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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mark Shuttleworth, founder, Canonical<\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Perry Chen, Yancey Strickler, Charles Adler, cofounders, Kickstarter<\/em><\/p>\n Using the online crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter, over 91,000 projects have collectively received approximately $538 million in start-up capital, according to Forbes.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Jonah Peretti, founder, BuzzFeed<\/em><\/p>\n According to Forbes, BuzzFeed founder Jonah Perettti has one goal: “create content and ads that we can’t resist passing along to everyone.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, cofounders, Snapchat<\/em><\/p>\n Despite some minor “sexting” controversy, photo and video sharing app, Snapchat is listed as the biggest shifter in social media.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Chet Kanojia, founder, Aereo<\/em><\/p>\n Aereo makes tiny antennas that pick up broadcasters\u2019 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Dwolla founder, Ben Milne<\/em><\/p>\n Dwolla is an online and mobile payment system which is shifting the way consumers in the US pay for things.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Other distrupters listed by Forbes:<\/p>\n Forbes lists Africa\u2019s power players<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Richest IT people in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s richest people<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Forbes lists Africa\u2019s power players<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nFinance<\/h3>\n
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