10 Top Young CEOs to Inspire You

Dream big is a common phrase shouted out everywhere to empower young people to be successful in life. The phrase is surely way easier said than done. As much as we would like to dream big, even getting the idea of what to dream big about can be hard.

When you are feeling down and like all the odds are against you, think about some of these youngest CEOs to get you inspired and get back on track. In the hope of helping and aspiring young creative minds to get started on their big dreams and success, below we present some inspiring men and women who have managed to reach their success before turning thirty.

1. Andrew Myers (23)

Quite similar to the some recruitment business, Andrew Myers, another 23 years old, started Ripple Recruiting even before he entered senior year at Yale. His success story does not come from his expertise, though. Rather, he uses his study background to connect Ivy League graduates with employers who are charged $300 per month on average. His company has helped more tens of thousands graduates get their jobs.

2. Christian Owens (22)

Christian Owens is the 22-year-old founder/CEO of Paddle.com, a London based startup with over $1m in funding. Paddle’s range of developer tools make it easy for app developers to set up & manage trial versions, take payments and even track in-app analytics across desktop & mobile — all from a single dashboard.

3. Ian Crosby (29)

Ian Crosby, a 29-year-old who served as a bookkeeper in college, realizes how accounting can be a challenge for some businessmen. Considering the fact, he decided to establish an accounting business venture with Jordan Menashy as the cofounder in 2010. The venture helps other companies balance their books, calculate their taxes, track their expenses and handle their other financial matters. With the combination of sophisticated technology and human expertise on accounting, his company, Bench, has collected $15 million.

4. Jack Cator (27)

After becoming frustrated with his school’s computer network which blocked games and social networks he eventually launched a virtual private network service called “Hide My Ass” (HMA) in 2005, which allows a user to surf the internet privately and anonymously. Fast forward 10 years, he sold the company to global software company AVG for £40 million. And Mr Cator is to continue as HMA’s chief executive.

5. Jared Hecht (29)

Jared Hecht is a co-founder and the chief executive officer at Fundera, an online marketplace that matches small business owners to the best possible lender. He started Fundera after his cousin experienced the frustration and lack of transparency of applying for a small business loan.

6. Looi Qin En (23)

Looi Qin En with his behavioural science expertise launched Glints in 2013, a platform tool where graduates and employers meet. This platform helps young people seek out skill sets required in different careers, and to match them with jobs, internships and courses that could cultivate those skills in demand. While applicants get the service for free, the employer is charged $1,000 to meet the potential applicants. In 2015, the company gained $500,000.

7. Shashank Murali (23)

Shashank Murali is 23-year-old CEO of TapChief, an online tool where students can get some tuition from experts. So far, around 5,000 experts and 1,000 students have joined the service. The students pay for the class taught by the experts and 20% of the tuition payment goes to the company revenue. In addition, there is $4 fee for each expert to be listed on the platform. The revenue has now exceeded $150,000.

8. Stefanie Botelho (29)

Stefanie Botelho, a 29-year-old woman, has always been passionate about making toys. While in fourth grade, she made finger puppets and they were sold to her classmates. Later, while taking the coding class at Harvard Business School, she created a toy-recommendation platform that inspired her to launch Fitzroy Toys, an online tool connecting retailers with toy manufacturers. This business first operated in 2014 and charges fee from each transaction for its income.

9. Tatyana Mitkova (24)

Tatyana Mitkova is a creative 24-year-old girl who not only has managed to turn a lemon into lemonade but also has made loads of money out of the lemon. Her success story started from her disappointment with airlines. Just like what airline passengers normally experience, holidays are sometimes spoiled with delayed departure, cancelled and overbooked tickets as well as lost luggage. This girl whose background is legal decided to bring justice by creating Claim Compass. This company helps disappointed fliers hand in their complaints and claims online. So far, over 1,000 claims have been settled and 25% of the compensation or money refunded from the airlines goes into the company revenue.

10. Tommy Gibbon (25)

At the age of 25, Tommy Gibbon and his partners set up Piper, a venture which sells computer units for kids to build their first computers. One unit is sold at $299 while the production cost is only at $100. The sale quickly passed 4,000 items and around $1,200,000 revenue was gained instantly.