Brian Coryat is dyslexic. He’s terrible at math and not necessarily motivated by paychecks. Yet, he happens to be a multimillionaire.

The Scheinfield Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s latest participant in the “Enlightened Entrepreneurs” series is the founder of ValueClick, an online advertising company.

When asked about the secret formula to his meteoric rise to success, Coryat said, “ Great people and luck. You have to have some luck. There’s people out there who are way smarter and who work way harder but they have no luck.”

Bonnie Chavez, department chair of business administration at City College, spoke to Coryat about his new company, Local Market Launch.

“I found that a staggering 63 percent of companies don’t have a webpage,” Coryat said. “In this day and age, if you’re not online, you might as well not exist.”

The goal of Local Market Launch is to help local businesses get found whenever they are searched on the Internet.

Chavez asked Coryat if he was passionate about the actual company or simply passionate with the steps to building a new company, Coryat said, “I’m passionate about the challenge and figuring it out. It’s like a puzzle.”

Chavez also spoke to Coryat about his companies pre-ValueClick.

Coryat began his first business in his garage with his wife, making a large catalogue for people with home-based businesses. He and his wife fell in love with Santa Barbara and were determined to stay.

In 1994, with the birth of the Internet, Coryat was determined to reach a wider audience and decided to place his business online. After contacting Yahoo!’s webmaster, Jerry Yang, Coryat was one of the first on Yahoo!’s business directory.

Shortly after his business began to grow with up to 300 orders a day, Coryat volunteered for a layoff at Raytheon and began hiring employees. Soon, he had enough money to fulfill the dream of owning a house.

When Chavez asked how Coryat manages to remain so humble, Coryat said, “I learned over time to surround myself with people smarter than me in every sense of the word.”

Coryat also said that his success came from surrounding himself with great people and learning to look forward to Monday mornings.

“You have to do the hard work and become comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Coryat said. “Nothing that is easy is rewarding.”

Chavez asked Coryat how he empowered his employees when Coryat was the one laying everything on the line. Coryat said, “You have to treat them as great people and you have to share your vision with them.”

Coryat’s ideology also has him confident that his employees’ primary motivator isn’t the pay. “The greatest motivator is appreciation.” Coryat said.