Andrew Yang, former presidential candidate and entrepreneur, shared his inspiring journey to multimillionaire status by age 34 in a Vlad TV interview.
Born to immigrant parents from Taiwan, Yang excelled academically early on, scoring a 1200 SAT at age 12 and a 1500 by 15, which helped him gain admission to top universities like Brown and Columbia Law School. After a brief and unsatisfying stint at a law firm, Yang pursued entrepreneurship, initially starting a philanthropic dot-com during the bursting tech bubble, which failed. He then worked multiple jobs, including nightclub promotion and test prep tutoring, before becoming CEO of a test preparation company around age 31. Under his leadership, the company expanded to 69 locations, generating $17-18 million in annual revenue. At 34, he sold the business to Kaplan for a low eight-figure sum, marking a significant financial milestone that laid the foundation for his later successes.
After selling his testing company and serving as a presidential ambassador for global entrepreneurship under Obama, Yang was inspired to enter politics following Donald Trump’s 2016 election. Noticing the devastating impact of job losses in manufacturing and other sectors, Yang believed automation and AI would further disrupt the economy. To address this, he launched his 2020 presidential campaign with a groundbreaking policy: the “Freedom Dividend,” proposing to give every American $1,000 a month to alleviate financial insecurity. Yang emphasized that over half of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and cannot handle emergency expenses. Though initially skeptical of political viability, Yang decided to run to raise awareness of the economic challenges and potential solutions posed by automation. He admits the dividend amount may need adjustment to counter rising inflation but stands firm on its necessity.