Chris Dixon is a terrific example of an entrepreneur who discovers a need, then creates a solution to fix it. He was working as a computer programmer when he decided that his knowledge of technology could be put to better…
If you’ve ever sat in a cubicle or worked for a large corporation, you’ve probably had one of Scott Adams’ comics pinned to your wall. Or maybe dozens of them. Mr. Adams rose to fame in the 1990s as his daily…
Dharmesh Shah is well known in the online startup world. But if you live and work outside of that group, you may not have heard of him. He is the co-founder of marketing engine HubSpot, which offers software designed to…
There are very few entrepreneurs or small business owners interested in raising venture capital that haven’t heard of Y Combinator or its founder, Paul Graham. BusinessWeek once included Mr. Graham in its list of 25 Most Influential People on the…
Hiten Shah is the co-founder of a number of companies (Advaced Consulting Services, Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics) with his partner, Neil Patel. His startups have been both bootstrapped and venture-funded. He has also advised and invested in several other companies…
Seth Goldman’s road to entrepreneurship runs through Harvard University, Yale School of Management, China, Russia, the U.S. Congress (he was deputy press secretary for Senator Lloyd Bentsen), and investment company Calvert Group. In 1998, Seth co-founded Honest Tea, a brand…
Neil Patel likes to say that he was born with entrepreneurship in his blood. Growing up, he was surrounded by small business owners—mostly his uncles, mom, and dad. Starting at age 15, Patel began selling CDs and auto parts to…
Reed Hastings knows what it’s like to build a small business into a huge success. In fact, he’s done it more than once. His first startup was Pure Software, which produced products that detected bugs in Unix software. The company…
Even if you aren’t familiar with his name, you are no doubt familiar with his company. His purple and orange trucks and planes are seemingly everywhere. And the quirky commercials from the 1980s featuring fast-talking Joe Moschitta made his company’s…
Elon Musk may be the most accomplished entrepreneur of his generation (some would argue of any generation). He created and sold a video game at the age of 12. At 24, he dropped out of Stanford to start Zip2, a…