TOP OF the CLASS
To celebrate our 100th anniversary we collected in our pages wisdom from the 100 Greatest Business Minds. Three of those legends chose 30 standouts from this year’s 30 Under 30 class who they felt would have the longestlasting impact in their fields. Here
artist
Awol Erizku, 29
ethiopia-born photographer had his first Moma show at 26. Biggest claim to fame so far: Beyoncé’s ultraviral 2017 pregnancyannouncement photo, which gained over 11 million instagram likes.
Tyler Palmer, 27
vp of operations, Patreon Like an emerging artist or poet? Play Medici and pledge to give them a few bucks through Patreon, where Palmer was employee No. 1; contributions so far total $150 million.
Dave Evans, 29
cofounder, fictiv using an Airbnb-style network of idle machinery, the Stanford alum quickly produces parts and prototypes. Turnaround time can be as little as 24 hours; he has raised $25 million.
Tenzin Seldon, 28
cofounder, kinstep Seldon helps companies struggling with diversity; the Tibetan refugee matches legal immigrants with jobs at companies like Box, Airbnb and Wework. After a five-month pilot, Kinstep will launch next year.
Rohan Pavuluri, 21
cofounder, upsolve So far the Harvard senior has helped lowincome Americans save $2 million in fees by streamlining the process for filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with his software.
Leah Sibener
cofounder, 3t Biosciences See page 120.
Yara Shahidi, 17
actor The breakout star of ABC’S Black-ish is headed to Harvard, but first she is taking a year off to film her own spinoff called Grown-ish.
Fred Turner, 22
cofounder, tl BIOLABS Build a better cow with genetic testing. Turner’s $15 test gives farmers Dna-based data that helps breeding programs. The Thiel Fellow has raised $4.7 million.
Sophia Dominguez, 25
cofounder, Svrf Virtual reality has been slow to take off, but at least now you can search for VR content with SVRF. Some 30,000 people use the service monthly.
Lea von Bidder, 27
cofounder, ava Science Throw out your thermometer and 28-day calendar. Ava’s bracelet helps women determine when they are most likely to get pregnant. The Swiss-born von Bidder has raised over $12 million.
Joseph Fasone
founder, Pilot See page 128.
Xiaohoa Michelle Ching, 27
founder, literator The former Oakland secondgrade teacher developed an app used by more than 3,000 educators to help them measure reading speed and comprehension so they can develop personalized lesson plans.
Kelly Peeler
founder, nextgenvest See page 126.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, 26
cofounder, flutterwave
Leif K-brooks, 27
cofounder, octane ai Omegle founder creates chatbots that mimic celebrity voices to converse with fans via Facebook Messenger. The service is surprisingly realistic; clients include Maroon 5, Lindsay Lohan and 50 Cent. The native Nigerian created a Paypal-like service for African banks and businesses that has reliably processed $1.2 billion, including minor currencies like the Ghanaian Cedi. He has raised $10 million.
Maryellis Bunn, 25
cofounder, museum of Ice cream Parsons grad could bank eight figures next year from her sugary installations (currently in L.A. and S.F.), where visitors can snap selfies, swim in sprinkles or just eat a scoop.
Sameep Tandon, 27
cofounder, drive.ai ex-stanford PH.D. candidate and his former lab partners invented retrofitting kits that add self-driving capabilities to older cars, backed by $77 million in funding and partners like Lyft.
Nick Devane, 26
cofounder, foodworks Nascent foodie entrepreneurs often can’t afford commercial kitchens. enter Foodworks. The Nyc-based startup operates co-working kitchens across the Northeast. Foodwork’s $16 million in funding has helped launch 195 new businesses.
Cody Daniel
cofounder, 3Scan See page 120.
Michael Tubbs
mayor, Stockton, california See page 104.
Arjun Singh
cofounder, Gradescope See page 121.
Everette Taylor, 28
founder, Popsocial The serial marketing entrepreneur’s latest venture helps time-strapped small businesses use social media to make money; the subscriptionbased service had $2 million in revenue in its first year.
Lucy Guo, 23
cofounder, Scale Welcome your new robot overlords: Scale uses Ai for tasks like juggling complicated schedules or flagging inappropriate online comments. She has raised $4.6 million; clients include uber, Alphabet and P&G.
Ali Kriegsman, 26
cofounder, Bulletin Want to lease a Fifth Avenue storefront for the holidays? Nyc-based Bulletin offers short-term leases, primarily to online retailers who pay a monthly fee and 30% of sales.
Ashley Edwards, 27
cofounder, mindright Kids who experience trauma need immediate help, and edwards’ pilot program is providing it through their phones. Mindright’s counselors provide quick personalized advice via text message; early results are promising.
Vitalik Buterin, 23
founder, ethereum The Russia native created the world’s second-most-valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. Two years after its launch, ethereum has a market cap of $30 billion.
Ryan Williams, 28
cofounder, Jopwell The Wharton alum has raised $12 million for his website, which helps people of color find jobs. Blackrock, Facebook and Adobe are among his more than 70 partners.
Artem Goldman, 26
cofounder, visabot His website and Ai bot for Facebook Messenger have helped with 100,000 visa applications since they launched in 2016. Goldman himself is a Russian immigrant.
Lisa Curtis, 29
founder, kuli kuli This Peace Corps alum buys moringa, a trendy treebased “superfood,” from 1,000 mostly female farmers in Africa and Latin America, using it to make millions of energy shots and teas.
Erin Lee Carr, 29
documentary filmmaker Her videos for Vice on topics like 3-D-printed guns and animals in space racked up awards and 25 million views. Now she creates true-crime documentaries for HBO.