHT decisions when I felt best we needed to make them. For example, after 12 months of starting BlueLithium, I made the decision to open Europe. It ended up becoming one of the best decisions for the Company since we ended becoming the 2^nd largest ad network a year later in Europe. Second example, in any interview I did, it was all about hiring the “best” talent or “rockstars” I like to call them. Never did I worry about “how am I going to afford this person?” or “Oh my god, this person is going to make 2-3 times more than me!” It was all about getting the best and paying for the best.

So here I am company #3. While I can self-fund the entire lot myself. I don’t want to hold back and I want to hit the ground running hiring the best and executing on the best decisions. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it…

Now that I’m a distant outsider I can actually talk about my thoughts regarding this potential merger. First off – a disclaimer, I am a shareholder of Yahoo and Microsoft.

As you may know, Microsoft has been trying to acquire Yahoo for the last three months. The deal broke apart this past weekend when Microsoft offered up to $33 a share, and Yahoo wanted $37 a share. Yahoo traded at $28.67 on Friday and was originally at $19 a share when Microsoft first announced their original offer on January 31^st.

First off, as a shareholder, I would have loved the outcome to happen since I would have been personally benefited. But, taking the personal emotions out of it – here’s the business analysis for it and how it could affect you as a consumer. Microsoft needs Yahoo. As we all know, Microsoft has been a monopoly in the operating system and browser war. As of March 2008, Microsoft held a 91.57% market share in the OS War and 76% in the browser war.

Operating System Market Share

Browser Market Share

According to Comscore, in March 2008 – here’s a look at market share via the search engines.

Google has a 59.8% market share that continues to trend higher. Yahoo is at 21.3% and MSN is at 9.4%. If Yahoo decides to stay independent that means its only option will be to outsource search to Google. What does this mean? Google will have a total of 90.6% of the market share in search queries (when you add Google, Yahoo, Ask, and AOL). That would leave Microsoft in the dust with single depleting digits in the search market place.

What does this mean to the consumer? Probably won’t have a direct effect till later – since the direct effect will be faced to the advertisers that advertise on Google’s marketplace first. Yahoo believes that by outsourcing its search business it will gain as much as $1 billion in more profits annually since Google will be able to add more search queries to its market place and charge more for them.

It’s a classic supply and demand problem. Search is a very scarce marketplace – the more volume you put in it – and as the demand increases, the prices will go higher. So, how will this eventually affect the consumer? Well, the hundreds of thousands of advertisers that advertise on Google – to make a “ROI profit” – will be making less of a “profit.” And, they will eventually have to increase prices – which “YOU” the consumer will have to pay for. Not exactly, the best result especially in this economy.

Therefore, outside of personal reasons for the merger to have gone through – my business approach is that – I hate monopolies and would hate to create one so hard to break in the advertising world. Google would have too much power, and Microsoft was on the other side of the fence this time around, trying to stop this power – with the proposed transaction. It’s going to be a very interesting week for the three companies mentioned and what it means to their stock prices this week (Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo).

This week I spent a several hours working with my ghostwriter, Pablo, on a draft for “The Dream.” When I was a kid – I could have never thought that I’d be writing a book at 25. And over the last few months – given what’s happened to my life, it’s been one of the most amazing experiences thus far. If you think about it – whenever you go through a life changing experience – you need to sometimes realize the checks and balances in life. What I mean is, realize what got you there and what your priorities are. This helps you stay grounded. Writing this book has not only been a great experience, but it’s been a very humbling exercise. It made me realize in detail all of the different elements I went through as early as 16, to be where I am today. And of course, who in my life – supported me all the way.

One of the upsides of writing a book is that – in the first page of the book – you’re able to write a dedication. It took me less than 30 seconds to write this dedication. It was an easy decision for me, since I realized that after all I am – and after all I’ve been through – it’s because of my family. So, thank you once again:

Dedication

“I dedicate this book to my father for instilling the DNA of ambition, for my grandmother and mother for showing me the meaning of love, and my siblings for letting me know that through high and low, I will always have your unconditional support to fall back on…”

Hello Everyone. Welcome to my blog. This is actually my first blog post ever and I thought I make this one special. From my website you may already know my story, but I’m hoping this blog allows me to communicate directly with everyone. As you all know, I’ve had an incredible and fortunate journey in my life. Not a single day goes by – when I think about how grateful I am. Nevertheless, nothing came easy or was handed to me. It was all risk that turned into reward after some great ups and downs. Over the last 9 years – I’ve had an amazing career on the Internet. At 16 – I started my first Company, ClickAgents, and then one of the first things I did as an adult, at 18, was merge it with ValueClick for $40 million. At 21, I made one of the best decisions of my life, and that was to re-join this industry and start BlueLithium. And, as you may know, BlueLithium merged with Yahoo for $300 million last October. So what next you may ask? I learned one thing about myself while I was learning everything about the way the world works. I love to be challenged and I love to win.

After the merger with Yahoo – I stayed on an interim basis as CEO. In the beginning of 2008, my job was done. One thing I know about myself is that being idle is not something I can do. I figured out very early on – I’m not the type of guy that can simply go on a never-ending vacation or just sit on an island for the rest of my life sipping a margarita. I was ready for my next challenge.

I was introduced to the William Morris Agency and shortly thereafter signed up with them. As you may know – William Morris is one of the oldest talent agencies in the world and represents some of the greatest personalities in entertainment. I felt fortunate that I was in great Company. Things started to move fast. I had some great ideas on some TV shows that I was working with them on, as well as, a memoir that I wanted to write about my journey.

Within several weeks – I was presented an opportunity about a new show that a major network was producing. The more and more I learned about it – the more I fell in love with the underlying premise of the show. Several weeks later – I was casted and selected by the network to star in it. The filming took several weeks and was an incredible experience for me. You can definitely say it was very different than starting a Company. But, like I said – I am always up for a challenge, and this was definitely a memorable one. The show is slated to come out on a major network come this Fall – and as things come closer – I am hoping you all watch it and enjoy it as much I did being a part of it.

Meanwhile, after the filming, I met with several of the top book publishers. I was looking for the right publisher that understood the reason why I was writing this book and the message I wanted to get across. Far too many times – people hear my story and they ask…How? Why? And how can I? The short answer is – it’s not easy and there is no easy way. But, the long answer (you will find after reading the book) if I can do it – you can too! I believe everyone can find that same magic I was able to find in myself. After meeting with Palgrave Macmillan – I signed global rights to my book, “The Dream.” William Morris also helped me find my ghostwriter – Pablo Fenjves (NY Times bestselling author) to help create a very powerful book that I am hoping inspires people to find their magic. Pablo and I have been working on the book for several months now – and it’s been a privilege to work with such an incredible writer. We’re about 90% done – and will be turning over the manuscript next month (June) and are looking forward to releasing it during winter 2008.

So, now what, you may ask? Sell Company #2 – film a show, write a book, what could be next? Like I said – being idle is dangerous for a guy like me. So, I decided to go back into my roots. I love creating something out of nothing. The joy of it – is the best adrenaline rush you can get.

I started researching a couple of months ago – of what the market needed and what Company #3 could do. Obviously, I have a non-compete so I can’t start another ad network. But, what is something that I can use my skill set toward and have a great time creating? Then, it all clicked. And over the last 8 weeks, I’ve been in stealth mode launching gWallet (www.gWallet.com).

I realized how much the credit crisis was hurting America. In a recent report, almost 18% of American homes will either have zero or negative equity. Even the government is looking for a quick fix. President Bush’s recent economic stimulus package was the result of injecting cash back into America. But, the underlying problem still is going to exist. How can you maximize the value of that dollar? Hence, the ideas of gWallet were defined. And, I went to work.

You can say – I am back into full swing and loving it! The adrenaline rush is back – since this is what I love doing. Everything from picking out the name, to the logo, to creating the team is almost like solving the most intricate puzzle. Except – you’re stuck with it after your done building it. Therefore, you have to be careful every step of the way.

Today, VentureWire released an article that outlines how much progress we’ve made in just the last 8 weeks. We’re already well under way for raising $10 million for gWallet. I start my pathway again. I hope this time – it is just as exciting as it’s been the last two times, if not more. Wishing everyone continued success as my journey continues…