Forbes 30 under 30 2015 | Hacker News Reader

Forbes 30 under 30 2015

forbes.com

66 pointsebildsten44 comments

Congrats to all 600+ winners, it's nice to be recognized.

I like that the 30 under 30 list is now category-based, and not just 30 mostly Internet entrepreneurs (many benefiting from great PR people or influence with the judges).

With the addition of categories, now fashion, arts, healthcare, food, science, energy, and more can be better represented and surfaced to a broader audience.

You can see all the categories here: http://www.forbes.com/30under30/#/

Agreed, good on these folks and I wish them all the success in the world. As someone over 30 however, I find these lists depressing.

If it's any consolation, most of these will be one trick ponies. One big exit, and forever chasing that rabbit.

That's a horribly cynical perspective.

However, statistically correct.

Apparently you didn't even look at the lists. There are hundreds of people on them, and many are not even company founders seeking an exit.

This said, I think most tech entrepreneurs would be thrilled at the prospect of being a one-trick pony with a single big exit. Heck, that is literally "The Silicon Valley Dream" today.

I agree, but then... what?

Live life like the rest of us but with way more money and notoriety

Is there a readable mirror. Horrible resource hungry interface kills my modern laptop in under 30 seconds.

Agreed that site is awful. At first the site would not load - I only saw the pink down arrow on a blank white page.

After refreshing, the site appeared but scrolling on child pages is frustrating.

This website is unbearable even if you have a great computer. Get it together forbes. Big does and fullscreen does mean better.

It took me quick a while to figure out that there are actually a bunch of different lists of 30 people (per-category). Frustrating interface.

It took me longer to realize that my browser tab wasn't frozen. The linked pages are designed show no sign of scrolling down until you swipe three wheels/trackpads worth. UX genius right there.

You should also check your memory + cpu usage when browsing. My laptop was on fire. I think they tried to do too much, I simple selection + slide show would have sufficed.

Interesting how many of these are founders. Seems like way more than in recent years. Startups have really hit the mainstream.

There's nothing interesting at all really - the 30 under 30 is not about achievement, but rather a certain measure of social status. And as startups have become the new cool thing to do, so it is reflected here.

In other words, you're observing the same variable. It'd be like saying "interesting how many of these have high Twitter follower counts".

This definitely is not about money.

This list gives me the personal achievement equivalent of body dysmorphia.

I just turned 30 last year. I'm a failure.

The YC founders in the list are detailed at http://blog.ycombinator.com/congrats-to-ycs-sam-altman-plus-... (via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8840565, which we merged into this thread).

4.2% are related to YC! I wonder how many are related to Stanford or another institution?

It looks like 20-25 of the Forbes "30 under 30" are YC founders or otherwise involved in YC - is that correct?

An incredible achievement if so!

There are 30 people in every industry, so it's a lot more than 30 total.

Does that seem biased to anyone? It is a business-minded publication, and YC founders are obviously above-average, but surely there are other young founders and entrepreneurs who are deserving of credit as well?

Forbes has a number of such 30 under 30 lists - each one linked in the blog post (Consumer Tech, Enterprise Tech, Food & Drink, etc) is a separate list of 30. So the number of people named to Forbes 30 under 30 this year is greater than 30 total.

There are some 20 categories, some selections have two people, and thus it would more appropriately be named 700 under 30.

There is at least one other YC co-founder who isn't listed here who made the 30 Under 30 for an unrelated endeavor.

Yay, games are a separate category! The art circles might keep their eyes closed, but the finance will keep them wide open.

The finance list seems a bit random. There are plenty of 20-somethings vice presidents at investment banks and funds.

The vast majority of it across all categories seems a bit random, to be honest. Only the star figures like, say, Sam Altman or James Harden don't seem arbitrary.

Sam Altman made the list I see. Congratulations.

I sent him a case of coffee ice cream.

I only have 2.5 years to make it :(

Doing something phenomenal is more important than doing something before 30.

I'm 32 though. I'm biased.

Well better start early. I should stop my Battlefield sessions before bed and start doing something.

How about becoming a pro at Battlefield? So many startup people but a pro at a game that you enjoy, now that's more special and niche.

I'm not good enough. I used to be very good at counter strike many years ago but it required a lot of training (I don't have that much free time anymore), and I honestly prefer programming, it's just that I do programming 8 hours a day for work already, so I lose creativity/motivation when I have time for myself at 10pm.

This is terrible advice. Video game pros have extremely short careers (the runtime of the video game or until their body gives out). They typically work 12 hour days, and as soon as its their job, the game isn't fun. At the end of their career- when they are perhaps 30, they are left with no skill and no job and not nearly enough money to retire.

I don't think he meant it seriously. I think it was said more to convey a certain sentiment.

Would you rather be e.g. Notch or some Forbes 30-under-30?

I'm not sure. The 30-under-30 accomplished more than Notch did. I'd feel like I achieved more being on that list. But Notch has a better life, he didn't have as much stress as the 30-under-30, and did more fun stuff and can continue living a nice life.

I think my final choice would be to be Notch, but I'm not 100% sure.

Honestly these lists are mostly just calculated PR. You apply to get in, and there are ways to game the system, especially if you know the reporters or develop a relationship with them.

EDIT: I don't mean this in a way to take away from the accomplishments of the people on that list. I say this to recognize that there are so many other people that deserve to be on such a list whose accomplishments are on the same level (or much greater) who aren't on that list simply because they didn't care for it, or didn't know about it.

Just one data point, but I never applied to the lists we got on, and I don't think Sam or the other YC founders did either...

Looks like a couple of my Boston friends (Dave and Arian) made the list.

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