Ask YC: Who's Your Role Model?

Who do you look up to as an start-up/entrepreneurial role model and/or mentor?

I was lucky enough to find both a role model and a mentor in a friend of mine. I looked up to him because I could relate to him. He is my age, started his own company from nothing, worked hard to run his business, and most importantly, inspired me to do the same. He was a big reason why I quit my BigCo. job to try the start-up life. He mentored me as well - consistently providing advice, feedback, and constructive criticism.

I have a lot to thank him for, but unfortunately now I find like I can't look up to him anymore. I feel like he's become too busy with other things in his life and is no longer pursuing his previous "passion" of expanding his small business and doing more start-ups.

So thats how I came to this question - I'm interested to see who other people look up to, whether its Steve Jobs or Steve next door.