Edwin Chen, founder and CEO of Surge AI, built one of the most important hidden infrastructure companies of the generative AI era by supplying the high-quality human data and evaluation systems used to train frontier models. A former engineer at leading tech companies, he launched Surge in 2020 and scaled it with unusual speed, turning a bootstrapped startup into a billion-dollar-revenue business serving top AI labs. Known for a low profile and uncompromising focus on quality, Chen has emerged as one of the standout entrepreneurs behind the AI boom.

Ivan Zhao, cofounder and CEO of Notion, built one of the most influential productivity software companies of the modern era by turning a minimalist workspace tool into a global platform for notes, docs, databases, and collaboration. With a design-led philosophy and a strong focus on flexible software, he helped grow Notion into a company valued at $10 billion, positioning it at the center of the convergence of productivity, knowledge management, and AI.

Martin Klenk, cofounder and CTO of Celonis, helped turn a university project into one of Europe’s most valuable software companies by building a global leader in process mining and process intelligence. Since launching Celonis in 2011 with Alexander Rinke and Bastian Nominacher, he has been central to the company’s technical vision, helping scale its platform as major enterprises use it to uncover inefficiencies, optimize operations, and strengthen AI-driven execution. Known for deep product focus and a lower public profile, Klenk stands out as one of the key technical architects behind Celonis’s rise.

Bastian Nominacher, cofounder and co-CEO of Celonis, helped turn a Munich startup into one of Europe’s most valuable software companies by building a global leader in process mining and process intelligence. Since launching Celonis in 2011, he has helped scale the company into a major enterprise software force serving thousands of deployments worldwide, as businesses use its platform to uncover inefficiencies, streamline operations, and make AI more effective in real-world workflows. Known for execution-focused leadership and long-term product conviction, Nominacher has become one of the standout founders in European tech.

Alexander Rinke, cofounder and co-CEO of Celonis, helped turn a university project into one of Europe’s most valuable software companies by building a global leader in process mining and process intelligence. Since cofounding Celonis in 2011, he has guided its rise into a major enterprise software force serving thousands of deployments worldwide, as companies use its technology to uncover inefficiencies, improve operations, and accelerate AI-driven decision-making. Known for product conviction and execution-focused leadership, Rinke has become one of the standout founders in European tech.

Peter Salanki, cofounder and chief technology officer of CoreWeave, helped build one of the AI boom’s fastest-rising infrastructure companies by turning specialized GPU expertise into a major cloud platform for artificial intelligence. After joining CoreWeave in 2019 and rising through its engineering ranks before becoming CTO in 2024, he became a central technical force behind the company’s expansion into high-performance compute for leading AI labs and enterprises. Known for deep engineering focus and a low public profile, Salanki is one of the key architects behind CoreWeave’s rise.

Brannin McBee, cofounder and chief development officer of CoreWeave, helped build one of the AI boom’s most closely watched infrastructure companies by transforming an early GPU-heavy business into a major cloud platform for artificial intelligence. A former chief strategy officer at the company, he has been central to CoreWeave’s growth from startup to public-market player, helping position it as a key supplier of high-performance computing to AI developers and enterprises.

Brian Venturo, cofounder and chief strategy officer of CoreWeave, helped build one of the AI boom’s fastest-rising infrastructure companies by transforming a business rooted in GPU-intensive computing into a major cloud provider for artificial intelligence. A former hedge fund partner who earlier served as CoreWeave’s CTO, he has been central to the company’s technical and strategic evolution as it grew into one of the most closely watched players in AI infrastructure.

Eduardo Vivas, an early AppLovin investor and longtime board member, helped shape one of the most powerful companies in mobile advertising and app monetization. Better known earlier as a cofounder of Social Hour, he later retained a meaningful stake in AppLovin and became one of the billionaires created by the company’s explosive rise in AI-driven marketing technology. Known for a relatively low profile, Vivas stands out as part of the group behind AppLovin’s emergence as a major force in ad tech.

Vasily Shikin, chief technology officer of AppLovin, helped build the company into one of the most powerful platforms in mobile advertising and app monetization. After joining in 2012, he became a central technical force behind AppLovin’s software and infrastructure as it grew into a major public company at the center of performance marketing. Known for a low public profile but enormous financial upside, Shikin stands out as one of the key executives behind AppLovin’s rise.

Karim Atiyeh, cofounder and CTO of Ramp, has helped build one of fintech’s fastest-rising platforms by turning corporate spend management into a software and automation engine for modern businesses. After previously cofounding Paribus with Eric Glyman, he launched Ramp in 2019 and played a central role in shaping the company’s technology across cards, expense management, bill pay, and AI-driven financial operations. Known for deep technical focus and product rigor, Atiyeh has emerged as one of the key architects behind Ramp’s rapid ascent.

Jack Clark, Anthropic cofounder and Head of Public Benefit, has become one of the most influential figures at the intersection of frontier AI, policy, and public communication. A former technology journalist turned AI executive, he helped build Anthropic into one of the defining companies of the generative AI era while shaping its voice on safety, governance, and societal impact. Known for translating complex technical progress into strategic public arguments, Clark stands out as one of the sector’s clearest policy-minded operators.

Jared Kaplan, cofounder and chief science officer of Anthropic, has become one of the central technical figures in the generative AI boom, helping build the company behind Claude into a major force in large language models. A theoretical physicist by training and former OpenAI researcher, he is known for influential work on the scaling behavior of AI systems and for pairing frontier model development with a strong emphasis on safety and governance. As Anthropic’s influence has expanded, Kaplan has emerged as one of the key scientists shaping the next era of artificial intelligence.

Tom Brown, cofounder and chief compute officer of Anthropic, helped build one of the defining companies of the generative AI era after earlier playing a key role in the engineering behind GPT-3 at OpenAI. At Anthropic, he has been central to the compute infrastructure powering Claude and the company’s broader push to develop powerful AI systems with a strong emphasis on safety and reliability. With deep technical credibility and a low public profile, Brown has emerged as one of the key architects behind Anthropic’s rise.

Jason Murray, cofounder, CEO, and chairman of PACS Group, has helped build the company into one of the largest post-acute care platforms in the United States. A licensed nursing home administrator with more than 20 years of experience in acute and post-acute healthcare, he has overseen PACS’s expansion to more than 300 facilities across 17 states, turning it into a major force in skilled nursing and post-acute services. Known for combining operational depth with long-term growth ambition, Murray has emerged as one of the key executives shaping the modern post-acute care sector.

Ron Shaich, cofounder of Au Bon Pain and the architect behind Panera’s rise, built one of the most influential careers in fast-casual dining by pairing sharp consumer insight with disciplined brand building. After helping launch Au Bon Pain, he transformed Panera Bread into a category-defining powerhouse and later expanded into investing and restaurant innovation through Act III Holdings. Known for seeing around corners in food retail, Shaich remains a central figure in the evolution of modern dining.

Ben Lamm, cofounder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences, has become one of the most unconventional entrepreneurs of the AI-and-biotech era, turning de-extinction into a high-stakes commercial and scientific enterprise. A serial founder with multiple exits in software and artificial intelligence, he partnered with geneticist George Church to launch Colossal in 2021 and build it into one of the world’s most closely watched biotech startups. With its work spanning extinct species, conservation, and synthetic biology, Lamm has positioned himself at the intersection of frontier science, venture capital, and ambitious moonshot building.

Dario Amodei, cofounder and CEO of Anthropic, has emerged as one of the central architects of the generative AI era, building the company behind Claude into a major force in safe, high-performance artificial intelligence. A former OpenAI research leader who helped advance large language models and reinforcement learning from human feedback, he has paired technical credibility with a strong public stance on AI safety, governance, and long-term societal risk. As Anthropic’s valuation and influence have surged, Amodei has become one of the most consequential figures shaping the future of AI.

Stephen Cohen, cofounder and president of Palantir, helped build one of the most influential software companies in data analytics, defense, and government intelligence. Since launching the firm in 2003, he has remained a central figure in its leadership, helping steer Palantir from a secretive Silicon Valley startup into a public company at the center of the AI and national security landscape. Known for his low profile and enduring ownership stake, Cohen has emerged as one of the quiet billionaires created by Palantir’s rise.

Andrew Dudum, cofounder and CEO of Hims & Hers Health, has built one of the most visible direct-to-consumer healthcare platforms in the U.S., turning telehealth into a mainstream brand across sexual health, mental health, dermatology, and weight care. Since launching the company in 2016, he has expanded it from a niche startup into a publicly traded digital health business known for sharp branding, subscription economics, and aggressive category expansion. Dudum has emerged as a defining entrepreneur in modern consumer healthcare, blending startup speed with public-market scale.