2012 was a huge year for Silicon Valley.
Facebook went public, Marissa Mayer joined Yahoo, laws changed to foster new industries, enterprise startups got hot, and billion-dollar companies were formed and acquired.
Now, after months of research, debate, and more research, we're happy to present the latest installment of the Silicon Valley 100, Business Insider's authoritative compilation of the people who did the coolest things in Silicon Valley this year. That means people who:
- backed promising companies and saw big exits;
- were star executives;
- created new, interesting things;
- changed entire industries;
- and made industry-defining acquisitions or took their companies public.
In sum, these people aren't riding on old reputations. All of them did something amazing in 2012, and they won big. A big shout-out to everyone named in the list: You earned it. And if you feel that we missed someone? Tell us—we're not all-knowing, and we love telling stories about amazing people.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to our many readers who took the time to send us nominations. The Silicon Valley 100 was assembled by Megan Rose Dickey, Alyson Shontell, Nicholas Carlson, Jay Yarow, and Jim Edwards, and copyedited by Jill Klausen.
100. Randi Zuckerberg
Founder, Zuckerberg Media
Randi Zuckerberg took Silicon Valley by storm with her reality TV show "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley."
It ended up not doing very well in terms of ratings, so it won't be renewed for a new a season. But that's not stopping Zuckerberg from starting her own media company.
99. Ren Ng
Founder and Executive Chairman, Lytro
In 2011, Ng's team invented a new kind of camera. With it, you take the picture and then decide where to set the focus.
In 2012, Ng launched the camera and later gave up his position as CEO to become executive chairman.
98. Dave McClure
Venture Capitalist and Founding Partner, 500 startups
Since launching his 500 Startups accelerator program in 2010, Dave McClure has invested in a slew of companies all over the world.
To help fuel investments abroad, 500 Startups filed documents with the SEC for two new funds that will likely focus on startups in India and Mexico. It's also expanding to China, and recently added a Beijing venture partner, Rui Ma.
In addition, 500 Startups launched a new coworking space in New York for early-stage startups, including companies from the 500 Startups portfolio.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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