5 Young Millionaires Instigating Innovation

Dissatisfaction is one of the hallmarks of youth culture. Everything sucks, right?

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Some young people just accept this as fact, toeing the line and sinking into a state of inertia and apathy. But then there are the others, those audacious ones who set out to shake things up--sometimes with dizzying success.

Every year we profile high-earning entrepreneurs who are 30 or younger. This time around, we've come up with a group of revolutionaries who are truly disrupting their respective industries. Whether it's turning the entrenched cell phone service model on its head, reinventing the time-honored (yet unwieldy) real-estate transaction or reimagining audio equipment in an affordable and sustainable way, these young businesspeople had the creativity, smarts and cojones to find--and capitalize on--solutions to nagging obstacles they faced.

These young entrepreneurs are not only doing what they love, they are raking in the proceeds. And if some of them seem a bit cocky, a bit punk--well, they've earned that right. They fought back and won. A bit of braggadocio comes with the territory.

Young Millionaires »

Telecom

Young Entrepreneur Challenges the Way Americans Think About Their Cellphones

In the fall of 2004, when 18-year-old Pakistani squash champion Ahmed Khattak arrived at Yale to play for the university and take advantage of a full academic scholarship, his first priority was to buy a cell phone to call his family back home. Read More »

Mobile

Big Claims Aim to Boost Business at Mobile App Startup

Chaotic Moon is the most experienced, innovative and awesome mobile studio out there--according to Chaotic Moon, that is. Over-the-top boasts and tongue-in-cheek self-affirmations are plastered across the Austin, Texas, startup's website, proclaiming its unrivaled mastery over all phases of mobile software development... Read More »

Product Design

OrigAudio Hits It Big With Fold and Play Recycled Speakers

A mere three months after Jason Lucash and Mike Szymczak started their company OrigAudio, they hit the jackpot. It was November 2009, and out of the blue, Time magazine called about featuring their Fold and Play Recycled Speakers among its "Best Inventions of 2009." Read More »

Sustainability

Two Young Entrepreneurs Get Their Hands Dirty With Urban Farming

Nikhil Arora, 25, and Alejandro Velez, 24, didn't plan on being mushroom farmers. In 2009, during their last semester at the University of California, Berkeley, Arora lined up a corporate consulting job and Velez nabbed one in investment banking... Read More »

Software

Tech Startup Aims to Make Real Estate Transactions Easier

In real estate, signing on the dotted line is never really as simple as that. For brokers, it involves driving back and forth, lugging around a briefcase full of paperwork, tracking down unresponsive clients--and a whole lot of "who has what?" panic... Read More »