Founders, CEOs, and entrepreneurs.
Whitney Wolfe Herd helped launch Tinder, then founded Bumble and took it public in 2021 at age 31, becoming the world's youngest female billionaire.
Tilman Fertitta grew up peeling shrimp in his father's Galveston restaurant, built Landry's into a restaurant and entertainment empire, bought the Houston Rockets for $2.2 billion and became US ambassador to Italy in 2025.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened a Burlington, Vermont ice cream parlor in 1978 after a bagel business proved too expensive. The chunky style was developed to compensate for Cohen's anosmia.
Blake Mycoskie sold his first business, EZ Laundry, in 1999, sold a Nashville billboard company to Clear Channel after nine months, finished third on The Amazing Race, and founded Toms Shoes.
Kevin Plank, a University of Maryland walk-on football player, founded Under Armour in 1996 and led it as CEO until 2020, returning in April 2024.
Jim Koch left consulting in 1984 to brew Samuel Adams from his great-great-grandfather's recipe, becoming a founding father of American craft brewing.
Fired from Handy Dan in 1978, Arthur Blank co-founded Home Depot with Bernard Marcus, opened the first stores in Atlanta in 1979, and later bought the Atlanta Falcons.
Stephen Schwarzman started with a lawn-mowing business at 14 and, in 1985, co-founded Blackstone with Peter Peterson, growing it into one of the world's largest private equity firms.
David Rubenstein co-founded the private equity firm Carlyle Group, owns the Baltimore Orioles and chairs institutions including the National Gallery of Art and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Vince McMahon bought the WWWF from his father in 1982, created WrestleMania and absorbed rival WCW in 2001, building WWE into the world's largest pro-wrestling promotion.
Brian Armstrong read the Bitcoin white paper in 2010, joined Y Combinator with $150,000 in 2012 and co-founded Coinbase with Fred Ehrsam. He also co-founded the anti-aging startup NewLimit.
Drew Houston co-founded Dropbox in 2007 with MIT classmate Arash Ferdowsi, took it public in 2018 and sits on the board of Meta Platforms.
