Billionaire entrepreneur, 34, shares the secrets to his success

A tech entrepreneur who is a billionaire at the age of 34 has shared his secrets to success.

Ankur Jain, the CEO and founder of Bilt Rewards, has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes.

Bilt allows Americans to earn points by paying rent, which can be spent on travel, dining or fitness classes – just like a traditional credit card rewards program.

This week, the company also expanded its reach so customers can earn reward points when buying a home.

Since its public launch in 2022, Bilt has enjoyed a stratospheric rise – and is now valued at $3.25 billion.

Jain, previously a director at dating app Tinder, owns about 36 percent of the company.

His only advice for aspiring entrepreneurs?

“Start with a problem, not a perceived opportunity,” Jain told DailyMail.com. “Those are two very different things.”

“I think one of the most dangerous things that happened to entrepreneurship was that business school graduates went into entrepreneurship,” he said.

These graduates focused too much on complicated business statistics or what they saw as market opportunities, instead of thinking about what Americans actually need.

“They forgot to ask what problem they can actually solve for people,” Jain said.

‘There’s a reason why Bilt is easy to understand. You can earn points with the rent. It’s your biggest expense and now your most rewarding.

“You take a real problem that people have and you make it work.”

The idea behind Bilt is that it allows Americans to earn points on rent without having to pay transaction fees.

The company now has signed up property owners with 4 million rental properties in thousands of cities across the country, as well as its airline, hotel, gym and restaurant partners.

Members can transfer points to its partners, including airlines like United, or hotel chains like Hilton or Hyatt.

Jain, who was born in Washington state and married former WWE star and celebrity fitness guru Erika Hammond in Egypt earlier this year, previously co-founded Humin, an app that combined contacts and calendars and was bought by Tinder.

He also made the coveted Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2015.

His father, former Microsoft executive Naveen Jain, was also briefly a billionaire in 2000 due to the success of his company InfoSpace.

The search engine was one of the largest Internet companies in the US before the dot-com bubble crash in the early 1990s.

Jain married former WWE star and fitness guru Erika Hammond in Egypt earlier this year

Jain, pictured on his wedding day with his wife Erika, has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes

Wyclef Jean, Ankur Jain, New York Mayor Eric Adams and guest at the Bilt Rewards Private Launch event in New York City in 2022

If Americans don’t live in a Bilt partner home, they can earn points on rent with a co-branded Mastercard credit card

By tracking rent payments each month, Bilt is also designed to grow its members’ credit history so they can eventually qualify for a mortgage.

“Whether you’re paying rent or finally ready to buy a home, we want to make it possible and make it rewarding,” Jain told DailyMail.com.

Bilt also has a co-branded Mastercard credit card, which allows Americans to earn points on rent when they don’t live in a partner home.

The credit card has no annual fees, but also no sign-up bonus.

According to NerdWallet, users must also commit to using the card five times a month – on top of the rental payment – ​​to get significant value from it.

If tenants do not live in a home affiliated with Bilt and do not have a credit card, they can still pay rent via the Bilt app.

However, they will only earn 250 points for this and will still owe the processing fee.

Under the new expansion launched this week, the company has also launched a ‘buy a house’ tool that allows renters to see what kind of home they can afford based on the amount they currently pay per month.

The tool shows available homes based on an all-in monthly payment – ​​including local taxes and insurance costs – and allows Americans to search for available homes in different cities.