All these people are acknowledged for their success in business, but also for their contribution to the greater good. Many of them are going after sectors that are in desperate need of reform, such as health care and education, others are creating jobs, while entrepreneurs like Rachel Weeks, founder of School House, which makes fashion-forward college clothing; and Ziver Birg of Zivelo, have significant contributions to domestic manufacturing.
This year’s list includes:
- Jeremy Johnson, 2tor (which offers online degrees in partnership with major universities)
- Steve Espinosa, AppStack (a mobile app for small businesses)
- Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez, Back to the Roots (makers of Grow Your Own gourmet mushroom kits)
- Amy Jain and Daniella Yacobovsky, BaubleBar (an online retailer selling designer jewelry for 60% off retail)
- Craig Cordes and Antonio LaMartina, Big Easy Blends (which makes frozen, portable, pre-mixed cocktails)
- Fan Bi and Danny Wong, Blank Label (makers of custom shirts)
- Ilya Pozin, Ciplex (which focuses on web design and marketing for small companies)
- Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinksi, Codeacademy (a web platform for teaching computer programming languages)
- Joe Coleman, Shane Snow, and Dave Goldberg, Contently (a marketplace connecting writers with companies to create quality content marketing)
- Ben Milne, Dwolla (a versatile payment platform that works on mobile devices)
- Ray Land, Fabulous Coach Lines (a motorcoach tour company)
- Adam Pritzker, Matthew Brimer and Brad Hargreaves, General Assembly (a co-working space that offers classes on business, design and technology)
- Amber Case and Aaron Parecki, Geoloqi (location-aware technology for businesses and governments)
- Desiree Vargas Wrigley, GiveForward, (a crowdfunding platform for people facing medical emergencies)
- Jude Gomila and Immad Akhund, Heyzap (a mobile app for the gaming community)
- Jesse Thomas and Leslie Bradshaw, JESS3 (a creative agency specializing in data visualization)
- John Hering, Kevin Mahaffey and James Burgess, Lookout Mobile Security (a mobile security app for iPhone and Android phones)
- Aza Raskin, Massive Health (a mobile app that encourages healthy eating)
- Andrew Lafoon, Aryk Grosz, Mixbook (which creates photo books with a social spin)
- Nathan Sigworth, PharmaSecure (mobile software that helps stop drug counterfeiting in the developing world)
- Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp, Pinterest (the social image-sharing site that is now one of the world’s largest networks)
- Allison Lami Sawyer, Rebellion Photonics (whose fluorescent imaging camera can detect leaks on natural gas rigs)
- Rachel Weeks, School House (maker of U.S.-made fashion-forward college gear)
- Yoav Lurie and Justin Segall, Simple Energy (designer of web-based social games that reward energy conservation)
- Daniel Ek, Spotify (the wildly popular streaming music service)
- Lucas Buick and Ryan Dorshorst, Synthetic, (maker of Hipstamatic, the popular photo app.)
- Kfir and Elram Gavrieli, Tieks (maker of foldable leather ballet flats)
- Alfredo Atanacio and Rodolfo Schildknechkt, Uassist.ME (matches bilingual virtual assistants with Hispanic executives)
- Sarah Schupp, University Parent Media (print and online publisher of helpful information for parents of university students)
- Ziver Berg, Zivelo (the second largest kiosk maker in the world)
For the second year, Inc. also recognizes on the list a highly entrepreneurial not-for-profit venture in addition to the 30 for-profit honorees: Daniel Epstein, Tyler Hartung and Teju Ravilochan, The Unreasonable Institute – an incubator for social enterprises devoted to solving big world problems.