There are visionaries in every industry, individuals that have led the development of products or services that have impacted the lives of many people in a significant way. The tech industry, which has developed and advanced at a speed that other industries cannot compare, has a number of these notable visionaries.
For example, in recent years apps have revolutionised the way people consume products and services to complete many day-to-day tasks. Consumers can do everything nowadays from sending payments to investing in the stock market and ordering their grocery shopping.
One industry that has benefited tremendously is gaming applications where playing games apps are just one of people’s many daily activities, it has developed platforms such as poker online into a social hub where many card-gaming enthusiasts can discuss their knowledge and play for fun.
The journey’s that the entrepreneurs behind these products took to get there are unique, and many aspiring business moguls want to know their secret to success. Here is how some of the most successful and well known tech visionaries have made it to where they are today:
Evan Williams
Nebraska born Evan Williams is one of the most successful tech entrepreneurs and computer programmers in the western world. He is best known for being a previous chairman and CEO of Twitter, as well as developing Blogger and Medium.
Williams spent his childhood helping out on his family’s farm before leaving to attend the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a year and a half. During his time there, he was a part of the Farmhouse fraternity.
He left university and started taking tech related roles at various companies. He moved to Florida and became involved in a number of early stage startups, while in Florida he began writing computer code and gained experience at HP and Intel.
Williams then decided to set up Pyra-Labs along with Meg Hourihan where Blogger, the first web application software, was developed. Pyra was acquired by Google a few years later and he eventually set up the Obvious Corporation, where twitter was born.
The entrepreneur did not view Twitter as a social network but described it as an information network. After deciding to go in a different direction, Evan moved on from Twitter in 2019 to focus on his other venture Medium.
Anne Wojcicki
Entrepreneur Anne Wojcicki is best known for being the founder and CEO of 23&Me, a direct to consumer DNA testing firm that is based in California. Formally an analyst on Wall Street, Anne co-founded the company with Linda Avey and Paul Cusenza in 2006.
After graduating from the University of Yale, Wojcicki became a healthcare consultant at an investment fund. However, after a few years she decided that Wall Street wasn’t for her and chose to instead focus on biological research.
This is when she began work on 23&Me and within the first two years, the company’s personal genome testing kit was named “Invention of the Year” by Time magazine. Anne is surrounded by other successful leaders. Her sister, Susan Wojcicki, is CEO of YouTube and her ex-husband, Sergey Brin, was a co-founded of Google.
Another interesting fact at Wojcicki is that she was a competitive ice skater and played varsity ice hockey while at university.
Brian Chesky
Another successful entrepreneur is CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky, a New Yorker of Polish and Italian descent. Chesky began working as an industrial designer and strategist in LA after graduating university.
He and his roommate decided to rent out space in their apartment when they were struggling to pay rent one month. The pair put down air mattresses and opened up their home to guests who were in town for the Industrial Designers Society of America conference.
In 2008 they teamed with Harvard graduate Nathan Blecharczyk and the idea for AirBnB started to become a reality, they began funding the venture by selling special edition cereals and later received capital from Y Combinator.
They invested in a website and promotion and by 2016 they were announced as an official sponsor for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Since then, Chesky has begun to use his wealth for philanthropy and setting up scholarships for young people beginning their careers. In 2015, Brian was given the honour of being named by President Obama as an Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship.
Daniel Ek
Lastly, Daniel Ek is the CEO of music streaming website and app Spotify. The Swedish entrepreneur is a billionaire and first went into business at the tender age of 13.
During his school years, Daniel began charging to make websites for individuals and businesses and recruited his classmates to help as the venture grew. By the age of 18 he was managing his own team of 25 employees.
Using his technology experience, Daniel became the CTO of the early internet game and fashion community game Stardoll and later founded an online advertising company named Advertigo. Selling this gave him to funds to begin Spotify.
