Meet Ankit Jain
Ankit Jain is an operator by trade and entrepreneur by passion. He has won the SCORE Entrepreneur of the Year award; been on the Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies list a few times; given a TED talk; offices in Florida, China and India; and scaled a team to 100 people. He started his first business was at the age of eight. He built House of Ankit, focused on making cool home decor and tech accessories for fashion retail chains all over the country. Today he’s working on a crypto bank called 6. More on that later.
In May 2021, Ankit transferred to EO Dallas from EO South Florida. He has been in EO almost 10 years. His story begins in India, however, where he was born and where much of his family still lives. He came to the U.S. when he was 17, moving to Boca Raton, Florida, and attending Florida Atlantic University. He came by himself and worked three jobs while earning his bachelor’s degree in computer science. He went on to get a Master’s there as well. He worked as an engineer for a few years before starting his own business.
Then he built House of Ankit, known for trendy tech accessories and home decor items which you can find at Forever 21, Five Below, Dollar General Store, Hot Topic and similar retailers. “I bootstrapped my entire business and life,” Ankit said. I started this legacy business 12 years ago. I wanted to make cool earbuds, and that’s how we got into it. Then we started making cell phone covers, home décor items and other tech accessories for retail chains. It’s all the things you find at the checkout counter. It worked because I had a lot of good luck and good people around me.”
It’s not all luck. Ankit is a very focused, hard working person. He wakes up between 3-4 a.m., without setting an alarm. He thrives on about five hours of sleep and starts his day working out at his home gym(s) with online personal trainers. He is working on his business by 7 a.m. and engaging with employees or colleagues by 10.
Ankit’s brother, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephews live in a house right behind his in Southlake. It gives the single Ankit a slice of family life, with a lot of joy mixed in. They still have family in India.
Ankit is also a part-time farmer in India with thousands of plants in his orchards of banana, guava, pomengranate and lemon trees along with apiaries for honeybees. “I am connecting with nature and finding a way to live life fully now,” he said.
During this reflective time, he also set a new personal goal: “Over a billion is a waterline monetary mark.” It’s not about the actual money, as Ankit says he’s not that motivated by big houses, fancy cars or other luxuries. It’s more about achievement and reaching big goals.
Today, Ankit is developing an all-inclusive crypto app that is expected to launch in about one year. “This is where my hours go,” he said. “I’m working on developing an app that is crypto focused, blending all aspects of the crypto currency world. We’re in prelaunch and working on branding, but the company is going to be named 6. Just 6. Iconic, like the musician Prince’s symbol.” The company’s value proposition is how you can use crypto currency for everyday transactions. Ankit added, “Money laundering, drug dealers, hackers, etc. are give crypto a bad name. But the majority of crypto owners are good, normal people. Similar to Apple’s iPhone mission, I want to make crypto so easy that it can used by your mom and grandma.”
As Ankit and 6 continue to build, the coming 2020s are sure to be rewarding for this aspirational entrepreneur.
