Dave Fowler

Mom taught him to program at age 11. Now creating simple dashboards for complex databases.

30 Under 30: Forbes Announces Young Pioneers In Technology

This is our second annual listing of technology pioneers under the age of 30.

In many ways, this was a harder list to compile than our inaugural one. Word traveled far and wide this time, and we were inundated with possible candidates. It turns out the technology industry has a wealth of entrepreneurs in their twenties trying to shake things up, and finding success at it. What a wonderful thing.

Fortunately, we also had the wisdom and sharp eyes of our three judges to make the big calls. Marc Benioff is the ultimate disruptor himself, having co-founded Salesforce and taken on not only the giants of enterprise software, but the very business model the industry thrives on. Angel investor Pejman Nozad served as our most direct link to young entrepreneurs. He is surely enterprising himself, having parlayed a job selling rugs to tech’s stars to investing in their companies. He spends his days meeting with fresh-faced innovators and has amassed stakes in Dropbox and Lending Club, among many others. Then we had our technical visionary, Stephen Hoover, who runs the famous Xerox Parc in Palo Alto. With the three of them as our guide, we aimed to highlight a diverse group of talented, very young individuals.

We hope this is an energizing glimpse into the future of technology, and do let us know who we missed for next year’s list.