Biggest disruptors in tech
Forbes has listed the 12 biggest market disruptors of 2013, naming South African entrepreneur and Ubuntu creator, Mark Shuttleworth, as the biggest disruptive force in computing.
To form the list, Forbes staff looked at hundreds of businessmen and women across various fields to find the prominent figures who have shaken up the indutries they operate in.
While the 12 disruptors are active in a wide range of fields – from health care to retail – at least of half have ties to or operate on tech platforms.
Computing
Mark Shuttleworth, founder, Canonical
South African Canonical founder, Mark Shuttleworh is listed for his creation of his Linux-based OS, Ubuntu, which allows multiple devices to run the same platform.
It’s in direct competition with Apple iOS and Google’s Android – except it’s being offered for free, with enterprise and cloud services footing the bill.
Finance
Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, cofounders, Kickstarter
Using the online crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter, over 91,000 projects have collectively received approximately $538 million in start-up capital, according to Forbes.
Kickstarter gives fans and consumers a direct influence over the things they want – and the platform only takes a 5% cut from every successful transaction.
Media
Jonah Peretti, founder, BuzzFeed
According to Forbes, BuzzFeed founder Jonah Perettti has one goal: “create content and ads that we can’t resist passing along to everyone.”
Known for its frivolous lists and use of reaction gifs and grumpy cats, BuzzFeed is transforming into a digital news powerhouse in its own right, with articles receiving millions of views each day.
Social media
Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, cofounders, Snapchat
Despite some minor “sexting” controversy, photo and video sharing app, Snapchat is listed as the biggest shifter in social media.
Where social networks act as a platform to hoard and archive user content – Snapchat opts for the more temporary route, where visual content sent to the person on the other end disappears after a few seconds.
Television
Chet Kanojia, founder, Aereo
Aereo makes tiny antennas that pick up broadcasters’ channels for free. For a monthly $8 fee, users rent access to an antenna, which then beams the live feed directly to a computer, iPad or iPhone.
Unhappy with facing a loss in revenue and losing grip on the broadcast industry due to the technology, all four major US broadcasters took the startup to court to have it shut down – and lost.
Credit
Dwolla founder, Ben Milne
Dwolla is an online and mobile payment system which is shifting the way consumers in the US pay for things.
The system lets users pay for bar tabs or services or products via e-mail, text or over social networks like Twitter – while merchants pay minimal fixed fees, instead of percentage rates.
Other distrupters listed by Forbes:
- One Medical Group founder, Tom X. Lee (Health Care);
- Illumina CEO, Jay Flatley (Genomics);
- co- founders of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman, Jenny Fleiss (Retail);
- founder of UniversityNow, Gene Wade (Education);
- CEO of e-cigarette company, NJOY, Craig Weiss (Tobacco products);
- and founder of biofuel company, Solazyme, Jonathan Wolfson (Energy).
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