10 . Loopt cofounder / CEO Sam Altman
The word you hear over and over about Sam Altman is “ will . ”
As in , he has it — to succeed , to overcome .
Here ’s what he told Charlie Rose when Google introduce Loopt - clone Latitude : “ You know , I ’m felicitous to say that there was a lot of talking about Latitude is going to kill Loopt , and it has n’t even add up tight to happening yet . I think we have vast regard for Google , but we can out - innovate anybody in the world , I hope , and we ’re very focused on this . We ’re nimble , we ’re quick , and we ’ll keep delivering a skillful production . ”
Y Combinator ’s Paul Graham puts Altman on the same inclination of laminitis he set up Steve Jobs :
Sam is , along with Steve Jobs , the founder I refer to most when I ’m advising startup . On questions of intention , I require “ What would Steve do ? ” but on questions of strategy or ambition I take “ What would Sam do ? ”
What I learn from match Sam is that the doctrine of the elect applies to startups . It applies way less than most masses think : startup investing does not consist of trying to pick victor the elbow room you might in a gymnastic horse backwash . But there are a few people with such force of will that they ’re going to get whatever they desire .
9 . Google CFO Patrick Pichette
Google has always been an unstoppable cash - generating machine . The trouble was , for much of its short history , Google was also extremely undiscplined about where it spent all that John Cash . That changed when Patrick Pichette became CFO last twelvemonth and promised to “ feast the winners , ” and “ starve the loser . ”
Of naturally , that ’s just secure line of work sense . Patrick ’s real talent — say a Google insider — is his ability to communicate the need for cost discipline in a way of life that Google ’s academically - given upper direction can buy into .
allege the Insider : “ [ Patrick ] suppose like a normal business organization person but he has the academic believability to be take seriously here . Not aggressive or overbearing , but introducing the kind of correction good companies all have . He has a more or less donnish melodic line and that really plays here . ”
8 . President of AOL Media Bill Wilson
If new AOL CEO Tim Armstrong turns around AOL , it will be because of AOL Media president Bill Wilson . He oversees 1,500 fulltime and freelance editor and writer — an editorial staff larger than the New York Times newsroom — working to turn AOL into the Time Inc. for the 21st Century .
7 . Google SVP Jonathan Rosenberg
You use Google ’s vast portfolio of product all the metre , but do know the name of the top executive behind them ?
Here ’s a touch : it ’s not cofounders Larry Page or Sergey Brin . It ’s not the photogenic Marissa Mayer . It ’s SVP Jonathan Rosenberg .
Why all the business leader ? Maybe because one of the only the great unwashed at Google unforced to raise his voice .
Valleywag : Google ’s Mountain View campus is a happy primary - color wonderland where no one ever squall or yells . Except for SVP Jonathan Rosenberg . A Google employee distinguish us that at the Googleplex Rosenberg is acknowledge as “ a shitkicker ” who “ like to crack the whiplash . ” Google lore has it that Rosenberg like to shout so much , he even crab during his hiring consultation , presumably with Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin .
hoi polloi were like what the fuck is go on in that conference room ? And then someone was like someone is interviewing , and it ’s the interviewee who ’s doing the shouting . He just literally likes to yell .
http://valleywag.gawker.com/5035798/google-svp-jonathan-rosenberg
His broken volume dial has n’t wound his career : Rosenberg is one of a smattering of execs who ’s allowed to participate in Google ’s quarterly earnings calls with Wall Street .
Hulu CTO Eric Feng
peach about introduce under pressure . Web telecasting startup Hulu is a News Corp , NBC , and Disney joint venture , but do n’t be mistaken . There are plenty of powerful TV and film executives at News Corp , NBC , and Disney who see Hulu as an existential threat and urgently want it to fail .
Credit Hulu CTO Eric Feng — “ responsible for for the designing and implementation of the Hulu user experience , ” grant to his companionship bio — for create a product user enjoy , thereby depriving those insider skeptics all ammunition .
Here ’s that bio :
Eric Feng | Senior Vice President of Audience and CTO
Eric Feng serves as the Chief Technical Officer of Hulu and Senior Vice President of the Audience Business where he is responsible for the aim and implementation of the Hulu user experience . Prior to join Hulu , Eric was the Founder and CEO of Mojiti , LLC an online television annotation service located in Beijing , China . Eric ’s past experience also includes several years at Microsoft and Microsoft Research Asia ; Tsinghua University in Beijing , China where he served as a visiting professor ; and Trilogy Software where he hatch Uberworks.com , an Internet inauguration after acquired by a public company . Eric graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin , where he was awarded the IEC Everitt Award , recognizing the top graduating engineering student .
5 . Microsoft president of Windows Steven Sinofsky
Steve Sinofsky is the Isle of Man who saved Windows for Microsoft .
before long after , he wrote a memo to CEO Steve Ballmer enjoin , “ We need to make up one’s mind what we will do and do that well and 100 % and not just do a footling of everything . ”
After getting Windows 7 quick for launch in the lead of schedule , he was made President of the United States of Microsoft ’s Windows division in July .
( Meanwhile , Steve Ballmer should take this advice about the whole company , not just the Windows division ) .
4 . MLB.com CEO Bob Bowman
Bob runs pro baseball ’s World Wide Web operations , which mean he runs the most successful on-line business in professional sports , with annual receipts outperform half a billion one dollar bill .
He does it labour his squad to introduce its production above andbeyond what any other sports league tender every yr .
3 . Zynga CEO Mark Pincus
Before 2009 , the prevail wisdom was that the Facebook App economy did n’t exist and that U.S. startups would never figure out how to sell practical good like they do in Asia .
As CEO fo Zynga , Mark Pincus is turn up all that wrong . People say Zynga could crossbreed $ 100 million in revenues in 2009 . More and more , we ’re hearing that ’s a conservative estimate .
2 . Facebook VP of Product , Chris Cox
Chris is a triple terror — an engineer who can build company - defining products , a operator who can recruit and oversee good masses , and a long - term strategic thinker . He join Facebook as engineer in 2005 and helped build the product that is now the web site ’s backbone — the “ News Feed . ”
Then , in 2008 , after period in which Facebook fall back several key employees and turn a loss out on hiring several high - visibility young ones , Mark Zuckerberg asked Chris to shore up Facebook ’s human resource naval division .
Leading that group , Chris focused on fix Facebook ’s deputation , company values , product values and how Facebook manages people . He turned Facebook from a plaza that , despite its flushed - raging hype , fail to set down the top talent into one that regularly poaches from station like Yahoo , Google and LinkedIn .
Now , Chris is back on the product side of the company , overseeing the product managers team , the user - experience squad , and the aim team as VP of Product .
Chris ’s power to innovate Facebook product and lead its multitude does not go unappreciated at the startup .
“ I ca n’t underscore how much he represents and personify what this society stands for , ” say Facebook spokesboss Brandee Barker .
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tell us , “ Chris has a ton of energy for mathematical product , engineering , and citizenry , and he motivates everyone here at Facebook to work well , imagine smarter , and pursue the ideas they are passionate about . ”
1 . Apple SVP Scott Forstall
In August , we declare that Apple is the new Microsoft :
Apple is now the wildly profitable proprietor of the dominant iPod platform and apace - becoming dominant iPhone chopine , which are really one in the same . Unlike any other competitor in the industry , moreover — including the still PC - centric Microsoft — Apple has deal to connect the two heavy personal computing platform together , through its software package and resurgent Mac business .
As Apple stretch forth its lead as the mobile computing platform of choice — calling the iPhone a “ sound ” misses the point — Apple ’s ascendance of this enormous opportunity will increase . This ascendence should put Apple in a view to return an extraordinary share of the value in the this industry over the next decade , just as Microsoft did with desktop computer science .
There ’s plentifulness of credit to go around for Apple ’s rise to the top , but one name that does n’t get observe enough is Scott Forstall ’s , the SVP behind Apple ’s iPhone software .
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