James Chu

Chu's first job was selling Chinese-English dictionaries and English-language instruction tapes. He later got a job with a small Taiwanese keyboard maker. In 1986 he came to the United States as American president of a Taiwanese keyboard company. In 1987 he founded a company called Keypoint Technology Corp., changing its name to ViewSonic in 1990. Today, ViewSonic is the leading seller of color computer monitors and related products in the United States, with sales of nearly $1 billion in 1998, up from $4 million in 1987.