Sridhar Vembu, the only dude that bootstrapped his company to global giant of 1 billion in revenue without raising single dollar. Had chance to talk to him few times, really the legend of entrepreneurship who you can't find anywhere in the startup news...

There are many. Just from my knowledge, to name a few: Sridhar Vembu & Nithin Kamath - Indian founders who proved that fundraising from VC is not the only way to build big companies. Steve Jobs - For building one of the biggest tech companies even though being a non-tech founder.

Founder should be the one who inspires their employees daily, he/she should be the source of motivation for employees + he/she should treat employees as co-workers, not as a slave, enough in the tough times. That's what makes a founder!

I have many favorites. To name a few.. Ratan Tata, Ashok Soota, Melanie Perkins, Sridhar Vembu, Nithin Kamath, and of course Larry Page & Sergey Brin!

Ed Catmull from Pixar - read “Creativity Inc.” if you wanna change the way you think about org structure and creativity

i really like daniel ek, the founder of spotify, he made such a great product and the story behind the company is just amazing

Melanie Perkins! She built canva at age 19 with basically zero tech experience. Her HIBT episode is amazing.

Felix Lee! CEO and founder of ADPList His life behind ADPList was so inspiring, from nobody to somebody with impactful product. Building endless ecosystem in edtech education where mentee meets their mentor. Break the exclusivity tech industry into more inclusive, open all the access to meet their best mentor freely. The universe owe to his kindness.

I had the privilege of being part of Honey in its early days, and I have immense respect for George Ruan, the CEO and founder. One of his notable insights about a growth model is that it should encompass three essential elements simultaneously: repeatability, scalability, and automation. Although I wish I could have stayed longer at Honey and continued learning from him, my entrepreneurial drive led me on my own journey, but George Ruan remains an exceptional figure in my eyes.

Definitely Ratan Tata! His inspiring leadership, strong ethics, and remarkable philanthropic efforts have made him my favorite founder. He's a true role model for entrepreneurs, and his impact goes far beyond business.

@profy17 , you are creeping up on my list, haha! Appreciate how active and helpful you are on PH. My top two are tied for first: Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss. I've been following them closely since around 2006-2008. Kevin's Diggnation podcast was probably the first podcast I got into - I probably found it because I was on digg.com a lot back in those days. And Tim's blog became something I read regularly after stumbling across it a handful of times for one reason or another. Their journeys as entrepreneurs have been fun to watch, and fun to be a part of, as they're both into a lot of the same things I'm into, and they continue to create products that I love. Their content is helpful. They're both visionaries. They've both helped me tremendously! They've honestly changed my life. I'll check out Marko and liccid.ai ! 🤝🍻

there's a certain admiration that brews within when we observe someone shaping the world against the odds, isn't there? marko's journey, as you've described, beautifully embodies the spirit of tenacity and innovation. i, too, have a favorite founder who brings a similar zest for creation and disruption - Stewart Butterfield, the co-founder of Slack. the path that led him to Slack was a meandering one, a game called 'game neverending' which 'ended', then flickr, which was a side-gig turned big. but what fascinates me is not just his journey, but his philosophy. Stewart's vision is that work can be less tedious and more humane. Slack, at its core, is designed to make work communication smoother, lighter, and less of a burden. it’s a vision that transcends the product, speaks to our work lives, and ripples out to affect our overall wellbeing. his approach to failure, too, is worth noting. he sees it as part of the process, not a dead-end. it’s this capacity to pivot, to take an unexpected turn and find new vistas that i find most inspiring. indeed, every founder's story carries its unique flavor, its lessons. they remind us that no journey is straight, that stumbling blocks can be stepping stones, and that a vision rooted in enriching human experience holds transformative power.

Nike's Phil Knight - did not know the story, read the book, was amazed by how he started it, with no experience, the risks he took, the belief and trust he had in what he was doing, how he never gave up, how he built his team, the whole story is amazing! I specifically appreciate how he recognizes that he was wrong at times and that he mistreated some team members or disapproved of certain actions that proved to be key to Nike's success, and that luck is also important on top of skills and persistence.

Like other replies in this thread, your favorite founder will come down to who you've met and worked with. And I have to agree with others when they said their favorite founder is someone who's personality translates to creating an amazing, super fun work environment.

If we broaden the scope of founders, I think Elon Musk is a great founder. His intense work schedule, keeping at the age of 51, is incredible. Most of my friends after 25 are losing energies for lives, and looking forward to settle down instead of working too hard.

@noahkagan ! Unique style and he is always different

Myself) We should respect ourselves the first and not try to find idols or so:)

For me @trungdq88 , he inspired me via the launch of Typing Mind just mindblowing

Elon Musk!

My founder😅