Matthew Mullenweg is the founding developer of WordPress, a resource a lot of us use on a daily basis. Funnily enough his background is anything but technical, he went to a performing arts school, learned to play the Jazz Saxophone, and then he went on to created one of the best website and blog programs in the world. In 2005 he started the company Automatic, which became the backing force behind WordPress and Akismet

In January 2009, the San Francisco Business Times reported that traffic to WordPress sites were growing faster than for Google’s blogger service and significantly outstripped its nearest competitor, Six Apart. A reporter at eMarketer called Mullenweg “quite an entrepreneur and visionary” when comparing to WordPress’ building momentum over its competitors to Facebook’s growing popularity over MySpace.

Whats inspiring and quite funny to me is that as i sit here and use WordPress to write this blog post, I actually see that the venture that Matt got into is quite beneficial to many. He found something that the people wanted and gave it to them. He beat out competitors like google to be the leading company in the blog world. He actually was a college dropout like many of the worlds richest young entrepreneurs so it just goes to show you that sometimes one does not need a college education to be successful. Find what you want to do that benefits all, and go for it!

Elizabeth Holmes makes her debut on the Billionaires list as the youngest self-made woman billionaire. She dropped out her sophomore year of Stanford University to found Palo Alto, Calif.-based blood testing company Theranos in 2003 with money she saved for college. With a painless prick, her labs can quickly test a drop of blood at a fraction of the price of commercial labs which need more than one vial. Theranos has raised $400 million from venture capitalists, valuing the company at $9 billion, and Holmes’ 50% stake at $4.5 billion. She has assembled a stellar board that includes elder statesmen George Shultz and Henry Kissinger. In 2013, Walgreens, the largest U.S. retail pharmacy chain, with more than 8,100 stores, announced plans to roll out Theranos Wellness Centers inside its pharmacies.

What i take away from this is that she saw the problem in her own life because she lost her uncle due to cancer that was found to late. When she had the idea of making a quick and easy blood test that was basically just a pin prick instead of a full vile of blood, she had the thought of making it quick easy and efficient for all. She saw a personal problem in her life and wanted to make peoples lives easier so she took her college savings and went full force into her business venture.

InstaCart, a startup that provides groceries with same-day delivery for a slightly higher price per food item, has raised $220 million at a ~$2 billion valuation. The company was started by Apoorva Mehta, an ex amazon engineer. InstaCart to date has been listed on forbes 30 under 30 list.

Instacart’s service is mainly provided through a smartphone app, available on iOS and Android platforms, apart from its website. The iOS app allows customers to use Apple Pay Initially Instacart shoppers simply went to a store and purchased the ordered items at retail and, in addition to the delivery charge, added a markup of 10 to 20 percent. As the business has developed, the firm has established relationships with grocery firms which share their (store) existing markup, allowing Instacart users to shop at in-store prices.

The company hires delivery workers and drivers as independent contractors. In June 2015, Instacart began giving shoppers in Boston and Chicago the option to work as part time epmployees, later extending its offer to shoppers in Atlanta, Miami, and Washington D.C.

InstaCart, as of april of 2015, was named by Forbes, “the most promising company in America”. What i take away from InstaCart, is that basically anything and everything one can think of, can be made profitable. In other words, how can you make peoples lives easier? When you find the answer to that question, you can begin making money.

Michael Nardy, Founder and CEO of Electronic Payments, was exposed to entrepreneurship at a very young age and always had a passion for business. His family’s longstanding privately-owned business in the Hamptons of Long Island, New York encouraged Mr. Nardy to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in his childhood and early adult-life.

During his undergrad at Boston College in the year 2000,  Michael, started selling auction software to anyone and everyone he possibly could. From the US, to china. Michael sold it to anyone that he could during the dot.com explosion. While selling this software, he realized quickly that there was a need for payment and transaction processing services. After graduating with a dual degree in English and History,  He raised the bar and changed the way of transaction and merchant services. He moved Electronic payments to his home town of Long island New York and hired 20 employees.

Now to this date, Nardy continues to elevate Electronic Payments’ products, services and reputation as one of the most respectable acquirers and transaction processing companies in the nation. Since the company’s incorporation, he has realized four office expansions, established an unparalleled staff of over 70 in-house employees, a network of 800 agents nationwide, and a portfolio of propriety, innovative products and services. With revenues exceeding $57 Million and a consistent rapid growth rate, Electronic Payments has received numerous industry accolades, including Deloitte & Touch LP and Inc. 500/5000 rankings for five consecutive years. The company now boasts more than 25,000 clients and processes over $6 Billion annually.

What is inspiring here, is that he while in the heat of college, came up with this ingenious idea. Even though he was born to be an entrepreneur, its what you do with that capability that makes them a real entrepreneur.  People like Michael  inspire me to create something worthwhile that benefit all.

At 14, Doherty started making jams from his grandmother’s recipes in Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally, his customer base was limited to neighbors and friends from his church, but business picked up quickly, and by age 16, he left school to work on his jams full time. He added some tweaks to the recipe and gave his business a name. The name is Superjam. His jam is made entirety of fruit and fruit juices. When he first started he was getting so many orders he couldnt keep up. He started renting out a factory a few days a month to keep up. In early 2007, Waitrose, a high-end supermarket in the U.K., approached Doherty hoping to sell his SuperJam products in their stores. Within months there were SuperJam jars on the shelves of 184 Waitrose stores, hoisting Doherty and his business to new heights.

Doherty also launched a charitable project in 2008 called the SuperJam Tea Parties. Since the program’s inception, SuperJam has hosted over 100 tea parties in Scotland, England and Wales for elderly people who live alone or in nursing homes. “Guests often cry at the end of the afternoon since they’ve had so much fun,” says Doherty. The events–including live music, dancing and drinks–have attracted as many as 500 guests.

Whtas inspiring about this young man is that he simply loved what his grandma had done for him and he thought that her recipe was so good that everyone needed to know about it. So he went about his whole enterprise, based on knowing that people will love what he has loved for years. He is a very humble young man and is quite inspiring. I mean really i ought to start pulling out some old family recipes and see where it gets me.

At 13, Moziah Bridges is well on his way to becoming a fashion mogul. This dapper CEO launched his bow-tie business, Mo’s Bows at age 9 and catapulted into the spotlight after becoming the youngest entrepreneur to appear on Shark Tank. His company made $350,000 in sales since 2011 and is expected to earn $250,000 in revenue for 2015. His mother is also his manager, Tramica Bridges. Bridge’s collection is sold in shops and boutiques in six states and in his online store.

13 years old… WOW. He learned early that he liked to dress well and he loved bow ties…. i mean who doesn’t love bow ties. He is quickly on his way to making a bunch of money. His online store is actually something to remember. At the age of 13 this kid inspires me because, if he can do it… why cant I or why cant you? Take what you love, and make it happen.

Brennen Byrne is the CEO and co founder of Clef. At the age of 24, he is on Forbes 12 most impressive young entrepreneurs list. Clef is  Clef is a replacement for usernames and passwords. It recognize people by their phone instead of anything they need to remember or type. Walk up to any computer in the world, wave your phone, and you’re instantly logged in. They use the phone to do cryptography that makes logging in safer and easier. Essentially Brennen saw when LinkedIn had at the time the largest breach in history that there was a need for better online security. He and 2 college friends decided to try and make a difference to provide better security for everyone and make it easy. His company is currently booming out of Oakland California. What inspires me about this man, is that he on a whim, took 1 college course that essentially changed the rest of his life. He took a computer science class for a sense of what that actually entailed, and ended up liking it so much that he had the idea for Clef. What is inspiring in my eyes that it takes 1 thing to happen or 1 class in your life that really makes you ponder how you can make a difference and this is exactly what Brennen did.