Chirag Kulkarni and His Passion for Artificial Intelligence

Chirag Kulkarni continues to translate his passion for artificial intelligence in his business ventures. As a serial Internet entrepreneur, his most successful venture so far is Insightfully, a technology company that utilizes cross-platform search and predictive analytics in creating a more integrated and robust network for its clients.

Insightfully uses its clients’ social context in discovering where their resources and skillsets can be used to assist others and, in the process, become more effectively and efficiently engaged with their professional networks. Basically, each client’s network including Facebook and Twitter are synched into a central database where the company’s proprietary algorithm are used in predicting what the network has been doing and where the client can be valuable. The engagement platform is currently most popular among enterprise employees and micro-communities for this reason.

Kulkarni is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Insightfully. He co-founded the technology company with Ajay Saini and Jingyu Li on 27 March 2015 when they were fresh graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As proof of Insightfully’s innovative software, the company was recognized as a "2015 Startup to Watch" during the Canadian Internet marketing conference. Insightfully was recognized as one of the 10 companies to watch out for in 2016 according to the Huffington Post; one of the social media tools in the future by Inc.com; and one of 6 companies that investors should pay attention to in 2016 according to Tech Cocktail.

Aside from Insightfully, Kulkarni has also founded and led other business ventures. He was also a co-founder and CEO of STR, a tennis racquet stringing venture focused on both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. He was a co-founder and chief financial officer of an iOS strategic networking application known as Mingle.

He was also the founder of C&M Group, a consulting firm that provided expert assistance in product innovation and business growth to the startups in Fortune 500 companies’ investment portfolios. One of its most prominent clients is Berkshire Hathaway.

Kulkarni is indeed a widely respected thought leader and expert in the industry especially in terms of sales, marketing, and business strategy.

Gunupati Venkata Krishna Reddy Is Ready for Competition

GVK, a Hyderabad-based conglomerate engaged in the development of infrastructures in the energy, transportation, hospitality, and life sciences as well as resources industry, is one of the industry leaders – and credit for its stature largely goes to Gunupati Venkata Krishna Reddy. As the founder chairman and managing director of the infrastructure conglomerate, he possesses the charismatic leadership, strong vision, and entrepreneurial savvy that he continues to apply in the company. He is also aptly considered a pioneer in the power plant industry since GVK set up India’s first independent power generation plant in 1997.

Reddy started his business career when his father allowed him to manage the family’s small construction firm. He soon branched out into the manufacturing sector by establishing Novopan Industries, a company based in North Carolina.

For his business achievements, Reddy has been awarded with several awards including Infrastructure Person of the Year 2014 during the Construction Week India Awards; Lifetime Achievement Award during the India Aviation 2014 conference; and the Padma Bhushan, among others.

Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao Paving the Way to Progress and Development

Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao is one of the few Indians who can rightfully say that, indeed, they are paving the way for progress and development in their country. He is, after all, the founder and chairman of the GMR Group, an international infrastructure developer, builder, and operator based in India. He is also a world-class mechanical engineer and billionaire industrialist as well as generous philanthropist.

As founder chairman of GMR Group, which he established in 1978, he has led its growth into the global market. Today, the global conglomerate has an active presence in seven countries with stakes in highways, airports, and energy structures as well as in large urban developments. GMR Group is also well-known for developing, building and operating national assets in India, an accomplishment that Rao has been recognized by the public and private sectors.

Born into an upper middle-class family engaged in commodities trading and jewelry, Rao became a junior engineer at the Andhra Pradesh Government after his graduation from Andhra University. But his entrepreneurial spirit soon asserted itself and he went into business starting with commodities trading.

He ventured into other businesses including a jute mill, which he used as leverage in acquiring other assets. He eventually divested his business interests in several industries, established Vysya Bank with ING as a collaborator, and entered the energy and infrastructure industries.

His entry into the energy industry became his ticket to becoming India’s leading infrastructure asset developer in terms of asset size, revenues, and market capitalization. Among the assets that his conglomerate owns is Hyderabad's International Airport Rajiv Gandhi International Airport.

Furthermore, the GMR Group is known as one of India’s most respected and trusted brands. Rao has also received accolades including the 2007 Economic Times Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

His generosity is just as well-known in India through the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation, a non-profit organization that serves the underserved peoples in 2 locations.

Aloysio de Andrade Faria Has the Midas Touch

Aloysio de Andrade Faria, a highly successful Brazilian banker, has the Midas touch. His net worth as of May 2015 – US$2.8 billion – is a proof of it while his continuing success in the business world reinforces his golden touch.

Aloysio is a pediatrician by profession but as the son of a successful finance-related businessman, he merged his medical interest with business. In 1949, he became the leader of Banco da Lavoura when his father stepped down from his post and he transformed it into Banco Real, one of the most successful banks in Brazil. Banco Real, however, sold all of its national and international assets to ABN AMROBank, a Netherlands-based company, except for a few companies in the Real Group including Real Leasing and Seguros Real.

He is also a founder of the Alfa Bank, a personal and investment bank with headquarters in New York considered as one the ten largest banks in the United States. He is also the owner of the world’s largest Guarana plantations, the Transamerica Corporation, which also includes media and hotel groups.

Abílio Diniz: Brazil’s Retail King

Abílio dos Santos Diniz, a well-known Brazilian businessman and billionaire, is the former chairman of Grupo Pão de Açúcar (Companhia Brasileira de Distribuiçao). His wealth comes largely from his influential role in the rise of Grupo Pão de Açúcar. He is one of the wealthiest persons in Brazil with an estimated personal net worth of $4.4 billion in 2015, an increase from $3.7 billion in 2014; Forbes ranked him as the 9th wealthiest person in Brazil and the 369th richest individual in the world.

In his youth, Abilio was a champion race car driver who won the 1970 Mil Mihas Brasil race with Alcides, his brother. His own son, Pedro Diniz, is a former Formula One driver; he largely provided the funds for his own son’s career while also tapping into his own sponsorship connections.

Abilio’s father, Valentim, established Pão de Açúcar that later became Companhia Brasileira de Distribuiçao, a major retailer in Brazil. In 2002, Abilio stepped down as chief executive officer after selling a large stake of Grupo Pão de Açúcar to Casino Group, a French company; he remained as the company’s chairman.

In 2009, Grupo Pão de Açúcar purchased Casas Bahia, which gave Abilio control over Grupo Pão de Açúcar, Casas Bahia, Extra Hipermercados, and Ponto Frio. By 2012, however, Abilio may have remained as chairman of Grupo Pão de Açúcar but he was divested of all operational functions; Casino Group controlled the company at this time.

In April 2013, Abilio became the chairman of BRF and stepped down as Grupo Pão de Açúcar’s chairman by September 2013.

Abilio had his own share of controversies and challenges in life. He was once involved in a criminal investigation conducted by the Federal Public Ministry of Brazil. He was also kidnapped and kept for six days in an underground room; it was political kidnapping that happened a day before the presidential elections.

Ibrahim Abouleish Promotes Biodynamic Farming Methods

Ibrahim Abouleish, an Egyptian scientist, started his career in the fields of pharmacology, chemistry and medicine at the young age of 19 when he started his studies in Austria. In 1969, he completed his doctorate in pharmacology and worked in several management positions in the field of pharmaceutical research.

With his brilliant mind and passionate drive, he applied for and was granted patents for several new medicines particularly for arteriosclerosis and osteoporosis. He is considered as one of the notable pharmacologists in his country for this reason.

Furthermore, he is known for his effective and efficient strategies in biodynamic farming methods in Egypt largely through SEKEM, a comprehensive development initiative he founded in 1977. Beginning in the 1990s, SEKEM established its reputation as Egypt’s market leader for organic crops and crop remedies as well as its leading organization working toward the widespread use of biodynamic farming methods.

For his work, Abouleish was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, selected by the Schwab Foundation as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur, and appointed by The Business for Peace Foundation as an Oslo Business for Peace Honouree, as well as received the 2013 Award for Excellence in Positive Change during the Global Thinkers Forum.

Poonam Ahluwalia: Effective Advocate for Youth Entrepreneurship

Early on in her career, Poonam Ahluwalia adopted an enduring philosophy inspired by her mother’s words: To leave every place where she worked in a better place than when she entered it. With her social entrepreneur mindset, she founded two non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting youth entrepreneurship and shaping international youth employment, namely:

• Established in 1998, the YES Campaign has helped in placing youth employment and entrepreneurship on the global agenda. In the 14 years of its existence, it organized 5 Global Summits, 5 Regional Summits, and numerous in-country forums as well as encouraged young people worldwide to implement over 400 projects. Its innovative low-touch, high-impact approach was instrumental in its success.

• YouthTrade, which was inspired by the conscious capitalism philosophy, adopts a three-pronged approach to youth entrepreneurship – certify businesses managed by youth entrepreneurs, provide them access to markets, and build demand for their products and services. Today, YouthTrade products are available at Nordstrom and Whole Foods Market while its present headquarters, the YouthTrade Innovation Studio, is located at Babson College.

Before establishing these youth entrepreneurship-focused organizations, Ahluwalia started her advocacy by teaching basic hygiene in communities after her high school graduation. She completed her master’s degree in political science at Rajasthan University in India and her master’s degree in mass communications at Boston University in the United States.

She worked for various organizations related to her advocacies. She continues to be a member of the Hunger Project, which she joined in 1984, wherein she raised funds, increased awareness, and organized activities for the organization.

She worked for the State of Massachusetts’ Welfare-to-Work programs in the late 1980s and with the Education Development Center (EDC) in 1997. In her EDC work, she created workforce development workshops with the goal of promoting global education and health.

Ahluwalia has been recognized for her work in youth entrepreneurship by various organizations, such as the Indian-American Trade and Commerce and the Legislature of the State of California as an outstanding youth community leader.

Sevket Sabanci: Born With A Silver Spoon But Works Hard For It, Too

Sevket Sabanci was born with a silver spoon – he is, after all, the fourth son of Haci Ömer Sabanci and, thus, a member of the influential Sabanci family of Turkey. He is a billionaire businessman and philanthropist whose business savvy, ethics and success are just as well-known as his family lineage.

He has a degree in textile engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in England. After graduation, he returned home and worked at various managerial positions in his family’s companies before becoming Sabanci Holding’s international representative.

He is currently Esa Holding’s chairman; Esa Holding is Air Berlin’s second-largest shareholder as well as owner of Pegasus Airlines, Turkey’s largest private airlines. He is also one of the founding members of the Sabanci Foundation VakSA, one of Turkey’s major philanthropic organizations. His net worth is an estimated $7 billion as of 2015.

He is currently married to Hayirli Zerrin and has three children.

Mehmet Karamehmet: Bouncing Back After Failure Led to His Success

Mehmet Emin Karamehmet achieved his status as the second-wealthiest person in Turkey – 401st in the world according to the 2012 Forbes Billionaires list – by always bouncing back after failure. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Çukurova Holding conglomerate, one of Turkey’s largest corporations, which makes him one of the country’s most successful and influential businessmen.

Established in 1923, the Çukurova Holding conglomerate is a commercial and industrial conglomerate with its headquarters in Turkey. Such is its wide range of influence from communication and information technology, media, and financial services to construction, energy, transportation, and industrial services that every Turk is likely to use one of its products and services at least once a day.

Çukurova Media Group handles most of the conglomerate’s media assets while Digiturk, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Cukurova Group, handles the purchase, production and packaging of content including television series and movies. The Çukurova Group also operates in several other sectors including chemicals production, paper production, steel pipe manufacture, and textile manufacture.

Karamehmet has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Dover College in Kent (UK). After his graduation, he went back to his hometown, started his first company on a 100,000 TL capital, and began his successful business career. He also started getting more involved in his family’s business while also establishing Cukurova Holding, which he led toward becoming one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates.

But Karamehmet also has his share of failures. For example, he owns little of his previous assets in the media and automobile sectors because he passed the companies involved to the Turkish national government as payment for his tax debts. His company engaged in the telecommunications industry, Turkcell, is also under litigation for ownership; he currently owns the largest share in Turkcell that, in turn, comprises the largest share of his enormous wealth.

Florence Nightingale: Mother of Modern Nursing

Florence Nightingale OM, RRC (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was a heroine in so many ways. She was, after all, a prominent social reformer, statistician, and nurse whose achievements in the nursing profession led to her being dubbed as the mother of modern nursing. She was The Lady with the Lamp whose innovative approaches to nursing during the Crimean War, when she trained the nurses tending to the ill and injured soldiers, led to the birth of the nursing profession as the world knows it today.

With her establishment of the world’s first secular nursing school, then at the Sr. Thomas Hospital but now part of the King’s College London, modern professional nursing came into its own. She has been honored with several accolades for her achievements including the Nightingale Pledge named in her honor and the International Nurses day held on her birthday each year.

Beyond the nursing profession, Nightingale was also a known social reformer. She was instrumental in the improvement of healthcare in British society, the hunger relief in India, and the abolishment of harsh prostitution laws against women as well as in the expansion of women’s role in the workplace.

J. R. D. Tata: A Great Man of India

Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (July 29, 1904 – November 29, 1993) is considered one of the greatest men in modern Indian history because of his outstanding success in business and his pioneering contributions to the development of Indian society. He was, after all, the father of Indian civil aviation and awardee of Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, and the French Legion of Honour.

Tata was the first licensed pilot in India (February 1929) and founded its first commercial airline, Tata Airlines (1932); it later became Air India (1946), India’s present-day national airline. He started his career as an unpaid apprentice at Tata & Sons in 1925 and by 1938 he became its Chairman, which made him the head honcho of India’s largest industrial group when he was just 38. His leadership saw Tata & Sons grew its asset base from US$100 million to more than US$5 billion and from 4 enterprises to 95 enterprises by the time he left in 1988.

Tata was also a notable tycoon because of his high ethical standards – he refused to engage in many of his fellow businessmen’s dubious practices including using the back market and bribing politicians.

He was also a patron of the arts and sciences. He was the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust trustee for more than 50 years since its inception in 1932. He founded many institutions including the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (1936); the Tata Memorial Center for Cancer, Research and Treatment (1941); Asia’s first hospital dedicated to cancer; the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1945); and the National Center for Performing Arts.

He also founded Tata Motors (1945), the National Council of Applied Economic Research (1956), the Tata Computer Centre, which later became the Tata Consultancy Services.

Tata was well-known for his strong advocacy for worker welfare. He initiated several employee-centric programs that were later adopted as Indian statutory law, such as 8-hour working day, worker’s provident scheme, free medical aid, and worker’s compensation.

Michael Stephenson: Rugby Is His Life

Michael Stephenson, known in rugby circles as Stevo, considers rugby as both his career and his life. An Englishman, he is a former professional rugby league footballer, a position that he parlayed as one of the more well-known rugby commentators for Sky Sports whose opinions are valued by rugby fans, managers and players alike.

He previously played at club level for several teams including the Deswbury and Penrith, an Australian team. He also played in the representative rugby league for Great Britain where he won the Rugby League World Cup in 1972 and for the Yorkshire county team. He was also known to play as a specialist hooker for majority of his professional playing career.

He started his playing career with Dewsbury, his hometown club, in 1966. His career grew by leaps and bounds, thanks to his innate talent, hard work, and strong dedication, such that he won multiple cups for Great Britain. His greatest victory during his international rugby league career was as member of Great Britain’s 1972 World Cup win; he scored against Australia during the finals.

Sir John Templeton, the Legendary Financial Investor

Over  the past few decades, early sunbathers at the glorious beach at Lyford Cay in the Bahamas might have seen a wiry, determined figure of an aged man power-walking along the shore. Only few would have recognized him as Sir John Templeton,  an investor and mutual fund pioneer. Born in Winchester, Tennessee, in 1912, Templeton has amassed a fortune in global stocks and gave away millions to his philanthropic organizations.

However, on July 8, 2008, Templeton missed his early morning walk. Soon, news broke out that the brilliant financial entrepreneur passed away due to pneumonia.  He was 95.

Templeton has managed to squeeze a lot of life into his 95 years, and more than half of which was dedicated to finance. He first saw an opportunity in the stock market in 1939, when threats of war coerced the world to sell. Always swimming against the tide, Templeton decided to borrow $10,000 and bought 100 shares each in 104 companies who sold at $1 a share or less. Years later, he made large profits on 100 out of 104. He once again shocked the world in the early 2000s when he sold all his dotcom and Nasdaq tech stocks – but they soon understood why when the market crashed.

Investing lessons from Templeton featured his gutsy investing style and his lack of regard for conventional wisdom. His worldly outlook allowed him to be open-minded; he was not known to follow the Wall Street herd mentality, which made him one of the most successful financial entrepreneurs and analysts of the century. He was able to forecast the future of the market so precisely that he predicted financial chaos to last many years; it was his last testament written in 2005.

Templeton was truly a visionary in so many ways. Even in his passing, his legacy continues to live on in the financial world.

Leland Stanford: Leaving a Legacy of Education

Amasa Leland Stanford (9 March 1824 – 21 June 1893) may have been considered by many as a robber baron but his legacy in excellence in education continues to this day. He is, after all, the founder of Stanford University, officially known as Leland Stanford Junior University, a private research university considered as among the world’s leading educational institutions whose alumni include leaders in government, business and science, among others.

Stanford is also known as a business tycoon and industrialist as well as notable politician in the United States. His career started when he migrated from New York to California during the Gold Rush, a time that he maximized by becoming a successful merchant and wholesaler. He built his business empire on the basis of his success here.

He was also the President of the Southern Pacific Railroad and then of Central Pacific. He made a lasting impact on California as well as wielded tremendous power in the state, even the region. He was also the founder of Pacific Life, an insurance company.

He was also a Governor of California in 1861, a two-year term, before becoming a state senator for eight years.

Nikola Tesla: His Name Is Synonymous With Invention

Nikola Tesla (10 July 1856 – 7 January 1943) was a renowned inventor, mechanical and electrical engineer, and physicist as well as futurist whose contributions to the modern world continue to make an impact to this day. His most notable contribution is in the design of the modern-day alternating current electricity and its supply system.

Tesla immigrated to the United States in 1884 with comprehensive experience in electrical engineering and telephony. He worked for Thomas Edison, also a great inventor with whom Tesla had differences with especially in terms of methodologies, in New York City before setting out on his own. He set up companies and laboratories, thanks to the substantial investments of his financial backers, which engaged in the research and development of a wide range of electrical devices.

He invented and patented the AC induction motor and transformer; George Westinghouse licensed both devices as well as hired Tesla to be a consultant for a short period. He was closely involved in the so-called War of Currents by virtue of his innovative work in the development of electric power as well as in several patent battles.

Tesla was a strong believer in wireless lighting and electricity distribution, which he experimented with in his high-voltage, high-frequency power tests in Colorado Springs and New York; he was unsuccessful in these attempts. He also conducted several experiments with electrical discharge tubes, mechanical oscillators and generators, and early x-ray imaging. His wireless controlled boat is notable as the world’s first of its kind.

His showmanship coupled with his notable achievements earned him the reputation as a “mad scientist”. He has obtained approximately 300 patents for his inventions in 26 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada; some of his patents unaccounted for while many have been discovered hidden in patent archives and many more have not been provided with patent protection.

While his work may have faded into relative obscurity, his popularity has been on the increase since the 1990s.

Rajeev Agarwal: Learning Came Via Life Experiences

Rajeev Agarwal, author of "What I Did Not Learn at IIT", realized early on that success in life and career largely depended on the right habits, behaviors and mindset, not on a college degree and technical knowledge. He is a living proof of his teachings in the book – he is, after all, the founder and current CEO of MAQ Software, a privately-held software services company that offers digital marketing, analysis and technology systems and solutions. His company is also an Amazon Consulting Partner and a Microsoft Preferred Vendor and Silver Certified Business Intelligence Partner.

He has a B. Tech. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur as well as several master’s degrees in engineering and management from the Iowa State University and the University of Michigan Business School, respectively. He worked with Frigidaire and Microsoft Corporation in various capacities including product management before establishing his own company. He has also been recognized in the industry with various awards including as finalist for the 2010 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Jay Adelson: A Passion for Internet Entrepreneurship

Jay Adelson definitely has the passion for Internet entrepreneurship, as evidenced by his string of digital enterprises. Such is his influence in the global Internet industry that he was recognized as a member of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2008; he as was also a finalist in the 2009 list.

Adelson started his career at Netcom, a pioneer global ISP, in 1993 as an installation coordinator. By 1996, he was already the Director of Network Operations in charge of network engineering, operations, and customer services; he also departed the company in 1996.

He soon worked for Digital Equipment Corporation to build, operate and maintain the Palo Alto Internet Exchange (PAIX), later renamed as the Peering and Internet Exchange. He was instrumental in building a data center and suite of services for scaling Internet traffic and its core.

In 1998, Adelson set out on his own to establish Equinix, Inc. where he was also the Chief Technology Officer; he was in charge of the invention, design and construction of the company’s data centers and Internet Business Exchanges.

In 2005, he co-founded Revision3 with Ron Gorodetsky, Keith Harrison, Dan Huard, and David Prager. As CEO and Chairman of the Board in the next 2½ years, he raised two rounds of capital. He remains as chairman of the board although he has relinquished his CEO position in 2007; Revision3 was purchased by Discovery Communications in 2012.

In 2004, he also co-founded Digg with Kevin Rose, Ron Gorodetsky, and Owen Byrne. He became Digg’s CEO in February 2005 where he recruited the first management team, raised two additional rounds of capital, and led the company’s peak performance of 40 million unique visitors monthly. He left Digg in April 2010.

Adelson has made other Internet investments including SimpleGeo, a location-aware services company; Opsmatic, a provider of configuration management system; and Center Electric, an early-stage technology venture capital company.

Kirk Perron: Healthy Lifestyle Advocate and Entrepreneur

Kirk Perron is a healthy lifestyle advocate and avid cyclist who turned his passion into a successful business. On 31 March 1965, he established Jamba Juice with his first store located in San Luis Obispo, California with his three friends, Joe Vergara, Kevin Peters, and Linda Ozawa Olds, in the business. Jamba Juice was later incorporated as Juice Club, Inc. in 1990 in San Luis Obispo, too.

Jamba Juice Company has its headquarters in Emeryville, California with more than 800 locations across the United States (26 states, so far) as well as in Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the Philippines, and South Korea. The restaurant retailer has around 287 company-owned locations, 517 franchise-operated stores, all in the United States, as well as 45 international outlets.

The company has expanded its menu from fruit and vegetable smoothies to several healthy food options including sandwiches, salads, wraps, and flatbreads. Perron has certainly influenced thousands of people to adopt a healthy lifestyle even on the go.

Bill Gates: Best-known of the World’s Digital Entrepreneurs

William Henry Gates III, more popularly known as Bill Gates, is one of the world’s best-known entrepreneurs of the digital revolution particularly in personal computers. His renown extends beyond his prestige as a business tycoon, investor, and inventor but also into his notable works as a philanthropist. His company, Microsoft, dominates the world the computing while his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has influenced several industries worldwide.

In 1975, Gates dropped out of Harvard University to become co-founder of Microsoft with Paul Allen. Microsoft eventually became the world’s largest personal computer software company, an achievement that Gates played a crucial role in.

While at Microsoft, he held various positions, namely, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Software Architect, a position that he created for himself. He was also the largest individual stockholder until May 2014 although he was still an influential force within the corporation.

In January 2000, he resigned as CEO but remained as Chairman before creating the Chief Software Architect. In June 2006, he announced his plans of transitioning from full-time to part-time work so that he can focus more on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; his duties were gradually transferred to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. In February 2014, he became the company’s technology advisor, a role he took on to support CEO Satya Nadella.

Gates is considered as among the world’s richest men, a distinction that he has held since 1987. From 1995 to 2014, he was the richest overall except during the 2007-2008 global financial crisis. His net worth doubled from US$40 billion to over US$82 billion between 2009 and 2014.

His Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been cited by several organizations for its notable impact on education, health and technology, among others. His recognitions include the Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged and the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award from The Tech Awards for his philanthropy.

Greg Maples: Delivering a Better Burrito Experience Is His Forte

Greg Maples founded High Tech Burrito in 1986 with the vision of redefining the fast-food experience in general and the burrito experience in particular. He started with just a 400-square feet hole-in-the-wall joint with a counter and four stools but he was determined to both tantalize his target customers’ taste buds and enrich their lives with made-to-order burritos made from the freshest ingredients. He was just 21 years old when he started, which took plenty of guts, gumption, and gamble.

And his gamble paid off! High Tech Burrito has not only won several awards from food critics but it has also satisfied the hunger of diners for better burritos. Its restaurants are known among food aficionados for its fresh, full-flavored range of burritos prepared by hand according to the customers’ preferences.

High Tech Burrito is not just about the delicious food either. Maples and his team has several programs designed to benefit the community, such as fundraising wherein 15% of net proceeds made by a large group can be donated to any organization of their choice.

David Filo: The World Owes Him for Yahoo!

In February 1994, David Filo co-founded Yahoo! With Jerry Yang – and for it, the world owes him, in a manner of speaking, because the web portal is a major force in the Internet. He wrote the Filo Server Program, the server-side software used on the Filo Server Pages for Yahoo’s early versions.

Filo earned his bachelor of science in computer engineering degree at Tulane University and his master’s degree at Stanford University. He is one of the world’s richest men with an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion. He is also a well-known philanthropist with his most notable contribution being a $30 million donation to Tulane University’s School of Engineering as well as his non-profit endeavors including the Yellow Chair Foundation, the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship, and the K12 Start Fund.

Yahoo Inc. first started as Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web, which consisted of a directory of other websites. The duo later renamed it as Yahoo! before they realized its huge potential and co-founded Yahoo Inc.

Today, Yahoo! is going from strength to strength. The web portal is widely considered as a leader among Internet brands as well as one of the most trafficked (i.e., visited and used) online networks. The American multinational technology company, which maintains its headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, offers a wide range of digital products and services aside from its web portal and search engine status. These include Yahoo! Directory; Yahoo! News; Yahoo! Mail; Yahoo! Groups; Yahoo! Finance; and Yahoo! Answers, as well as online mapping, advertising, social media, and fantasy sports.

Yahoo! is also a leader in many aspects, such as the top-ranking sites in the United States. It is the world’s highest-read media and news website with more than 7 billion readers monthly as well as the fourth most visited site worldwide (June 2015). Such is its global presence that it attracts over 500 million consumers worldwide in over 30 languages.

Joyce C. Hall: Made His Mark with Hallmark Cards

Joyce Clyde Hall (29 August 1891 – 29 October 1982) has certainly left a legacy that not even the advent of electronic cards has overshadowed. He is, after all, the founder of Hallmark Cards, the Kansas City-headquartered, privately-owned company considered as the United States’ largest manufacturer of greeting cards as well as range of gift products.

Starting at age 8 soon after his father abandoned the family, Hall worked odd jobs mostly in sales – a good start for his entrepreneurial success later in life. In 1905, he and his brothers invested in picture postcards, which were then sold to store owners and in his older brothers’ bookstore. In 1908, he founded the Norfolk Post Card Company in Norfolk, Nebraska.

It was just a small step toward Hallmark Cards, which he founded in 1910in Kansas City, Missouri with just two shoeboxes of postcards as his beginning inventory. While he encountered setbacks, such as when his first store burned down in 1915, he persevered and made his mark with Hallmark Cards.

Mark Ecko: Pharmacy’s Loss, Fashion’s Gain

Marc Ecko (born 29 August 1972) was a student at Rutgers University’s School of Pharmacy when he took a year off from his studies and pursued his dreams as a fashion designer upon the encouragement of his school’s dean. He never looked back and, today, he is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of his own billion-dollar international fashion and lifestyle company, Marc Ecko Enterprises, as well as the founder of Complex magazine. He is as well-known for his status as a formidable fashion designer as for his passion in entrepreneurship, investments, and arts as well as for his philanthropy.

Born Marc Louis Milecofsky, Ecko adopted his alternate name while in college, a time when he dabbled in the arts including graffiti and drawing. But his career started when he was still a teenager when he established a design studio and showroom in his parents’ garage. He created and sold merchandise including shirts with his own designs, customized hip-hop apparel, and airbrushed fingernails for girls.

His entrepreneurial streak served him well when he established ecko UNLTD in 1993. Ecko UNLTD started as a T-shirt company with early clients including Chuck D. and Spike Lee, both of whom helped in bringing wider exposure to his products. Ecko expanded his company into hip-hop and skater styles with the rhinoceros logo.

In the 21st century, ecko UNLTD has grown into a billion-dollar clothing and lifestyle company with stores in several countries. Its full product lines include urban clothes and accessories for children, young men and women, and adults. It also has divisions for video and social games, a magazine for young men, and venture capital funds.

Ecko is considered as the youngest designer to have been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). He has been a member of the CFDA’s Emeritus Board.

Ecko’s philanthropy is also notable for his social activism stance. He has supported protection for the rhinoceros population, provided funding for a Ukrainian orphanage, and established a non-profit organization (Sweat Equity Education), among others.

Billy Joe (Red) McCombs: Proof Everything In Texas Is Bigger

Billy Joe "Red" McCombs is among the State of Texas’ pride. He founded Red McCombs Automotive Group, which had its start as the Hemphill-McCombs Ford established in 1958 with Austin Hemphill, in San Antonio. He is also the founder of McCombs Energy, an energy company based in Houston, Texas.

McCombs has also been involved in the real estate industry via the Koontz-McCombs development company. His partnership with the Lowry Mays resulted in the purchase of the San Antonio-based WOAI radio station, which became the foundation for Clear Channel Communications. He is also the Chairman of Constellis Groups as well as a former owner of various sports teams including the San Antonio Spurs, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Denver Nuggets.

With his generous donation, the University of Texas’ business school was renamed the Red McCombs School of Business in his honor. He was also a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Southwestern University as well as the Chairman of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas.

And because he is a Texan who can be bigger than life, McCombs has been awarded with several Hall of Fame honors, including Texas Business Hall of Fame, the San Antonio Business Hall of Fame, San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Amadeo Peter Giannini: Pioneer in America’s Banking Industry

Amadeo Peter Giannini (May 6, 1870 – June 3, 1949) is among the foremost pioneers of the banking industry in the United States. He is best known for founding the Bank of America, one of the world’s largest banks.

When he was 13 years old, he dropped out of school and took a full-time job with his stepfather’s company, L. Scatena & Co., as a produce broker. He subsequently worked in various capacities as produce dealer and commission merchant in the Santa Clara Valley, a business where he was known for his savvy business skills.

But he eventually sold his business interests in L. Scatena & Co. to manage his father-in-law’s estate including an interest in Columbus Savings & Loan. He eventually came out of his early retirement to become a director in the company.

At the time, all the banks catered to the interests of the wealthy and well-connected set while the middle class was left to its own devices, banking-wise. Giannini wanted to provide banking services to the middle class and the immigrant population but he met opposition from the other directors.

He quit Columbus Savings & Loan and started his own bank, the Bank of Italy, on 17 October 1904 in San Francisco in a converted saloon. The Bank of Italy offered banking products and services including savings accounts and loans to hardworking immigrants, among other underserved individuals, usually on the basis of their character instead of their wealth – and the rest is history.

By 1916, Bank of America had over 500 branches across California. In 1928, Bank of Italy merged with the Bank of America with the new bank now known as Bank of America. Giannini became the chairman of the board until his retirement in 1945.

He is credited for being the inventor of several modern banking practices including the holding company and transnational structures. He is also among the first bankers to provide banking products and services to middle-class Americans. He has nurtured several industries with his banking support including the film (Walt Disney), automobile (Fiat), and technology (Hewlett-Packard) industries.

Kurt Taylor: Next Glass Founder and App Whiz

Kurt Taylor, founder of Next Glass, wants everybody to know what wines and beers will suit their palate even before actually tasting it. Next Glass is a service used in the analysis of the chemical compounds in beers and wines the user likes, which will then utilize the beverages’ underlying chemical structure to make drink recommendations. Keep in mind that the recommendations are based on science, thus, many people assert that the app can be hit-and-miss in many types of drinks.

During its first 3 weeks in the Apple app store, the app was downloaded 250,000 times. It is being downloaded at a rate of 100,000 downloads per week – a testament to the love of alcohol among Americans.

Next Glass can be downloaded on iOS and Android smartphones. The app has a huge database of drinks that can be compared with your tastes; just scan the label of the drink you are about to consume with your smartphone’s camera and the app will tell you whether you will love or hate it.

Rob Rhinehart: Promoting Engineered Staple Food Is His Game

Rob Rhinehart, the founder of Soylent, belongs to the new breed of food pioneers, thanks to his creation of Soylent. This is classified as a food product, not a dietary supplement, by the Food and Drug Administration, thus, its consumption as a staple meal for adults.

Soylent is touted as an effective solution to address the issues of food quality and shortage as well as malnutrition – or as the manufacturer says it, maximum nutrition for the body with minimum effort required. Rhinehart created the food product with sustainability and efficiency in mind considering the issues about food production and waste in the United States.

The food product consists of several ingredients chosen for their rich nutritional value including soy protein for improved digestion; algal oil for energy; isomaltulose for sustained energy; and a blend of vitamins and minerals.

But Rhinehart is not resting his creative mind with just Soylent. He has also announced another version of the food product – Soylent 2.0, which are offered in recyclable bottle. Each bottle of Soylent 2.0 represents 20 percent of a daily meal plan.

In the first version, Soylent was sold in powder form with the users adding water before consumption with each mixture representing a full day’s ration; the cost-efficient nature was in its favor. In the second version, Soylent 2.0’s recyclable bottle form may be less cost-efficient in terms of shipping costs but its benefits more than offset the costs; Soylent 2.0 does not require refrigeration and does not spoil for at least one year after production.

According to Rhinehart, Solent 2.0 is designed to appeal to a wide market, such as people who want to use it to bridge the gap between meals or who want to skip the preparation part.

Rhinehart’s company, Rosa Labs, have funding support from various investors including Lerer Ventures and Andreesen Horowitz. So far, the company has shipped over 6.25 million meals.

Hahna Alexander & Matt Stanton: Harnessing Foot Power

In 2011, Matt Stanton and Hahna Alexander together with a fellow classmate in the mechanical engineering program of Carnegie Mellon University were engaged in a school project. In it, the trio was instructed by their professor to create a product that students in campus will benefit from – and the result was a shoe with embedded LED lights and with the capacity to harvest energy, thus, allowing its wearer to travel more safely especially at night.

And thus was born SolePower, an innovative shoe insert that harvests energy with each step made by the wearer. Energy transfer occurs when the heel hits the ground, which cranks a tiny rotor, induces an electrical current transfer to the wire coils, and charges a lithium-ion polymer battery pack located on the shoelaces. Tests conducted shows that a 15-mile walk can generate sufficient power to charge a smartphone.

Stanton (CEO) and Alexander (CTO) has gained the financial support of Project Carnegie Mellon’s Project Olympus, AlphaLab, and various investors on its Kickstarter campaign.

Casey McNeil: Recycling REEs Is His Game

Casey McNeil, the founder of REEcycle, has so far raised $130,000 in non-equity staked cash and $160,000 in in-kind prizes but with his near-revolutionary technology, he is set to raise more funds from investors. His company establishes mutually beneficial partnerships with several companies mainly by providing these partners with reliable and profitable revenue streams while REEcycle secures a steady stream of rare earth elements (REE).

The result: REEcycle provides its United States-based customers with a more sustainable, secure and affordable supply of critical REEs. The recycling company’s customers range from government stockpiling agencies to REE wholesalers, all of which have benefited from the company’s innovative recycling of the elements used in several industries. Emphasis must be made that REEs are crucial components in the manufacture of a wide range of technologies including cell phones, hard drives, audio speakers, electric motors, wind turbines, and national defense systems.

REEcycle has created a more effective and efficient method of recycling the permanent magnets present in these products. These magnets, which are known as the strongest of its kind on Earth, contain neodymium and dysprosium; these REEs are highly valuable materials that are extracted in a more eco-friendly method from the electronic waste collected by REEcycle from its partners.

The recycling of these two highly valuable materials has another benefit – the United States has the opportunity to import lesser quantities of these elements from a single country (i.e., lesser dependence). Currently, China supplies 90% of the world’s neodymium and dysprosium production.

The company recycles the REEs by collecting the discarded magnets from the electronic waste. The external nickel-plating is removed, the remaining materials grounded, and then placed into a recyclable solvent mixture. The magnets’ iron and boron components are separated from the neodymium and dysprosium, which are packaged for shipment to U.S. manufacturers. The secret behind the innovative method is the patented solvent.

Katie Anderson: Water Conservation Is Her Passion

Katie Anderson, the founder and CEO of Save Water Co., built on her familiarity with the real estate industry to establish her company. Her main goal: Become a leader in providing effective and efficient water conservation measures.

Today, Anderson has been instrumental in saving half a billion gallons of water in and around Houston. Her company fixes and retrofits water systems in residential structures, mainly apartment buildings, in the city. Her motivation for water conservation lies in the increasing importance of water in the arid western states of the U.S. especially in places with high oil and gas fracking activities; fracking requires plenty of water for successful mining.

Anderson’s entrepreneurial spirit is being used for the common good considering that experts are warning about water shortages worldwide including the United States. She has assembled many of the best experts in energy, education, science and technology, and agriculture to promote Save Water’s goals.

Brennan Potts: Tapping into Non-operated Oil and Gas Assets

Brennan Potts is a co-founder and managing director of Titanium Exploration Partners, a Dallas-based investment firm with its main focus on the acquisition and development of non-operated gas and oil assets across the United States. He leads the evaluation and implementation processes for many of the private, independent equity-backed oil and gas companies located in the Anadarko Basin and Eagle Ford Shale. His focus also includes investments in other shale-rich areas including the Permian Basin, Utica, Marcellus, Niobrara, and Bakken.

Potts is also in charge of the investments from idea generation to opportunity sourcing and strategy execution – truly, challenging tasks for the young entrepreneur. With his investment style, Titanium Exploration Partners’ investment platform has a strong financial foundation that investors, customers, and stakeholders demand. His investment decisions have contributed to Titanium’s flexibility in pursuing investment opportunities with the goal of asset acquisition.

He and his co-founders saw the opportunity that came with the boom in fracking especially in the Eagle Ford Shale, one of South Texas’ energy-rich areas. As part of an emerging class of energy entrepreneurs, Potts seized the opportunity by co-founding Titanium in his home; the company first $20 million investment was made on his kitchen table.

Titanium Exploration Partners has so far raised $300 million via private equity funding as well as acquired interested in more than 100 wells and 25,000 acres of oil and gas-rich lands. Fracking is one of the most capital-intensive businesses, which explains the constant push for more investors and investments.

Potts is a veteran of the oil and gas industry even before he co-founded Titanium Exploration Partners. He was the Vice President of Titan River Energy and he was also involved in business development at Upland Oil & Gas and Valor Petroleum. He is a graduate of Baylor University as well as an active member of the ADAM Energy Forum and Dallas Chapter of Young Professionals in Energy.

Andrew Augustin: Becoming an Inspiration for Many in Game Development

Andrew Augustin, the founder of Notion Games LLC, is a passionate game designer, creator and artist of several successful games including Super Ubie Land, Team Notion, and Up Up Ubi, and Up Up Ubie Remix. He is also known for his passion in teaching video game design and development in Austin’s public school, an advocacy that has gained the attention of the business and education industries.

In 2012, Augustin founded Notion Games with the goal of bringing 2D games to the general public or the masses. Together with his employees and management team, he hopes to inspire young and old alike to become actively involved in game design and development.

Augustin has also created many memorable videogame characters including The Sims 3 Pets. He has also been featured in various industry publications including Nintendo Force, Pure Nintendo, Black Enterprise, Advanced Photoshop, and The Source. He has won numerous awards including The Best Graphic Designer in Austin for Super Ubie Land.

Jeffrey Rosen: Humble Bundle Is His Bragging Right

Jeffrey Rosen, the co-founder of Humble Bundle, is an unassuming guy but when it comes to Humble Bundle, his passion for combining videogames and charitable endeavors shines through. In 2010, Rosen co-launched Humble Bundle, a digital game store with a revolutionary idea in a capitalist market dominated by fixed pricing – customers are invited to pay whatever they want for low-budget indie videogames and to specify the amount by which the creator, store and charity will be paid.

Then, most industry insiders believed that it was suicide. Now, Humble Bumble is a recognized leader in the “name your price” industry – and it is saving and changing thousands of lives in the process via its charitable contributions while making profits in the process.

According to Rosen, Humble Bumble allows its customers to give all of their stated payments to the charities that they like. The customers trust the company in terms of actually giving their donations to the pre-selected charities and feeling good about their purchases.

From indie games, the company has expanded to selling videogames for major publishers as well as music and audiobooks; among the major publishers in its online store are Warner Brothers and Electronic Arts. The Humble Bundles are usually offered on a semi-regular basis in a 2-week period with the bundles often containing bonus media or games offered in the middle of the week; the bonuses are usually available for customers who have either already purchased the applicable bundle or paid more than the average price.

The Humble Bumble now has several charities benefiting from the sales including Children’s Play, the American Red Cross, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The company has raised over $50 million – and counting – for charities in the last 4 years of its operations – and that’s when it clicks for Rosen and his team that, indeed, they are doing something good for their fellowmen.

Eric Migicovsky: Giving Smartwatch Competitors A Run For Their Money

Eric Migicovsky, the founder of Pebble Technology Corporation, was inspired to create his Pebble Smartwatch because of his annoyance at the chirping sounds of a smartphone. He launched the most successful Kickstarter project to date with Pebble, his e-paper smartwatch, when he raised $10.3 million between 11 April and 18 May 2012. He has since gained the support of Silicon Valley venture capitalists who invested $25 million in his company.

The Pebble Smartwatch was first sold in Best Buy in July 2013, which sold out within 5 days. By 31 December 2014, Pebble Technology Corporation has sold its millionth watch.

Such popularity is due to the wide range of useful features and functions on the Pebble Smartwatch. These include a programmable CPU, memory and storage; vibrating motor, accelerometer, and magnetometer; Bluetooth; ambient light sensor; smartphone notifications; gaming apps; and activity tracking, among others. When the smartwatch is connected to either an Android or iOS device, it can also display emails, text messages, and incoming calls, as well as social media notifications.

Erie Meyer and Aminatou Sow: Providing Women in Tech an Open Venue

Erie Meyer and Aminatou Sow became tired of the refrain about women’s relative absence in the technology industry in comparison with their male counterparts. As an answer, the duo co-founded Tech LadyMafia, a Listserv and membership group exclusively for women in technology.

The site provides its members with the open venue to brag about their accomplishments, exchange tips on wide range of subjects, and brainstorm on projects, all with the underlying goal of providing that, indeed, women in tech do exist.

Today, it has more than 750 members from various parts of the world from California to China; it started with just 40 members. Its two women co-founders are also active in the technology industry – Sow is the digital engagement director of IAVA, an organization that provides support for veterans; and Meyer is a senior advisor to the Chief Technology Officer at the White House.

Interested women can choose from a series of mailing lists on the Tech LadyMafia website as well as apply for membership. When you become a bonafide member, you will instantly gain access to a network of women in the technology industry who can become your source of inspiration, contacts, and resources as well as your possible mentors, confidantes, and event planners. Think of Tech LadyMafia as the more sophisticated version of LinkedIn albeit for a specific cohort.

The brag Listserv feature not only encourages women to brag about their notable accomplishments but also provides inspiration for others about their own capabilities. According to Sow, women who read about the accomplishments of their fellow women in technology are more confident about their own abilities.

The job board is yet another useful feature since it provides women with the opportunity to expand their personal and professional networks. Members can tell other women about job opportunities, desired connections, and other networking possibilities. Even men have been used to log on to the site to look for suitable women employees through the job board.

Meg Gill: Craft Beer Is In Her Blood Now

Meg Gill, the co-founder of Golden Road Brewing along with Tony Yanow, an industry veteran and Mohawk Bend owner, may be one of the youngest female brewery owners in the United States today. But that’s not all that Gill is known for – she is also one of the boys at the forefront of the explosion of craft beer in the country.

With more than 2,000 craft breweries, Gill and her Golden Road Brewing is fast rising to the top for good reasons. Among these reasons are the truly unique tastes and flavors of her high-end brews as well as their easy accessibility – one of her brews, for example, sells at $7.99 for a 16-ounce 4-pack in aluminium cans. With a growing production to meet growing demand, Gold Road Brewing is well on its way to becoming one of the leaders in the craft brewing industry.

In 2013, revenues exceeded $10 million and production was at 15,000 barrels – not bad for Gill who first sold craft beer from her mobile home.

Elizabeth Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz: Elevating Gefilte Fish

Elizabeth Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, co-founders and co-owners of the Gefilteria, have a passion for food that explains their strong success in their new venture. Alpern managed a food truck and worked with cookbook author and food expert Joan Nathan for several years. Yoskowitz has written for the NY Times, Atlantic, Slate, and Gastronomica about food culture; he is now The Gefilteria’s chief pickler.

The duo, along with their co-founder Jacqueline Lilinshtein, are devoted to maintaining the traditions of their Jewish heritage while also making food icons, such as borscht, more accessible to people who are unfamiliar with shtetl. The team cooks their artisan food items in the kitchen of an East Village Orthodox synagogue.

It must be emphasized that the products are not yet Passover-worthy, kosher-certified food. For the occasion, The Gefilteria offers several gefilte fish products including ready-made gefilte fish in 12-ounce ($12, serves 4 to 6) and 24-ounce ($20, serves 8 to 10) loaves. Do-it-yourself gefilte fish kits are also available; the $22 kit contains a recipe, ground fish, seasonings, matzo sticks known as “black and white cookies”, and horseradish while the $27 kit can make a 24-ounce loaf. For the kits, the cook only needs to add eggs and oil and to simmer the fish.

The team at Gefilteria is committed to artisanal gefilte fish in two areas, namely, ensuring the freshness and sustainability of the ingredients particularly the fish used in the loaves; and providing the best gefilte fish experience the entire year for its customers. Gefilteria also follows the seafood guidelines issued by the likes of the Monterey Bay Aquarium to ensure high quality at all times.

The result: Gefilteria’s gefilte fish loaf is made from the finest ground whitefish and pike complemented by Pacific salmon in its center, which can be enjoyed with fresh horseradish in two variants (e.g., flavored by either spicy carrots or sweet beets).

Greg Duffy: DropCam Is His Brainchild

Greg Duffy co-founded DropCam with Aamir Virani, a fellow software engineer, in 2009; Duffy serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Virani is the Chief Operating Officer. DropCam was originally engaged in software development for cameras made by AXIS, a Swedish company, but the two organizations parted ways when DropCam shifted its focus to the manufacture of more affordable cameras.

Dropcam’s cameras are designed to provide families, small businesses, and individuals with video monitoring for their residential and commercial spaces. The San-Francisco-based American technology company is best known for its DropCam and DropCam Pro, which are Wi-Fi video streaming cameras.

Users can view live feeds from the cameras via DropCam’s cloud-based service, thus, allowing them to monitor their homes and businesses from a remote location. Subscribers can also record and store up to week’s worth of videos at a time for $99 per year.

In June 2014, DropCam Inc. was purchased by Google’s Nest Labs for $555 million.

Steve Eidelman and Ben Jacobs: It’s a Dog’s World with Whistle

In 2009, Steven Eidelman and Ben Jacobs met each other while working at Bain & Company and the seeds for their company and its flagship app were planted. While at Bain & Company, both worked for technology clients and pet care retailers, a partnership that will soon be used in their future company –Whistle.

In 2012, the duo settled on devices designed to provide valuable information to pet owners that would help them understand their pets’ activities. With Kevin Lloyd as Chief Technology Officer, Whistle was born; Jacobs is now its CEO.

The Whistle Activity Monitor, a wireless device made from brushed aluminium, is attached to a dog’s collar. The pet owner can then watch through a mobile app the dog’s activities, thus, providing a dog’s eye view of the world.

Whistle also has a Vet Council where vets and researchers share their knowledge and skills in the improvement of canine lifespan. The company also maintains a database for this purpose, a fact that reinforces its status as a leading pet tech manufacturer in North America.

But why settle for your current operations when you can expand? In January 2015, Whistle announced that it has acquired Tagg, a San Diego-based manufacturer of dog activity collars.

Jacobs said that the deal was designed to combine the best features of each company’s wearable dog tech. Tagg, for example, had a better battery and sophisticated GPS technology that can improve Whistle’s overall performance. In the months following the acquisition, Tagg users and their devices will be integrated into the Whistle website and app.

Whistle has also closed a successful $15 million Series B funding round led by Nokia Growth Partners. Other investors included Melo7 Tech Partners, Qualcomm, and QueensBridge Venture Partner. The new capital will be used in the development and design of Whistle’s product lines as well as in the support of its continued growth.

Surbhi Sarna: Started A Dream When She Was Thirteen

Surbhi Sarna, the founder of nVision Medical, suffered from extremely painful cysts at the age of 13 yet her doctors couldn’t tell whether these were benign or cancerous. In 2010, she made good on her personal vow to develop technologies that can make women more active participants in their reproductive health and thus nVision was born.

While nVision is still just beginning its journey with a $4.4 million Series A round, it has a promising future in the development of a range of medical devices designed for faster, easier and more accurate women’s health diagnostics and treatment. Its first two products will have to undergo the strict Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval process but the prospects are bright.

nVision’s two products are devices used for the detection of fallopian tube blockage and for grabbing cells from the female reproductive organs. Both are designed to provide women and their obstetrician-gynecologists the opportunity to detect cancer as early as possible without the need for expensive, inconvenient, and painful diagnostic procedures.

Livio Valenti: Increasing Access to Vaccines Is His Passion

Vaccines can quickly become spoiled when these are not refrigerated, a difficult challenge when these life-saving shots are delivered to healthcare facilities in the developing world. Livio Valenti, co-founder of Vaxess, works with his colleagues in the company to change it.

He co-founded Vaxess with Michael Schrader, Kathryn Kosuda, and Patrick Ho, in December 2012. He is also a fellow at the prestigious Harvard's Center for Business and Government.

The company’s business plan is based on an innovative technology developed by Fiorenzo Omenetto and David Kaplan, professors at Tufts University. The technology uses fibroin, a silk-derived protein, which can stabilize vaccines for storage and shipment sans refrigeration. This eliminates the cold chain in the process, thus, making it easier to transport to places where refrigeration and similar technologies are absent.

Vaxess is also collaborating with vaccine manufacturers in the development of heat-stable vaccines. The company plans its product launch by 2019.

By increasing access to vaccines, Valenti and his colleagues hope to reduce the impact of a wide range of diseases that can be prevented with safe, effective and timely shots.

Vaxess has enjoyed several funding successes since its establishment. In 2012, the Harvard Business School awarded $25,000 to Vaxess as part of its Business Plan Contest in the Business Ventures Track as well as $70,000 in the Harvard President's Challenge in Global Health. The company was also selected as a finalist for the 2013 MassTLC Awards in two categories and semi-finalist for the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.

In terms of funding, Vaxess has also received capital infusions from Norwich Ventures ($3.74 million) and Jeffrey Walker (undisclosed amount) in May 2013. In December 2013, the company was granted $1 million by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center through its Accelerator Loan Program, a loan that will be used to grow Vaxess’ internal R&D capabilities, among others.

Divya Nag: Pursuing Her Passion in Regenerative Medicine

Stanford University’s loss, regenerative medicine’s gain - and the world will also enjoy significant gains in healthcare when Divya Nag completes her new technology, known as the induced pluripotent stem cell. Divya has no regrets about her decision to drop out of Stanford so that she can become the co-founder of Stem Cell Theranostics and StartX Med. She was passionate about the technology, which made it very clear what she wanted to do with her life.

Divya is tackling of the most challenging issues in modern medicine, namely, that most types of human cells will die in a petri dish. Testing new drugs before approval for market release becomes a costly, risky and time-consuming activity that result in losses to both the pharmaceutical company and the consumers. Emphasis must be made that 90% of new drugs on clinical trials will eventually prove to be unsafe or ineffective for the consumer market.

With Divya’s induced pluripotent stem cell technology, there is hope in the horizon. The technology turns cells into embryonic-like stem cells that can then be used to create a wide range of cells, such as heart cells. These cells have the ability to live in perti dishes, thus, enabling researchers to test new drugs at lesser risks, costs and time investments.

Antonia Arocha: Protecting the Lifeblood of the Mobile Society

Every year, criminals including unscrupulous employees and executives steal tens of billions in dollars’ worth of cargo and fuel from trucks, trains and storage container with the use of sophisticated technology. While global positioning system (GPS) can monitor and track the locations of these vehicles, the technology cannot prevent the theft of the valuable cargoes on board.

This is where Antonia Arocha and his team at Nuve, Inc. come in to the rescue of beleaguered owners of cargo and fuel. Arocha co-founded Nuve, Inc., a company that sells a sophisticated sensor system for tracking and securing the solid and liquid cargoes while these are on these are on the move.

Nuve prides itself on a full suite of security solutions that continuously, proactively and aggressively protect their clients’ cargoes from their loading points to their destinations, anywhere and anytime. The comprehensive asset protection solution uses customized sensors to alert concerned authorities about possible theft, which are then combined with web and mobile monitoring services.

Nuve, Inc. is at the forefront of an emerging field of technology-based asset management and fraud prevention systems. The company uses tamper-proof sensors combined with physical security solutions and real-time tracking technology to significantly reduce the risks for theft of valuable cargo and fuel.

Several of Latin America’s largest companies in the transportation industry have already signed up for the full suite of protection services. Nuve, Inc. has also established strong strategic partnerships with many of the security industry’s major technology players. These include Oceaneering, Nuve’s systems integration partner, which provides the company with valuable sales, service and support on a global scale; IBM that granted Nuve with its prestigious Ready to Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure certification; and TAPA that provided access for Nuve to clients like Apple, Dell, and Wal-Mart.

But Arocha is not resting on his laurels just yet. His next move is to develop more sophisticated security systems for the protection of oil pipelines.

Ishaan Gulrajani: Revolutionizing App Development with Watchsend

Ishaan Gulrajani, a Thiel Fellow, had a bright future ahead of him as a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of the world’s most prestigious universities. He was already becoming known for his brilliant studies and skills, such as when he organized HackMIT, the largest hackathon at MIT and one of the world’s largest hackathons. The halkathon had 20 organizers and over 1,000 attendees with a $250,000 budget donated by over 70 sponsors.

But Ishaan decided to drop out of MIT in the middle of his freshman year because he was unable to take full advantage of it. He decided to focus his attention on his new project, Watchsend, and he is unsure whether he will return to MIT or not.

With a partner as well as the financial and technical support of a start-up accelerator, Y Combinator, Ishaan launched Watchsend in 2012. The software is designed to provide software developers with the effective and efficient tool that will enable them to see how app users interact with programs by recording their interactions. The app is expected to replace the traditional hit-and-miss method (i.e., laboratories with video cameras) that companies currently use.

Jilliene Helman: Taking Crowdfunding Model To Real Estate

Jilliene Helman comes from a family of entrepreneurs so it came as no surprise when she quit her job as Vice President at Union Bank to start her own company. In 2012, she co-founded RealtyMogul.com, an accredited investor platform using the crowdfunding model for the real estate industry. She is now its Chief Executive Officer who oversees the company’s strategic directions and operations.

RealtyMogul.com is considered as one the world’s fastest-growing crowdfunding companies, a feat that earned Helman her recognition as the 2013 Crowdfunding CEO of the Year by CrowdfundBeat.com and one of 2013’s 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders. The company was also recognized by Business Insider as one 2013’s top start-ups.

The website has more than 17,000 active accredited and institutional investors with investments in 250+ properties in more than 20 states for over $80 million – and they have received millions in returns, too.

The company attracts many of the best institutional investors inside and outside of the real estate industry, all of whom want to diversify their portfolios. The fast, easy and convenient platform provided by RealtyMogul.com provides them with the invaluable opportunities to invest their wealth in previously inaccessible or unavailable real estate investments.

Real estate investment sponsors also find the RealtyMogul.com platform as a useful venue to create joint equity ventures. Borrowers also come to the website for the opportunity to avail of flexible debt. This is because the crowdfunding website provides sponsors and borrowers faster access to equity and debt, which are usually not as easily available through traditional means.

Helman is a certified and licensed wealth strategist. She has comprehensive experience in managing investment accounts of up to $300 million, structuring investment portfolios, and analyzing investment policies, as well as working on acquisition-related integration efforts. She has also underwritten more than $1 billion of real estate.

Neil Mehta: Hitting Home Runs in Investments

Neil Mehta, the founder and current Managing Partner of Greenoaks Capital, has a history of hitting home runs with his early investments particularly in Coupang and Palentir. His extraordinary eye for high-reward investments has resulted in Greenoaks Capital managing over $600 million in investments in a wide range of industries from insurance to e-commerce.

Greenoaks Capital, a privately-held global investment firm, is well-known in the industry for its focus on long-term principal investments worldwide. It supports excellent founders in building compounding franchises.

Mehta was also responsible for multi-million international special situation investments in the Middle East, India and Southeast Asia for OPG Ltd, a Hong Kong-based affiliate company of D.E. Shaw & Co. He was also part of the Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors where he was instrumental in successful investments in technology and financial services.

Mehta has a Bachelor of Science in Government degree from The London School of Economics. He is also a FIELD 3 Advisor and Mentor at Harvard Business School; a board member for Greenoaks Global Holdings Ltd., Lolli & Pops, and Coupang; and a founding advisor of InK (TED India).

Maximilian Kuss: Merging the Old with the New

Maximilian Kuss, the co-founder and current managing partner and managing director of European Media Holding AG (EMH), is a natural entrepreneur whose savvy business skills were evident even in his young age. During his high school years, he established his first online company, Fastplay, which he then sold at a profit to Pingparadise after 6 months.

In 2006, he co-founded a gaming and software publishing company, eraffe media, which was then sold to a consortium of publishers in early 2010. Kuss then used the proceeds from the sale to establish European Media Holding AG, thus, setting him on the path toward extraordinary success in the dog-eat-dog investment industry at a young age.

Today, European Media Holding AG is a multi-million investment company that manages over 250 million euros. Its main focus is on merging digital technologies with so-called old economy corporations, thus, ushering in a new era in investments.

As a venture capital firm, European Media Holding AG specializes in growth capital, seed to series A funding, and even in later rounds. Its investments are in e-commerce and marketplaces, Internet of things (IoT), financial technology, eHealth, smart data, and software as service. It also has concentrations within each sector, such as online retail and marketplaces for e-commerce as well as capital markets technology, data analytics, and corporate banking and finance in financial technology.

For his success in the industry, Kuss has been recognized with several awards and honors. In 2012, he was selected as one of the 2012 Young Global Shapers by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was also selected to the 2014 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Finance list, an honor that further spread his fame in the industry considering the prestigious nature of the list.

Kuss was also instrumental in the sales of Tirendo, an online tire retailer, for 51 million euros in September 2013 to Delticom, a publicly-traded company. European Media Holding AG was one of Tirendo’s founding shareholders.

Kane Sarhan: Redesigning the Apprentice Model

Kane Sarhan was inspired by his stints as an apprentice to a Coyote Ugly owner and the CEO of LocalResponse in his design of Enstitute, of which he is the co-founder. Enstitute is an innovative learn-by-doing program based on the traditional apprenticeship program but with a twist – students combine online and classroom curricula with 1-2 years of apprenticeship with the founders and chief executive offers at corporations and startups. The learn-by-doing university is the first of its kind with its emphasis on business, entrepreneurship, technology and design.

Kane has been honored for his work including his inclusion in the prestigious “30 Under 30 Innovators in Education” by Forbes Magazine, in the "Top 25 Young Innovator in New York Tech" of Business Insider, and "31 Most Important LGBT People in Tech" by New York Tech. He is also a 2013 Echoing Green Fellow. He is a speaker on education and innovation as well as a featured person in several publications including The New York Times, The Huffington Post, and CNN.

Elliot Sanchez: Redefining The One-room Schoolhouse

Elliot Sanchez certainly knows the experiences of being a teacher in the 21st century – he is a former math teacher. But he is redefining the 21st century one-room schoolhouse with his mSchool, a platform designed to assist community center in opening and maintaining accredited, state-funded classrooms with adaptive personalization learning software incorporated into classroom practices.

The software is touted for being easy to use yet effective in its goal of providing personalized learning for students from the third grade onwards. The application allows teachers to apply a three-step process, namely, assess the critical academic and cognitive skills of the students; adjust the learning materials based on advanced analytics of the students’ performance; and analyze the students’ progress with results shown on an easy-to-read dashboard.

Sanchez’ passion for the next-generation education system has resulted in several mSchools now open in Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Florida as well as with other sites in Australia, Canada, and South Africa, either in the works or already in operation. He has received several awards for his innovative education platform including Teach for America's 2013 National Social Innovation Award. He was also featured in several publications including Education Week’s "Nine People Who Will Shape Education in the Next 10 Years” and Forbes Magazines’ “30 Under 30” for Education.

Sanchez also presents mSchool in various venues across the country particularly in the fields of adaptive learning frameworks, applied artificial intelligence, and game-based assessments, among others. His presentations have been well-received for his innovative approaches to education, thus, earning him the reputation of a being a conscientious researcher, successful entrepreneur, and forward-thinking educator.

He is the current Executive Director for teacher development at Leading Educators, a teacher development non-profit organization. He started his career at the Booker T. Washington Alternative Middle school as a math teacher. He managed STEM initiatives in Louisiana and served as an advisor for 2 State Superintendents of Education on a cabinet level.

Aaron Feuer, Xan Tanner, David Carel: Partners for Better Education

Aaron Feuer, Xan Tanner, and David Carel, all Yale University graduates, know the importance of education. The trio co-founded Panorama Education, a data analytics firm designed specifically for K-12 education by providing K-12 schools with the tools to find data-driven solutions to their issues. The solutions are based on the feedback collected and analyzed from students, parents and teachers by the digital platform.

Panorama Education, a Boston-based company, is now a welcome presence in more than 5,000 schools across 26 U.S. states. Its platform is used in school districts, among other education-related organizations, including Teach for America, Los Angeles Unified, Aspire Public Schools, and the State of Connecticut’s Department of Education.

The trio co-designed the Panorama Platform, an easy-to-use yet highly secure technology platform designed for the conduct of classroom surveys, collection of feedback, and analysis of data. The data (i.e., stakeholder feedback) can then be used by the educators to improve the classroom experience, which can include improved teaching practices.

Eren Bali: Encouraging Alternative Yet Effective Education

With Gagan Biyani and Oktay Caglar, Eren Bali launched Udemy in 2012 as an online teaching and learning bazaar where teachers can create their own curriculum and students can choose their own courses – truly, as personalized an education as can be in the digital world.

Udemy is not a conventional MOOC but a digital platform for online learning where experts can create their own curriculum, which are then offered to the general public. The courses are usually not driven by conventional college coursework but are determined by their designers’ view about useful coursework in the real world (i.e., improvement of job-related skills). For example, if students enrolled in the course due to the instructor’s reputation or marketing efforts, Udemy only gets 3% while the instructor gets 95% of the tuition.

The coursework designers can charge interested individuals for enrollment fees, typical fees range from $29 to $99, or offer the coursework for free. Both the designers and Udemy earn income from the arrangement with the profit-sharing ratio depending on several factors.

Udemy’s platform provides coursework designers with the essential tools and technologies for creating and promoting their coursework as well as earning money from the tuition charges. While Udemy courses are not yet credentialed as college credits, these can provide several benefits for students, such as the acquisition of job-related skills and the generation of credits for a technical certification.

At present, Udemy offers over 22,000 coursework alternatives – and growing – as well as served more than 5 million students. With the growing popularity of alternative education for the real world, Bali’s brainchild continues to live up to its branding of “The Academy of You”.

But the path toward its present success has not been without its challenges. Bali and his co-founders were rejected at least 30 times by investors before hitting a series of jackpots, such as Series A funding by Groupon investors, Series B funding by Insight Venture Partners, and Series C funding by Nortwest Venture Partners.

Bridget Hilton Brings Hope Through Sound

Bridget Hilton, founder of LSTN, wants to make social enterprise and entrepreneurship the coolest thing for millennials. She used her background in music as well as Joe Huff’s, her friend, background in fashion to establish the company in her kitchen. She now heads LSTN with its employees and interns from better office facilities although she also travels extensively for company expansion purposes.

Hilton’s bold idea: To empower people by letting them know that each individual matters and that each purchase can make a real difference in the lives of others.

LSTN manufactures durable, beautiful and stylish headphones using various components notably reclaimed wood. For each pair of headphones LSTN sells, the company helps in the restoration of a deaf person’s hearing through the Starkey Hearing Foundation. As a for-purpose company, it has connected thousands of individuals and families, even communities, through sound in general and music in particular.

Hilton has been instrumental in giving the precious gift of sound to more than 17,000 people in various countries including the United States, Kenya, Peru, China, Uganda, and Sri Lanka.

Fagan Harris Works to Reinvigorate Baltimore

As co-founder and CEO of Baltimore Corps, Fagan Harris has made it his life mission to harness the knowledge, skills and talents of young people with advanced degrees in social enterprise, non-profit, and government toward reinvigorating Baltimore, his native city. His non-profit organization wants to build a better Baltimore through the mobilization, education, and retention of the new generation of leaders in the city.

Baltimore Corps works toward scaling effective and efficient social innovations and entrepreneurship throughout Baltimore. Its approach involves building critical systems, innovating effective solutions to the city’s challenging issues, and contributing strategic capacity, which involve the active participation of young leaders. Its goal of building the next generation of leaders in the private and public sectors as well as in the political, social and philanthropic aspects, thus, further spurring Baltimore’s growth.

The organization now works on various areas including implementing education and family services, expanding services for students with minus 1.0 GPAs, and strengthening the emergency hotline of United Way. Expansion plans to Birmingham, New Orleans, Detroit, Raleigh-Durham, and Richmond are underway.

Harris has a history of working toward the betterment of Baltimore, which is considered as one of America’s greatest cities. He worked at College Track, a nationwide after-school program committed to the creation of college-going cultures particularly in underserved communities. He is also a Fellow at the Emerson Collective where he was a staff at the White House Council for Community Solutions.

As a Student Body Vice President at Stanford University, Harris also worked toward empowering his fellow millennials to pursue career paths with greater social impact. He continued his advocacy at the Franklin Project, a nationwide cross-sector program dedicated to citizen revitalization through public service.

Harris has a Masters of Philosophy in Comparative Social Policy degree from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He also studied international human rights as a Senator George J. Mitchell Scholar.

Emily Núñez Cavness and Betsy Núñez: From Sword to Plough

Emily Núñez Cavness and Betsy Núñez, two sisters from a military family, established Sword & Plough in 2012 as a way for non-military people to emotionally connect with military service people. Emily first came up with the idea after working with the Middlebury’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship.

Sword & Plough recycles and repurposes military surplus products into a wide range of fashionable bags and accessories. It recycled 18,000 pounds of military gear and produced over 5,500 products – and counting. Its bags are known for their rugged durability, refined design, and relevant impact on society, in general, and on veteran welfare, in particular.

The Núñez sisters’ company supports 38 veteran jobs and donated 10% of their profits into veteran assistance programs. Their efforts have also resulted in reducing the waste of military surplus gear and in reinforcing the understanding between the civilian and military sectors.

For its notable work, Sword & Plough has not only made a social impact but has also garnered several awards. It won Harvard Pitch for Change Competition’s Audience Choice Award and participated at the Dell Social Innovation Lab.

Alexandra Cart Manages Resources for Social Impact

Alexandra Cart comes from a line of savvy investment managers – she is the granddaughter of Peter Peterson, a Blackstone co-founder. She is, however, making a name for herself with Madeira Global, an up-and-coming giant in impact investing, of which she is a co-founder. She is the current Director of Strategic Development, a position she has held since 2012.

Madeira Global is widely considered as a leader in the investment management industry with specialization in strategic advisory and quantitative analytics. Its client base consists of alternative investment managers as well as their limited partners, such as wealthy individuals and foundations, who want to engage in social impact investing activities. It is becoming known for its cost-efficient, results-effective, and client-responsive management of financial resources for better social impact.

As Cart and her co-founders envisioned it, Madeira Global strictly adheres to its mission of effective and efficient alignment of social and financial returns for all of its clients’ portfolios. The firm applies an environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework in its implementation of its clientele’s proprietary investment strategies.

In 2013, Cart was instrumental in launching Madeira Global’s asset management unit, a partnership with Brevet Capital, a New York City-based hedge fund manager. In 2014, she was also instrumental in advising the deployment of more than $100 million in socially responsible investments.

Indeed, Cart is a leader in social impact investments, a personal passion that has its roots in her heritage. She is active in several organizations that align with her thrust at Madeira Global, too.

She is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Gotham Chapter, since 2013. YPO is an international association of young chief executives who form partnerships among each other for their mutual benefit (i.e., more opportunities for success).

She is also a member of the Young Leaders Circle (YLC) of Milken Institute since 2013. YLC is an association of the best and brightest in finance, business and law as well as technology and entertainment.

Lauren Talbot: Making Texting and Dating Mesh

Lauren Talbot learned that texting during dating was a minefield of its own. While dating apps were great for meeting people online, texting was a different genre with different rules – when to text, what to text, and why text in the first place – which bewildered her.

Talbot decided to do something about it and PVLL (pronounced as “pull”) was born. PVLL is Talbot’s attempt at answering the Digital Age question: Can data be a solution in solving the riddles related to early-romance texting? With her new Android app, she appears nearer to answering it.

PVLL is an application that can control, monitor and analyze text messages, which can then be used to create graphs showing useful information for users. The information includes which partner initiates the text exchange and who takes longer to reply to text messages. The app also provides users with the tools to send entire text conversations to others for their inputs as well as edit and recall texts by up to 5 seconds after pressing the “send” button.

While the app has only gained 2,000 users, Talbot is confident that PVLL will be the next big thing in texting.

Evan Stites-Clayton and Walker Williams: Not Just T-shirts

Evan Stites-Clayton and Walker Williams, co-creators of Teespring, have created an innovative way of leveraging the crowdfunding model and profiting from it, too. The duo created a website to sell a commemorative t-shirt about their favorite college bar, which amassed hundreds of pre-orders via PayPal within 6 hours. The team soon received requests from individuals, clubs and communities to create similar campaigns for them albeit with their own custom products.

And Teespring, a platform for individuals to create unique campaigns for their custom apparel, was born. The duo has not only received hundreds of requests but millions of dollars in venture capital specifically $55 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures.

Teespring’s business model is innovative, easy to use, and profitable for both the creators and users. Each user can choose the type and color of items to sell, add customised designs using tools provided by the website or a third-party app, and set the price and sales goal for the items.

Teespring will not process, manufacture, and ship the items until the sales goal has been reached via pre-orders, a process known as “tipped”. The company takes charge of the production and distribution of the items including customer services associated with the orders. The items offered on Teespring include t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, long-sleeve shirts, kids’ and babies’ apparel, and youth apparel with plans of expansion to non-apparel products.

The user and Teespring benefit from the transaction with each one collecting a portion of the profit. Such is the power of the crowdfunding business model that Teespring has become the platform for self-made millionaires whose items have become bestsellers. According to Williams, millions of entrepreneurs can be empowered to launch their own brands when every pain point, cost, risk and compromise between their creativity and bringing said creativity to life is removed.

And the duo is on a roll, too. Teespring continues to attract the attention of investors so its future growth seems assured – and it’s not such a bad thing to achieve for the Brown University students.

Cameron Manwaring: At the Top Of YouTube Videos

Cameron Manwaring considers YouTube as his hustle and it certainly shows in the early – and quick – success of Shareability, a digital company that he co-founded in 2012 after dropping out of Brigham Young. Shareability specializes in the production of viral video campaigns for the YouTube generation, the first-ever full-service brand agency exclusively for the video sharing site. The videos usually combine art and science in creating and marketing YouTube content.

Today, Shareability is considered as one of the most investment-worthy and profitable companies within the YouTube family. It has generated more than 500 million organic views while 20 of its 100 video campaigns – and counting- have landed on YouTube’s front page. Its clients include big-name brands including Turkish Airlines, ESPN, Sony and NVIDIA.

Indeed, Manwaring has a dedicated drive to understand the why, what and how people share videos and then finding innovative ways to share these valuable contents with the rest of the world.

Ari Lewine and Shaun Zacharia Lifting TripleLift Together

In 2012, Ari Lewine and Shaun Zacharia together with Eric Berry co-founded TripleLift, a real-time bidding network designed to address the needs of publishers in turning brand images into native ads. The trio launched their company in acknowledgement of the rise of visual web with the native ads matching the look and feel of the publisher-cum-client’s website.

With deals between TripleLift and automated ad-buying platforms, the reach of the publishers’ native ads have expanded – truly, a good sign for the start-up since more publishers will come knocking. TripleLift has also raised $6 million in angel and venture investment as of January 2015 in addition to a significant increase in revenue from $1 million in 2013 to $7 million in 2014.

Ari Lewine, TripleLift’s Chief Strategy Officer, is a serial entrepreneur, author and patent holder. He was previously the CEO of University Trucking, Inc (2005-2009) as well as involved in sales (AppNexus, 2010-2012) and in business development (Oyster.comm 2009-2010), all in the Greatrr New York Area.

He has published works including The Visual Web Is Changing Everything in Media and Advertising (Wall Street Journal, June 2014) and Ugliness: An Unintended Consequence of Ad Viewability Online (AdAge, July 2014). He holds two patents with his co-investors, Berry and Zacharia, namely, Systems and Methods for Image Engagement Analysis and Systems and Methods for Dynamic Image Amplification (both filed 15 March 2013).

Shaun Zacharia has also worked with AppNexus (2010-2012) as a Solutions Engineer. His collaboration with Lewine and Berry has resulted in several awards for TripleLift including America's Most Promising Companies, Best Places to Work - NY Tech, and Start-ups of the Year - NY Tech in various years.

Together, the duo and their partner are taking TripleLift from its humble beginnings to greater heights in the digital industry.

Mike Foss Won Big-time with For the Win

Mike Foss set Facebook abuzz when he was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list not just because of his relatively young age but also because of his homeschooling education until 12th grade. He was proof that homeschooling works but he will be the first to say that homeschooling is not all there is to his success.

Foss’ first job after college graduation was as senior social media editor at USA Today’s website. He started developing a sports-focused website, known as For The Win, designed to become the main website’s entry point, a project on which he spent a frenzied 8 months but he won big-time and that’s all that matters now.

According to the numbers gathered by USA Today, For The Win has 35 million unique views in the 3rd quarter of 2014 – and growing. Launched in 22 April 2013, it quickly became one of the fastest-growing mobile websites. His creative vision that continues to reel in visitors: A sports-focused website that combines aggregated articles and original sports articles, thus, creating a site that mixes the personal approach of a blog with the professional standards of a newspaper.