Gary Vaynerchuk?… Or Jimmy Tatro?
Our Top 5 Favorite Entrepreneurs of 2014
Brian Wong
Founder/CEO of Kiip
Brian is a 23 year old entrepreneur who founded Kiip in 2010, a mobile app rewards platform. He took on the type of position and lifestyle that strays away from what most 20 somethings would be doing. “‘What about partying and girls and all that’..well I don’t think I’m sacrificing that, I just think I’m living a life that I want to live, and there’s different sort of activities. It’s at that point now that I’m living a life that I’ve designed for myself.” Brian leads his team with a standard that is necessary for success. One of risk and respect that challenges someone to put their heart on the line resulting in quality work. His deep understanding of turning a passion into profit is also why we see him as one of the top entrepreneurs to look out for.
Michal Sadowski
Vimeo video maker. Public Speaker
Founder/CEO of Brand 24
What caught our eye with Michal was his video Take Your Startup To The Next Level. In just two minutes it gathers together an entrepreneur’s startup dream. From idea, to the pitch, to building it, to the sale, it entails it all. We went on to discover his company Brand 24, a platform that allows you to see what certain people and businesses are saying about other brands. This means as a business owner, you can hear what people are talking about your business. After seeing his videos and the lifestyle he built, it’s easy to understand why one would want to take on the challenge of becoming an entrepreneur. He brings the audience into his world, forming a blueprint that they themselves can follow on their road to success.
Jimmy Tatro
Film maker, Actor, Comedian
Jimmy is a film making genius, starting in a dorm room in his early college days making funny youtube videos that many could relate to. He understands the hustle, being able to star and act in all his videos, write them, edit them and team up with some friends to make a hilarious five minute sketch. His entrepreneurial talent has obviously been noticed, along with his comedic acting which landed him some major acting roles in films such as Grown Ups 2 and 22 Jump Street. He is growing fast in the last few years with the company he started called Young and Boss which encourages the younger generations to stray away from the typical 9–5 job and pursue their passions using the power of the internet. Today he is focusing on pure stand up comedy as he has started his own national stand up comedy tour. Although he isn’t really classified as your typical “entrepreneur”, he is the perfect example of going out to create a life around what you truly love doing, and cashing in on what you’re good at.
Tony Hsieh
Founder/CEO of Zappos
Tony has been able to build his company Zappos around the idea of having amazing culture within the workplace. “For us our approach is to focus on work-life integration, because at the end of the day its just life.” This is a leadership quality that is so extremely important, but is sometimes overlooked. He understands that the culture encompasses and affects the overall business operations, freedom and creativity that can be produced within his company. With a thriving business that is home to possibly some of the happiest and most dedicated employees, he is definitely one of our favorite entrepreneurs to study and learn from for this year.
Gary Vaynerchuk
Wine Library TV. VaynerMedia. Author of Crush It, Jab Jab Jab Right Hook and The Thank You Economy
He’s been called the ultimate social media expert for two reasons: his natural ability to spot and predict trends in the market and executing on them, along with providing value and an authentic connection to his audience. His charismatic character and genuine tone makes him extremely unique in a way that can’t be taught or faked. This is a man who will take the time to respond to every email, tweet, question, etc. His philosophy of “building deep, not wide” shows in all of his public speaking, writing, and videos. He is a firm believer of the hustle, and it has clearly payed off in all of his life work ever since he started with Wine Library TV. Since then he has been able to cement himself into the industry writing a number of books that teach of monetizing off your passion and building an audience from the ground up. If you wanna see him in action, check out the new youtube series he recently kicked off, the #AskGaryVee Show, to see just exactly what we are talking about.
Thanks so much guys and let us know what you thought, and who YOU think we should be watching out for in 2015. We’d love to hear your 2 cents.
Img sources: Img 1: blog.clarity.fm. Img 2: www.crittercism.com. Img 3: wroclaw.gazeta.pl. Img 4: @jimprov Img 5: keithferrazzi.com. Img 6: www.xda-developers.com
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