He’s a freshman in Serra whose favorite movie is “The Dark Knight,” and he likes the band “OneRepublic.” And, oh by the way, he is the author of the book “eMillions: Behind-the-Scenes Stories of 14 Internet Millionaires.”
Stanley Tang ‘14 is one of those seemingly standard Stanford students with a hidden achievement. He is a published author of “eMillions,” a book that compiles interviews with the world’s top Internet entrepreneurs – interviews that Tang conducted at the age of 14 while living in Hong Kong.
“eMillions” tells the success stories of average Joes, normal people who went from rags to riches with their Internet businesses. Tang came to know and admire these entrepreneurs because of his own interest in Internet business.
The idea for “eMillions” started when Tang discovered his business instincts at the age of 11. In middle school, Tang recognized the huge demand for junk food among his peers.
“I basically went to 7-Eleven after school every day and bought snacks and then sold them at school for three times the price,” he said.
Tang studied business further through reading “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter, which became his favorite book and the focus of his first Internet blog. Tang said that the most important message he took from “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” was: “Do something because you are passionate about it, not because of the money.”
The blog was Tang’s first attempt at doing the thing he was most passionate about – Internet business.
“Stanley is one of the few people who actually applies what he reads,” said Tang’s high school friend Yuvraj Parwal.
Tang put ads up on his blog and used the money he made to expand the website and create content-based sites about subjects like soccer and magic tricks. He later wrote his own eBook, a purchasable digital book in PDF form.
It was at this point that Tang started thinking about compiling a book. Writing a book had always been “on my bucket list,” Tang said. However, he started to rethink the idea and asked himself: “Instead of writing about myself, why don’t I write about other people? Why don’t I interview others and get the first-hand knowledge directly from them?”
From “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” Tang learned that success results from learning others’ success stories. And so, he began his search to find and interview the big names of the online business industry.
Tang’s biggest challenge in the process was getting these entrepreneurs to agree to interviews in the first place. Saying, “Oh. I’m like this kid from Hong Kong. And I want to interview you for an hour,” was a proposal that expected rejection, Tang said.
Nevertheless, he was persistent in his emails and despite some rejections, was successful in contacting many of these busy entrepreneurs. He even waited for four months just to speak with one man.
Once the interview process began, Tang learned that none of his interviewees had been successful businessmen before they started using the Internet. All hardworking, they each created something from nothing and made millions off of it.
To Tang, the interview process was daunting at first. As a shy 14-year-old, Tang was nervous to call strangers, especially those whom he so admired.
“My first interview, I remember really clearly,” he said. “It was in mid-October, and it was pretty cold that night…Five minutes before the interview, I was shaking. I was really nervous. I couldn’t even talk. My dad encouraged me to just type in the phone number and just talk. As soon as I said the word ‘hello,’ I forgot all my fears.”
Stanley’s father, Zikang Tang, is his son’s biggest fan. “My best suggestion to [Stanley] was just to put the plan into action,” he said of his son. “He self-learned a lot from the process, and I passively learned a lot from him.”
Tang expected the interview and book-compilation process of “eMillions” to take three months. It took 15.
Tang says his ultimate goal in life is “to create something cool that changes the world.” His achievement with “eMillions” hints that he is well on his way.