THE SILICON VALLEY 100: The most amazing and inspiring people in tech right now
Business Insider
With new startups launching, constant fundraising, and endless chatter, the who's who of Silicon Valley is always changing, and only a lucky few come out on top.
After months of research and debate, Business Insider is proud to present the Silicon Valley 100, our annual list of the people who matter most in Silicon Valley.
To compile the list, we looked at who won big in the past year: star executives, industry-changing acquisitions, top VCs, promising companies shifting industries, and more. This list isn't about long-standing reputations; it's about who's done notable things since spring 2014.
Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments below, because we love telling stories about amazing people.
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The list was compiled by Business Insider's technology editors. Additional reporting by Christi Danner and Tanza Loudenback. Photo research by Melia Robinson.
75. Steve Zadesky
Vice president iPod/iPhone product design, Apple
Apple’s next big thing is in the works. Headed by former Ford engineer and current iPhone/iPod specialist Steve Zadesky, the secretive Titan project is developing an electric car. Apple hasn't publicly announced the project yet, but Zadesky was given a green light to build a team of 1,000 people, and has been hiring specialists with a variety of skill sets.
Though the Apple Car remains years away from hitting the road for consumers, it represents a major potential revenue source for the tech giant. In fact, a stake in the car industry could generate up to $50 billion in profits annually, according to Forbes.
74. Solomon Hykes
Founder, CTO, Docker
Docker is one of the most buzzed about things on the internet, and for good reason. The open-source software, developed by CTO Solomon Hykes, gives developers the tools to build and distribute apps so that they work across multiple platforms. This technology is revolutionizing how companies view and build applications, and companies such as Yelp and eBay are adopting Docker at a fast pace.
In total, it has raised $150 million through three rounds of funding, with investors including Insight Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and AME Cloud Ventures.
73. Dave Morin
Cofounder, Path; founder, Slow Ventures
Daum Kakao, the makers of the popular Kakao Talk messaging app, acquired Dave Morin's social-networking app Path at the end of May. Path never took off in the US outside Silicon Valley, but it became popular in Asia, and it raised a total of $77 million as of January 2015. Much of the money Path raised came from Morin's own pocket; the former Facebook executive made a sizable amount when the company went public.
Dave Morin has also proved to be a great early-stage startup investor. Through is firm Slow Ventures, which just raised a $65 million fund, Morin and his partners have invested in about 200 up-and-coming companies such as Yik Yak, Meerkat, Product Hunt, and ClassPass.
72. Amit Kumar, Jeff Winner, Eckart Walther, Geraud Boyer
Top: Amit Kumar and Jeff Winner; bottom: Eckart Walther and Geraud Boyer.
Cofounders, CardSpring
Last July, Twitter purchased mobile-payment system CardSpring, marking the social network’s foray into real-time commerce. CardSpring helps developers write applications that accept credit-card payments, creating a world of opportunity for Twitter; its programs can potentially allow users to download discounts or make purchases through Tweets.
In 2012, CardSpring raised $10 million in Series A funding from investors Techammer, Greylock Partners, and Accel Partners.
71. Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg
Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.
Cofounders, Re/code
In May, Vox Media, which owns SB Nation and The Verge, bought Swisher and Mossberg's 18-month-old tech blog Re/code in an all-stock deal. Multiple sources told Business Insider at the time of the sale that the value of the deal was between $15 and $20 million, in addition to some stock incentives for Re/code's executives.
Swisher and Mossberg, the cofounders of Re/code, raised about $10 million from investors, including NBC Universal and Windsor Media. Business Insider was told the company was on track to generate $12 million this year largely from its conference business; the website pulled in only about 2.5 million monthly readers.
Despite the impressive revenue figure for such a young media company, Mossberg and Swisher noticed some disturbing trends in the media landscape that caused them to sell Re/code. Other websites, like Vox, had much larger audiences and had raised much more capital; Swisher and Mossberg would have had to give up their controlling stakes in Re/code if they wanted to remain independent.
They'll be continuing to break tech news for Vox under new leadership, and they'll help Vox build out a strong conference business.
70. Josh McFarland and Mark Ayzenshtat
Josh McFarland and Mark Ayzenshtat.
Cofounders, TellApart
Ex-Googler Josh McFarland, who leads marketing-software app TellApart, just sold his startup for more than half a billion dollars to Twitter.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo was a personal investor in TellApart before his company paid $532 million for it. TellApart boasted a $100 million run rate a couple of years ago, and the program could be a big driver of revenue for Twitter.
69. Kavan Seggie
Founder, AddLive
Last May, Snapchat made its first acquisition in AddLive, a real-time communications startup that allows the picture-messaging app to power its video-calling feature. The deal cost Snapchat $30 million.
AddLive's technology offers several useful tools to Snapchat, including screen-sharing, multiparty conferencing, and support for browser-based video chat via WebRTC.
68. Doug Evans
Founder, CEO, Juicero
The juicing fad isn’t over yet. Secretive startup Juicero — which raised $120 million earlier this year — is on a mission to completely reinvent the way we consume fresh fruits and veggies. Though the company has remained tight-lipped about their process, sources told Business Insider earlier this year that Juicero is creating an appliance similar to a Keurig that will juice freshly picked fruits and veggies without creating waste.
And founder Doug Evans knows a thing or two about juice. He's the former CEO of Organic Avenue, a popular health-food chain in New York.
67. Brit Morin
Founder, CEO, Brit + Co.
Touted at the "Martha Stewart of Silicon Valley," Brit Morin specializes in the intersection of tech and DIY — and it's lucrative. Morin launched Brit+Co, a lifestyle website that features crafts, fashion, and decor, in 2011, and so far it's raised $27.6 million in funding from investors including Oak Capital, Intel Capital, and Marissa Mayer.
Before diving into her own site, Morin grew her love for the tech world as an employee at Apple and Google, where she worked on iTunes and Google Maps, respectively.
66. Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam
Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam.
Cofounder and CEO; cofounder, Coinbase
Despite slumping bitcoin prices, Coinbase, a digital wallet used to buy and manage the digital currency, is on the rise. The startup raised a $75 million round in January — a record-breaking amount for a bitcoin company at the time. Investors include the New York Stock Exchange, Andreessen Horowitz, and banks USAA and BBVA, and the round supposedly puts Coinbase’s value at $400 million.
65. Balaji Srinivasan, Matthew Pauker, Nigel Drego, Daniel Firu, and Veerbhan Kheterpal
Top: Balaji Srinivasan, Matthew Pauker, and Nigel Drego; bottom: Daniel Firu and Veerbhan Kheterpal.
Cofounders, 21 Inc.
Enigmatic startup 21 Inc. wants to bring bitcoin to the mainstream through an embeddable chip for phones that will allow users to "mine" Bitcoin in the background. Though the company only recently announced its master plan, they’ve been building capital for some time. In March, it raised $116 million in venture funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Yuan Capital, and RRE Ventures.
21 recently shook up its management as well: Cofounder Balaji Srinivasan, who is also a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, is taking over as CEO, and Matthew Pauker, the current CEO, is replacing Srinivasan as chairman.
64. Craig Martin and Curtis Lee
Cofounders, Luxe Valet
Luxe Valet wants to take the hassle out of parking. The app, which calls someone to park your car for you with just a click, is picking up steam, even against competition from similar on-demand valet companies. It raised $20 million in a Series A funding round in February, and is continuing to expand into new markets.
The idea was born after cofounder Curtis Lee and his wife spent 30 minutes searching for a parking space in San Francisco one night, nearly missing their dinner reservations. "Circling is not good for anybody," he told Forbes.
63. Kevin Gibbon and Joshua Scott
Kevin Gibbon and Joshua Scott.
Cofounders, Shyp
Anyone who's ever had to lug a package to the post office knows how annoying it can be. But with Shyp, all that hassle goes away. The startup is reinventing the shipping process; instead of schlepping your boxes to UPS, Shyp picks them up for a $5 flat fee plus shipping.
Shyp raised $50 million in a Series B round of funding earlier this year, with investors including SherpaVentures and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. In the past year, the company has increased its number of shipments by nearly 500% and continues to grow.
62. Ben Rubin, Roi Tirosh, Itai Danino
Ben Rubin, Roi Tirosh, Itai Danino.
Cofounders, Meerkat
It's never been easier to share live video with your friends and followers. Just open Meerkat, click "stream," and share whatever you're doing with friends. The popular live-streaming app, which launched in March, raised $18.2 million in funding and has nearly 2 million users.
However, Meerkat is facing fierce competition from Twitter's Periscope, another live-streaming app. Despite Perisciope's advanced features, like the ability to replay videos, Meerkat cofounder Ben Rubin is confident there's space for both to thrive. When he found out Twitter was launching its competition, he says "it was Saturday – all the team went back to the office to get ready to dive in."
61. Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev
Cofounders, Robinhood
Robinhood, a sleek mobile-brokerage app, is making it possible for anyone to invest, not just Wall Streeters. Unlike rival investment apps E-Trade and Schwab, which charge $7 to $10 per trade, Robinhood is free to use. In May, it raised $50 million in a funding round led by NEA. Previous investors include big-name VCs and celebrities including Snoop Dogg and Jared Leto.
Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street Movement, Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt created the app to "democratize access to the financial markets." And good news for their mission: It’s now available for anyone to use.
60. Ryan Hoover
Founder, Product Hunt
For tech enthusiasts, Product Hunt is a daily addiction. The community review site constantly surfaces new products, and many consider it a direct competitor to blogs like TechCrunch. Last October, the site raised $6.1 million in a Series A round of financing from investors including Andreessen Horowitz.
Founder Ryan Hoover commands a ton of power in the tech world for becoming the face of the site. He's been known to flood Twitter with conversations about new products, consistently engaging people with the site.
Recently, Product Hunt also began branching out from tech; it launched Snoop Dogg's new album in May, and many speculate it will continue to feature nontech products.
59. Tony Xu, Evan Moore, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang
Cofounders, DoorDash
DoorDash, a startup that delivers food from local restaurants, raised $40 million in March from a round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Unlike other meal-delivery services, DoorDash provides its own drivers, which makes it possible to order from restaurants that aren’t available on places like GrubHub.
The company is about more than just meal delivery. It places a heavy emphasis on the logistics side of things, and hopes to create an infrastructure that can be used to deliver anything.
58. Josh James
Founder, CEO, Domo
Earlier this year, data-management startup Domo announced a $200 million Series D round of financing led by BlackRock that brought its total funding up to $450 million. It's now valued at about $2 billion.
Founder Josh James held Domo in stealth mode for nearly five years to keep the competition at bay while he built a platform for collecting and visualizing business data, making it easy for executives to skim and understand. Though Domo has only 1,000 users compared to competitor Tableau Software’s 23,000, he said that Domo "makes a higher average revenue per customer than Tableau does" during Re/code’s Code/Enterprise: San Francisco event.
57. Max Mullen, Brandon Leonardo, and Apoorva Mehta
Cofounders, Instacart
Often dubbed "Uber for groceries," Instacart eliminates the need to ever set food in a grocery store. For $3.99 plus your bill, the service will deliver your full load of groceries, hand-picked by a personal shopper at local stores like Whole Foods and Costco.
The startup is valued at $2 billion, notably bringing in a $220 million round of funding in December, following a $44 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz in June. And it's still on the rise: Instacart is in 15 cities and plans to continue growing in those places while expanding to others.
56. Jason Kilar and Richard Tom
Jason Kilar and Richard Tom.
Cofounder, CEO; cofounder, Vessel
Vessel is a new video-subscription service that lets users watch short-form videos, like music videos or TV segments, 72 hours early for $2.99 a month. The company raised a boatload of cash before it even launched and a $57.5 million Series B round in April led by Institutional Venture Partners. The young startup has raised $132.5 million total.
Vessel launched in March with over 135 YouTubers on board. Formerly the CEO of Hulu, Vessel cofounder Jason Kilar is no stranger to video-streaming services, and he plans to take the Hulu Plus model and optimize it for a younger, mobile audience.
55. Mike Olson, Christophe Bisciglia, Amr Awadallah, Jeff Hammerbacher
Mike Olson and Amr Awadallah; bottom: Christophe Bisciglia and Jeff Hammerbacher.
Cofounders, Cloudera
Cloudera, a software company that launched in 2008 and aims to help businesses make sense of huge data sets, raised $900 million in funding last March. Investors include Intel, Google Ventures, and MSD Capital. They also raised an undisclosed amount in another round later that year.
The company continues to grow, raking in over $100 million in revenue last year, and some analysts believe it could be worth almost $5 billion by the end of 2015. The startup even recruited Google exec Daniel Sturman to join as their vice president of engineering.
54. John Zimmer and Logan Green
John Zimmer and Logan Green.
Cofounders, Lyft
It was a huge year for Lyft: It raised two major rounds of funding — $530 million in March and another $150 million from Carl Icahn in May — rebranded with a more sophisticated look, and announced huge growth for the company. And in March, the ride-hailing service reached a $2.5 billion valuation, making it one of Silicon Valley's growing number of unicorns.
Though the startup still faces serious competition from Uber, it continues to prove itself a worthy opponent.
53. Alex Hawkinson, Jeff Hagins, Andrew Brooks
Cofounders, SmartThings
At the forefront of the growing"internet of things" market sits SmartThings, an app that lets users monitor household appliances like lights and fans remotely while they're away from home. Back in 2013, SmartThings raised $12.5 million in Series A funding led by Greylock Partners through one of the biggest Kickstarter campaigns in history. The company was then bought by Samsung for $200 million in August.
SmartThings is just getting started. Eventually, Hawkinson hopes to turn every home into a smart home. Going forward, he plans to concentrate on getting SmartThings' technology into more homes as well as delving deeper into what it can do.
52. Peter Asbill, Elias Roman, Elliott Breece, Scott Robbin, Aza Raskin
Top: Peter Asbill, Elias Roman, Elliott Breece; bottom: Scott Robbin and Aza Raskin.
Cofounders, Songza
Last summer, Google purchased music-streaming app Songza, giving the tech giant a much-needed edge in the streaming game and saving the company years of research. Though the acquisition went for an undisclosed amount, previous sources suggest it could have been a $15 million deal.
Unlike other services, such as Spotify or Pandora, Songza relies on real people — not algorithms — to curate its playlists based on the time of day or activity you're doing. Google implemented this into Google Concierge, helping to turn the feature into a tool that seamlessly blends with users' lives. The Songza team is also being tapped to help Google come up with a streaming service that can compete with Apple and Spotify.
51. Nirav Tolia, David Wiesen, Prakash Janakiraman, Sarah Leary
Nirav Tolia and Prakash Janakiraman; bottom: David Wiesen and Sarah Leary.
Cofounders, Nextdoor
In March, Nextdoor, a neighborhood-based social network, officially became a tech unicorn after raising $110 million in funding that put the company's valuation at $1.1 billion.
Nextdoor connects users with those who live close to them, creating a forum for discussing everything from neighborhood crime to the best places to eat. Though others, including Foursquare and AOL, have had mixed luck with the neighborhood-centric concept, founder Nirav Tolia believes Nextdoor's focus on small communities will make it an effective way to connect people. In the long term, the app also hopes to find a way to monetize the user recommendations.
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