The number of entrepreneurs is growing by leaps and bounds. Now, there are more female entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs, and other segments of entrepreneurs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the growth in entrepreneurship plays a vital role in stimulating the U.S. economy.
In Babson’s Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, research indicated that entrepreneurship is on the rise overall in the 65 countries that the report tracks, including more women and older entrepreneurs. Another Babson Report elated to global female entrepreneurship found some incredible improvements in the number of women starting and running their own businesses. The research found there were 163 million women starting or operating businesses in 74 countries. Additionally, an estimated 111million women now oversee established businesses.
With such inspiring numbers, the only challenge is to spotlight just a few of the ones to watch. Therefore, we’ve selected 9 startups business as entrepreneurs to seek out and connect with who represent some exciting businesses and that demonstrate what is so positive about entrepreneurship’s influence on local and global economies:
1. Lindsay Tanne
Lindsay Tanne is the Co-Founder and COO of LogicPrep.
The company helps to prepare high school students for college through its proprietary technology platform that combines personalized content and instruction with intuitive
software. They offer private tutors for test preparation for college entrance, including SAT and GMAT.
Also, Lindsay is an entrepreneur to watch because of her ability to truly understand what her target audience wants. Like her, they want to attend one of the top universities in the world. She had her choice of Yale, Harvard, and Princeton and then settled on Harvard. Lindsay’s formula for getting into a prestigious school became the springboard for a company. The result is that
hundreds of families and students have been more successful at the college application process.
She was named a Westchester Wunderkind and is a member of NACAC and the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). Lindsay has also penned articles for The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Inc.
2. Marco ten Vaanholt
Marco ten Vaanholt is CO-Founder and President of BootUP Ventures.
Known as a global serial entrepreneurial ecosystem, his organization has helped over 120 startups and raised more than $400 million. They offer access to a network of over 800 mentors and experts that provide hands-on assistance to help other startups business as entrepreneurs build out their startups into viable companies with attractive valuations. The assistance includes an accelerator program, events, one-on-one consulting, co-working spaces, and fundraising.
Besides this venture, Marco is an investor and advisor to other companies, his background in software engineering gives him a unique point of view when it comes to helping develop other entrepreneurs’ business ideas. Besides this venture, Marco is an investor and advisor to other companies, his background in software engineering gives him a unique perspective when it
comes to helping develop other entrepreneurs’ business ideas. As an intrapreneur and an entrepreneur, he is one to watch because of his passion for building out the most innovative ideas focused on improving people’s lives.
His global perspective, experience, and ability to create diverse international teams adds to the reason to keep him on your radar in the next few years.
3. Ben Anderson
Ben Anderson is the Co-Founder and CEO of Amino Apps.
Dubbed the Reddit of the mobile world, he and his co-founder created a platform that features hundreds of community-focused apps designed around topic or interest. The company was founded four years ago. It now has millions of participants around the world. His previous experience includes a stint at HypeGenius and PayPal. Ben was named to Beta Boston’s 25 under 25 in 2015 and Forbes’ 30 under 30.
As such, his diverse knowledge and focus, including user acquisition, social media strategies, product development, mobile and graphic design, make him an entrepreneur to follow.
4. Andrew Thomas
Andrew Thomas is Co-Founder of Skybell.
This IoT company has grown rapidly in just a few short years thanks to Andrew’s innovative ideas to create a line of Wi-Fi-enabled smart doorbells. While he developed these ideas prior
to what has become a much wider adoption of smart home products, he and his co-founder were visionary enough to see what was coming and how people would respond.
Andrew is also a great source for learning how to not reinvent the wheel with startups business as entrepreneurs. He has solid advice to help you understand how to use crowdfunding effectively and also figured that out shortly before many other startups realized the potential of this alternative funding source. Andrew also figured out how to save time and money by developing strategic partnerships with
other brands like Comcast, Apple and Honeywell and more, piggybacking onto their existing marketing, logistics, and supply chain resources. With more ideas making their way to the frontburner, he is an entrepreneur to carefully watch.
5. Laura Land
Laura Land is Co-Founder and COO of Marketplace Valet.
This innovative company helps brands get their products noticed on multiple online marketplaces. The service is so all-inclusive that it can take care of the entire process for a brand — from product placement and content for descriptions to fulfillment and customer service. These eCommerce marketplaces include Amazon, eBay, Newegg, Best Buy, Rakuten, Sears, and Jet.com. Her knowledge extends to international eCommerce marketplaces as well.
Yet, this is not her first rodeo. In fact, she has over 14 years of experience in eCommerce management, product design, organization management and logistics. Her companies have been on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America. Laura and her husband received the Spirit of the startups business as entrepreneurs Award by Inland Empire Center for entrepreneurship. It will be exciting to watch her as she continues to develop this company and potentially others.
6. Steve El-Hage
Steve El-Hage is Founder and CEO of Massdrop.
This company delivers a platform for all types of hobby enthusiasts who are looking to connect and build a community with other like-minded individuals. It is also a commerce platform that allows these people to buy products as a group in their individual area of interest. The company goes even further by partnering with various manufacturers to create custom products that these communities want related to their hobby or interest.
This is Steve’s first entrepreneurial venture that has now been growing for over five years. Therefore, there is plenty of time for him to pursue more ventures and create other innovative solutions for unaddressed needs and desires.
7. Rebecca Devaney
Rebecca Devaney is Founder and CEO of Hunter Creative Labs.
This is a Boston-based Health and Wellness Foundry, which is a tech company where 50% of the board members, leaders, and team are women. Besides her work with this startup, Rebecca is also working on a number of other projects. These include CareCoach, a caregiving platform that is set to revolutionize how clinical data is collected. Then, there is Plock, a dexterity locking pill bottle cap to help stop prescription drug abuse. Third, Doga is designed to be the most eco-friendly towel. Lastly, Rebecca is working on SipSmart, an innovative solution to test if anyone has put anything in your drink.
With so much going on, it will be exciting to see how these ventures turn out and what else Rebecca has up her sleeve. She epitomizes the opportunities available for female entrepreneurs.
8. Devon Galloway
Devon Galloway is Co-Founder and CTO of Vidyard.
Founded in 2010, this company helps companies leverage the power of video for marketing, sales, customer support and brand advocacy. Now, the video platform has been going strong and only gained momentum with the increased demand and interest in video. Of note, the company’s clients include major brands like Lenovo, LinkedIn, and Honeywell.
Additionally, Devon is a veteran of companies like Redwoods Media, Research in Motion, and NexJ Systems. He now oversees engineering and product development for Vidyard. Just entering his 30s, there is a lot of promise for more innovative ideas to come from Devon
9. Neha Gupta
Neha Gupta heads up Business Operations at DAQRI.
Although she works for this manufacturer of augmented reality headsets made for industrial workers, Neha has an entrepreneurial background and incredible track record of Success. That’s because she helped Jessica Alba to launch The Honest Company and worked with Beats by Dre before it was acquired by Apple. Also, she stayed on to work at Apple for a year before moving on to DAQRI. As a young executive and entrepreneur, Neha is definitely someone to follow when it comes to market expansion planning, corporate development, consumer insights, and processes for scaling fast-growing start-ups.
Reaching Out
Whether it’s on LinkedIn, Twitter, or at a networking event or conference, these are nine entrepreneurs that you may want to connect with to help learn from as well as be inspired to keep working toward your own entrepreneurial aspirations.
