The Immigrant Entrepreneur

Andres Blank is super smart. After completing a degree in industrial engineering at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, in Caracas, Andres founded a successful lumber company. Then at the age of 24, with Venezuela falling apart and crime escalating, he decided to attend graduate school overseas. The Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) accepted him into their MBA program, where he soon began to create an app called Pixable. (You have to see the page with the cute bunnies!).  Andres and his two co-founders worked like madmen for over a year, gained major … More

Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO and Co-Founder of Vaynermedia is a fighter. You knew that.

He hustles. You knew that too.

In preparing for this interview I look into the story behind the story behind the story – even if I don’t bring it up during the interview. So, Try to Imagine – if your country lost 1/3 of its population during the Second World War.

Imagine if your part of the country was where most of that 1/3 had lived.

And that your country lost ½ of its economic resources.

And your family survived.

And later moved to America

And you … More

Michael Sliwinski is humble. You can tell by his voice. And determined – you can tell by his actions. And successful. That would be the 300,000 users of his productivity software, Nozbe.

Nozbe, which Michael created after being inspired by David Allen’s Getting Things Done, does help you be more productive

He created Nozbe by testing it on himself and other software consultants like him, made improvements and so on. Nozbe has a free version which my editor happens to use, a $100 per year version that I use, and more.

Michael is an immigrant from Poland to Spain … More

Taro Fukuyama, came from Japan with a suitcase and a belief that the streets were lined with investors. He also believed it would be easy to get a visa. Neither of course are true, but with persistence he got both. Taro co-founded and is CEO of AnyPerk, a fast growing provider of pre-negotiated perks to over 2,500 companies. After reading about Taro in Fast Company Magazine’s “7 People Under 30 Who Are Changing Our World”, I set out to meet him. I discovered that Taro while he has achieved so much, has not fulfilled the other reason he came … More

Neil Patel creates content which is consumed, everywhere. Take a look at the Alexa rating for his blog, which you want to read by the way, Quicksprout.  Wall Street Journal calls Neil a top influencer and Entrepreneur Magazine says he founded one of the 100 most brilliant companies, KISSmetrics (or was it Crazy Egg or Hello Bar). Dhaval Patel drives marketing at Kissmetrics and has his own digital marketing company, Do Good SEO.

Neil and Dhaval have been friends since they can remember. They grew up almost next door to each other, in Indian households, with lots … More

Daphne Mallory, Esq., is passionate to support family companies. Because they support their communities. Because it’s not about you, it’s about your tribe.

Daphne is an Entrepreneur Magazine contributor, media personality, trainer and family business expert. Born in Liberia, Daphne was sent to London by her family at the age of eight. Weeks before Liberia’s traumatic civil war, she was the only one who they could get a visa to exit the country. From that early age she knew that she was the first one out to the land of gold and that she was expected to pave the path … More

I love listening to Dr. Pei’s voice in this podcast. You will too. Her calmness, politeness, kindness is visceral

Dr. Pei is a testimony to the resilience and lightness of the human spirit. She grew up in China during the Cultural Revolution, when the Four Olds (customs, cultures, habits, and ideas) were swept away and mass migrations were enforced. Yet Dr. Pei shares fond memories of a simpler time, of family members supporting each other, quaint street vendors, and playing with childhood friends in their bustling metropolis. An excellent student, Dr. Pei came to the U.S. to pursue her PhD … More

Clementine Bihiga inspires others. Which is against the odds. 21 years ago, on March 11, 1994, Clementine Bihiga, enjoyed life like any other 8 year old, in Gisenyi, Rwanda. She would play by the lake with her family, go out to restaurants, and attend church. That all changed with the Rwandan genocide, that killed between 500,000 and 1 million people. She escaped to the Congo, then to refugee camps in Kenya, then to Massachusetts in America.

In this podcast, Clementine shares about her homeland, and her journey, especially here in America. Her initial experience starting high school were heartwarming as … More

Edrizio De La Cruz, immigrated as a boy, to the Bronx in New York from Santo Domingo. He worked as an airplane mechanic for six years, to put himself through Baruch College, envisioned himself working on Wall Street, and then pursued his MBA at the Wharton School. He heard no many times, but because he felt indebted to those who helped him when he was young, he committed himself to succeed.

Edrizio applied that tenacity to attend the top business school in the country. Graduating, he took a on a new risk. Rather than return to his investment banking career, … More