Energetic Indian Makes Billions

Three days ago in a Forbes article, Clare O'Connor talks about how 5 Hour Energy has gone from zero to $1 billion in sales in just eight years. In his first press release the mysterious founder, Manoj Bhargava, and his little Cadillac-red bottles are made slightly less mysterious. The article talks about Manoj's visionary abilities, similar to Jobs' (see question below); Manoj envisioned his product's success before it happened. Here is some of what is uncovered:

• Manoj grew up in a wealthy area in India, but came to the US at 18. He excelled in mathematics, and studied it for a year at Princeton in 1972 before dropping out. He claimed to find the courses "not particularly challenging" and was not happy with the "pretentious" culture.
• After leaving Princeton, he spent his 20s traveling between monasteries in India.
• Moving back to the US ten or so years later, he started a plastic manufacturing firm which he sold in 2006 for $20 million.
• Started in spring 2003, Living Essentials LLC (5 Hour Energy's privately-held parent company) holds about 90% of the energy shot market.
• Bhargava currently lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan (about 30 minutes from Ann Arbor, Michigan).
• He claims to be one of the riches Indians living in America. However, officially, the richest Indian in America is venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, living in the Silicon Valley. However, the article does not disagree with Manoj's claim.
• Bhargava is currently working on three other ventures. His startups range from an indoor, software-controlled farm to Stage 2 Innovations, a Detroit tech venture fund.

Pretty cool, huh? Judging from 5 Hour Energy's seemingly low-budget commercials, I was pretty surprised to hear that Bhargava is doing so well. You'd think a company doing billions in sales could come up with a better commercial...the article does, however, touch on Manoj's (proudly) frugal lifestyle. The commercials may be reflecting that.

After reading the article, I had a few questions (that I am now asking you) and comments:

1. As the company is not public (thus, neither is their financial information), do you believe the forecasted numbers are accurate? Why?
2. At the 5 Hour Energy shot's conception in 2003, do you think you have believed in its potential? As we read about Steve Jobs and his uncanny visionary abilities, I wonder if I would have seen 5 Hour Energy's bright future...
3. While 5 Hour Energy has 90% of the energy shot market, a contrary product called iChill may be doing numbers as well. iChill, literally the opposite of 5 Hour Energy, is actually doing better in their number of "likes" on their Facebook page: iChill's facebook page vs. 5 Hour Energy's facebook page. Let me know if you'd like to sample an iChill, as I am the campus ambassador.
4. Probably my favorite part of the whole article, and what I'll end my post on, is a quote from Manoj Bhargava, "I'm killing it right now, but you'll Google me and find, like, some lawyer in Singapore."