Fortunately, we have a ton of entrepreneurs to look up to whenever we need the inspiration to work on our own ideas instead of others. This post comprises a list of some of the best entrepreneurs to follow in the modern age. We also included their net worth, favorite quotes, and lessons we can all learn from the top entrepreneurs in the world. Without further ado, let’s jump directly into the list of some of the successful entrepreneurs in the world you can follow in 2023 and beyond. As a bonus, we have compiled one quote from each entrepreneur into our list.
Top 20 List of Famous Entrepreneurs of All Time With Net Worth
1. Jeff Bezos
Who is Jeff Bezos? Jeff Bezos (full name is Jeffrey Preston Bezos) is an American entrepreneur, the world’s richest investor, and also a philanthropist who graduated from Princeton University. Here’s a famous quote by Jeff Bezos. Read: What Is Personal Branding With Personal Brand Examples In 2023 What can you learn from Jeff Bezos? It literally went from being the “bookstore” to an “everything store” in no time. If you’re just getting started, instead of going for too many things at once, focus on one thing. Start small, be consistent, and grow big. That’s what you can learn from one of the world’s richest people: Jeff Bezos. Here’s some entrepreneurship advice from Jeff Bezos. “If you decide that you’re going to do only the things you know are going to work, you’re going to leave a lot of opportunity on the table. Companies are rarely criticized for the things that they failed to try. But they are, many times, criticized for things they tried and failed at.”
2. Bill Gates
William Henry Gates (popularly known as Bill Gates) is one of the most famous entrepreneurs in the world. He’s an American business magnate, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Microsoft, which he launched along with Paul Allen in 1975. Who is Bill Gates? Bill Gates is one of the world’s richest people. From 1995 to 2017, Bill Gates held the Forbes title of the richest person in the world for all but 4 of those years. He is also known for his philanthropic activities such as the Melinda Foundation and his current net worth is over $103 billion dollars, as of 2023. Here’s a famous quote by Bill Gates. What can you learn from Bill Gates? Be your own boss and start early: One of the primary reasons Bill Gates had huge success was that he started early. Believe it or not, he was only 13 years old when he started working with computers. Yes, he had that passion for computers at an early age and that’s what helped him achieve massive success in the later years by starting Microsoft. Bill Gates became his own boss (although he partnered up with dozens of people including Paul Allen) at an early age. He didn’t waste any time working for others, so if you want to be like Bill Gates, start early and work on your own dreams.
3. Mark Zuckerberg
Very few people don’t know who Mark Zuckerberg is, as he’s the founder of the widely popular social media platform Facebook. Who is Mark Zuckerberg? Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist who studied at Harvard University. He is one of the richest people on the planet right now, with an estimated net worth of over $44 billion dollars, as of 2023. He’s the ONLY person under 50 on the Forbes ten richest people list and also the only one under 40 on the “Top 20 Billionaires” list. His social networking company Facebook has over 2.93 billion active users monthly! Facebook is undoubtedly the #1 social media platform used by everyone, from students to marketers to leaders from all over the world. Here’s a famous quote by Mark Zuckerberg. What can you learn from Mark Zuckerberg? Don’t chase money: Mark Zuckerberg never set out to acquire wealth. Here’s what he said once: “My goal was never to just create a company. A lot of people misinterpret that as if I don’t care about revenue or profit or any of those things. But what not being ‘just’ a company means to me is building something that actually makes a really big change in the world.” So what does it mean? Money comes as a by-product. Don’t chase money, instead, focus on creating an amazing product or service that improves the lives of others. Then you’ll eventually make money just like Mark Zuckerberg.
4. Larry Page And Sergey Brin
Lawrence Edward Page (commonly known as Larry Page) is one of the most successful entrepreneurs who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin. Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin (popularly known as Sergey Brin) is also an American entrepreneur and investor who partnered up with Larry Page to launch Google back in 1997 on September 15th. Who are Larry Page And Sergey Brin? Larry Page is currently the CEO of Alphabet (which is Google’s parent company) and he has a net worth of over $77.3 billion dollars. Sergey Brin is currently the President of Alphabet and has a net worth of over $74.2 billion dollars. Both Larry Page and Sergey Brin had received the prestigious award, the Marconi Prize, in 2004. Here are the famous quotes by Larry Page And Sergey Brin. What can you learn from Larry Page And Sergey Brin? Invention and marketing are the keys to success: Here’s what Larry Page once said: “Invention is not enough. [Nikola] Tesla invented the electric power we use, but he struggled to get it out to people. You have to combine both things: invention and innovation focus, plus a company that can commercialize things and gets them to people.” What can you understand from this? Google has succeeded because of two reasons: it satisfied the searcher’s needs (by giving the best possible results), and it also became the synonym most people use for the word “search”. If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, find ways to market your products so they reach a wider audience. Just inventing new things is not going to help you in this crowded marketplace, as you’ve to go out and market yourself to bring more exposure and customers to your products or services.
5. Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (popularly known as Richard Branson) is best known as the founder of Virgin Group which is comprised of more than 400 companies worldwide. He has an estimated net worth of over $3.6 billion dollars, as of 2023. Who is Richard Branson? Richard Branson holds the Virgin Group and he is also the first and only person to cross the Atlantic in the largest hot air balloon. He, later on, broke his own record by crossing the Pacific in a Virgin hot air balloon. Looking for the best entrepreneurs’ quotes? Here’s a famous quote by Richard Branson. What can you learn from Richard Branson? Enjoy what you do: Richard Branson enjoys his work and he parties hard. Believe it or not, he owns 2 private islands. He rents out one of them, and the other island, which is known as nectar island, is where he parties along with celebrities including Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Oprah, David Beckham, and so on. He’s known for taking risks and he really enjoys what he does. Here’s some business advice from Branson. “Entrepreneurship is not about winning over customers. It’s not about working on your own. It’s not about looking out for number one. It’s not necessarily about making a lot of money. On the contrary, it’s about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward.”
6. Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (popularly known as Steve Jobs) was an American entrepreneur and investor. If you’re using a smartphone, specifically an iPhone, you probably know who Steve Jobs is! Who is Steve Jobs? Steve Jobs was also the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar, which is an American computer animation film studio founded in 1986. Here’s a famous quote by Steve Jobs. What can you learn from Steve Jobs? Put a dent in the universe: Here’s what Steve Jobs meant when he said: “put a dent in the universe”. The “dent” is leaving your own mark and impacting the lives of the people in our universe, even if that change may be as small as just a “dent”. Steve Jobs is known for his creativity and he literally changed the future of how we use our smartphones. Not only did he come up with the ideas for iPhone, iPad, and so on, but he also crafted them so beautifully that everyone seems to like them.
7. Larry Ellison
Lawrence Joseph Ellison (commonly known as Larry Ellison) is one of the most famous entrepreneurs of all time. He is the co-founder of Oracle Corporation. Who is Larry Ellison? You probably heard of Oracle if you’re into technology or software. Larry Ellison co-founded it along with Bob Miner and Ed Oates in 1977. He has a net worth of $102 billion, as of 2023. Here’s the famous quote by Larry Ellison. What can you learn from Larry Ellison? Have a clear vision: One of the key factors that differentiate a leader from others is this: they all have a clear vision. A successful leader is one who is always thinking about the future, not just the present. Larry Ellison had a clear vision and that’s the reason Oracle is still one of the leading software companies that were actually started way back in 1977. Today the company does $42.4 billion dollars in annual sales and has a market cap of over 220 billion dollars. Yes, you heard that right. So if you’re going to launch a startup or company, make sure to think about the next generation and have plans for it.
8. Ritesh Agarwal
Have you ever heard of Oyo Rooms? If you’re an Indian, especially one who loves to travel, you might have already stayed at Oyo Rooms at least once. Oyo Rooms was founded by Ritesh Agarwal. Ritesh has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion as of 2023. Who is Ritesh Agarwal? Ritesh Agarwal is the founder of Oyo Rooms, which is India’s largest hospitality company that mostly offers budget-friendly accommodation with all kinds of neatness and safety features. Oyo Rooms was founded in 2013. Here’s a famous quote by Ritesh Agarwal. What can you learn from Ritesh Agarwal? Find the RIGHT mentor: Ritesh Agarwal from Oyo Rooms had shortlisted for “The Thiel Fellowship” (he was amongst the top 1% of the candidates that applied) which is a 2-year program wherein fellows receive $100,000 and mentorship. Not only that, all the candidates who had been selected for Thiel’s fellowship had access to learn from the foundation’s network investors including Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and so on. This mentorship program along with the fund had helped Ritesh so much that he was able to launch ‘Oyo Rooms’ which has now revolutionized the hotel industry in India! So look for the RIGHT mentors, implement what you learn, and do it better – that’s how you can achieve success like Ritesh Agarwal.
9. Vijay Shekhar Sharma
Have you heard about Paytm? If you’re an Indian, chances are you’ll most likely be using it, and if you’re not, just Googling the word “Paytm” tells you how popular it is in India. Paytm (Pay Through Mobile) is India’s biggest eCommerce payment system which also offers a digital wallet that was founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who’s one of the top entrepreneurs in the world with an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion, as of 2023. Who is Vijay Shekhar Sharma? Although the Paytm Payments Bank (which literally revolutionized the payment industry) is a separate entity in which founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma holds 51% share, One97 Communications holds 39%, and 10% is held by a subsidiary of One97 and Vijay. Here’s a famous quote by Vijay Shekhar Sharma. If you’re not the customer, don’t build it – Vijay Shekhar What can you learn from Vijay Shekhar Sharma? Look for the opportunities: If you want to be successful, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, sometimes you just need to look for the opportunities and do better than anyone else. That’s what Vijay did with Paytm. Before the success of Paytm, there were other great alternatives, like FreeCharge, for mobile payments and recharges in India. But the reason Paytm succeeded, in the long run, is because it took the right steps at the right time (such as after “demonetization in India”, almost everyone started using Paytm including tea vendors). So the key here is that most successful entrepreneurs either create completely new and innovative products or they improve the products of others. It’s as simple as that!
10. Elon Musk
How could we curate the list without including the REAL Iron Man, Elon Musk himself? Elon Reeve Musk is a technology entrepreneur and also an engineer who holds multiple citizenships including South Africa, Canada, and the U.S. He is famously known for SpaceX and has estimated net worth of $146 billion, as of 2023. Who is Elon Musk? Elon Musk is an all-rounder entrepreneur who was the co-founder of the famous online payment system PayPal. He is currently the founder, CEO, and lead designer of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, and the founder of The Boring Company. Here’s a famous quote by Elon Musk. What can you learn from Elon Musk? Take risks: Elon Musk is someone who’s famous for taking risks. What would you do if you had around $200 million from selling a company? Most of us would think that we’re settled in life, buy a big mansion including expensive cars, travel around the world, sit back and relax for the rest of our lives, right? Here’s where Elon Musk stands out from the crowd by taking risks. There’s one quote that sums it up all when Elon said “My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent.” If you want to be like Elon Musk, don’t be afraid to take risks. Even if the odds are not in your favor if something is worth pursuing, do it instead of thinking about possible failures. Here’s one bit of advice from Elon Musk about entrepreneurship: “It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree: make sure you understand the fundamental principles – the trunk and big branches – before you get into the leaves/details, or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”
11. Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony Ballmer is an American billionaire, entrepreneur, and investor who worked as the CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. Who is Steve Ballmer? Steve Ballmer is one of the most famous entrepreneurs today. He graduated from Harvard University in 1977 and is currently the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He’s also one of the richest people in the world, having a net worth of over $78.5 billion dollars. Here’s the famous quote by Steve Ballmer What can you learn from Steve Ballmer? Be brutally honest: When Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft asked Ballmer “What do you think? How am I doing?”, Ballmer said: “Look, you will know it, I will know it, and it will be in the air. So you don’t have to ask me, ‘How am I doing?’ At your level, it’s going to be fairly implicit.” What can you learn from this? He was honest with Nadella and that honesty helped Ballmer become the CEO of Microsoft for 14 long years. If you want to make a change in your field, learn to be honest. Don’t compromise on anything and always show character.
12. Mukesh Ambani
Mukesh Ambani is an Indian business mogul and billionaire entrepreneur who has a net worth of over $90.1 billion dollars. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mukesh Ambani raised more than $20 billion by selling 1/3rd of Jio to investors including Facebook and Google. Who is Mukesh Ambani? Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is the greatest businessman of all time. He’s the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, which is a Fortune Global 500 company. Reliance Industries’s company deals in various sectors including petrochemicals, oil and gas, telecom, and retail. Reliance was initially founded by his late father Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966. Here’s the famous quote by Mukesh Ambani What can you learn from Mukesh Ambani? Disrupt the industry: Ambani disrupted the Indian telecom provider category by introducing Jio (which is now the #1 Indian telecommunications company). He introduced Jio by offering HUGE data discounts and provided unlimited calls to any network for free. Due to this disruptive innovation, all the other competitors like Airtel and Vodafone started to lower their prices. Many Indian smartphone users are thankful to Ambani for this disruptive innovation of Jio. If you want to reach millions of people in your industry, find ways to disrupt the market and pick a profitable niche. Find out how you can provide HUGE value at lower prices to reach massive amounts of people across the world.
13. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. She’s also a billion-dollar television producer, actress, and author of several best-selling books including “What I Know For Sure”. Who is Oprah Winfrey? Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist and an African-American woman who is best known for hosting “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. The show was the #1 talk show for 24 consecutive seasons since 1986. Here’s the famous quote by Oprah Winfrey What can you learn from Oprah Winfrey? Your personal brand matters a lot: Millions of people watch “The Oprah Winfrey Show” because of Oprah. She hustled since childhood and built a billion-dollar fortune from scratch. She is also often described as the most influential woman in the world because of her charisma and personal brand. If there’s one thing you can learn from Oprah, it is to build and grow your personal brand. Put 100% of your focus into growing your personal brand. You can build a huge business if people trust your brand. In case you’re curious, here are some of the most popular female entrepreneurs to follow in 2023.
14. Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey was the founder of the popular social media network Twitter which was launched in 2006. Who is Jack Dorsey? Jack Patrick Dorsey is an American entrepreneur who is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, with a net worth of over $4.2 billion dollars. He’s also the founder and CEO of Square, a financial payments company that’s used by millions of people to start, runs, and grow their businesses. Here’s the famous quote by Jack Dorsey What can you learn from Jack Dorsey? Think about what the world uses every day: Millions of people use Twitter every single day. From the US presidents to almost all Hollywood actors, top politicians, and world leaders – everyone uses Twitter. Twitter is exceptionally easy to use. Jack knew what the world really wanted since everyone has lower attention spans, so he created a micro-blogging network called Twitter, where users can interact with others using “Tweets”. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur like Jack Dorsey, be visionary and create something that everyone can use.
15. Raymond Thomas Dalio (Aka Ray Dalio)
Ray Dalio is a hedge fund manager and author of the best-selling book “The Principles: Life and Work”. Who is Raymond Thomas Dalio? Raymond Thomas Dalio (popularly known as Ray Dalio) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and philanthropist who founded Bridgewater in 1975, which has become the world’s largest hedge fund. Here’s the famous quote by Raymond Thomas Dalio What can you learn from Raymond Thomas Dalio? ― Ray Dalio, from his book “Principles: Life and Work” Teach everything you know: Ray Dalio is a billionaire and he shared all his secrets and strategies to build successful businesses in his book “Principles”. This book tells the story of Ray Dalio’s career and explains his approach to life using principles that affect everything he does. If you’re an entrepreneur, you should definitely grab a copy of his book “Principles”, and try to implement those principles in your life and business to succeed. Once you’ve built a successful career, follow his path, and teach everything you learned to succeed. It not only helps others succeed, but it gives you a sense of “fulfillment and satisfaction”.
16. Jack Ma
Jack Ma is one of the richest entrepreneurs in the world with a net worth of over $23 billion, as of 2023. Jack Ma founded Alibaba in 1999, which is China’s biggest eCommerce company that sells billions of dollars worth of products each month. Who is Jack Ma? Jack Ma was a former English teacher, Chinese business magnate, investor, and philanthropist who co-founded Alibaba Group, which is now one of the world’s largest eCommerce businesses in the world. Here’s the famous quote by Jack Ma What can you learn from Jack Ma? Get used to failure: Did you know that at KFC, 24 people applied for the job, while 23 were hired — he wasn’t one of them. Also, after finishing his graduation from college, Jack Ma applied for 30 jobs and he was rejected by everyone (including KFC). Now, he’s worth more than 50 billion dollars. What can you learn from his story? Get used to failure. Don’t give up when someone rejects you (or your idea). Focus on your vision. Most budding entrepreneurs often get discouraged when they don’t see much growth early on in their careers. They quit before they even start. Get used to rejection and failure. Focus on long-term goals. That’s how you’ll succeed as an entrepreneur in the long run. Read: Jack Ma Net Worth: 10 Life-Changing Lessons From Alibaba Founder
17. Shiv Nadar
Shiv Nadar is one of the few first-generation entrepreneurs who jumped into the IT sector. He launched HCL in the mid-1970s. He’s also one of the richest entrepreneurs from India with a net worth of over 23.8 billion dollars. Who is Shiv Nadar? Shiv Nadar is the founder and chairman of HCL Technologies Limited and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Over 153,000 professionals now work at HCL which is operating in 50 countries around the world. Here’s the famous quote by Shiv Nadar What can you learn from Shiv Nadar? Bet on new and growing sectors: One of the major reasons Shiv Nadar is successful is because he started early on in the IT (Information Technology) sector. He launched HCL technologies in 1976, which offers various IT solutions such as Digital, IoT, Cloud, Automation, Cybersecurity, Analytics, and more. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur like Shiv Nadar, find new business opportunities that will grow exponentially in the coming years.
18. Adam D’Angelo
Adam D’Angelo is the co-founder and CEO of the world’s #1 Q&A platform Quora, which he co-founded with Charlie Cheever in 2009. Who is Adam D’Angelo? Adam D’Angelo is an American internet entrepreneur popularly known as the CEO of Quora. Before he founded Quora, he started his career at Facebook, serving as a CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of Facebook. Here’s the famous quote by Adam D’Angelo Suggesting Reading: How to Increase Traffic from Quora to Your Website in 2023 What can you learn from Adam D’Angelo? To succeed, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel: Adam D’Angelo founded Quora, a Q&A platform. Do you know what the popular Q&A site was before the launch of Quora? Yahoo Answers! Yahoo Answers had no rules, and people used to post garbage information. That’s when Adam decided to launch his own startup, Quora, and make strict rules and provide a better platform where people can ask questions and get useful answers. So what can you learn from his success story? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel or work on an entirely unique idea. Look around for ideas and find businesses that have huge potential in the future (but aren’t performing well). Then, launch your business and make it 10x better.
19. Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, and former chairman of Tata Sons. He also received Padma Bhushan, CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business, Padma Vibhushan, and more. Who is Ratan Tata? Ratan Tata is one of the most respected and successful entrepreneurs from India. He completed his education at Cornell University and returned to India to join the Tata Group in 1961. In the year 1991, he became the chairman of the Tata Group, which now operates in almost every country. Here’s a famous quote by Ratan Tata What can you learn from Ratan Tata? Build a brand that’s trustworthy: The Tata brand represents trust. From salt to cars to jewelry, the Tata Group handles a ton of products, and millions of people in India blindly trust the “Tata brand”. Trust is priceless and Ratan Tata knows that. He never compromises on breaking trust and gives utmost importance to building trust. Above all, Ratan Tata is humble and is known for his humility. There are so many examples that show his humility as a person, one of which was when Tata personally visited the families of the employees who were affected by the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
20. Nithin Kamath
Nitin Kamath is an Indian entrepreneur, stockbroker, and co-founder of the discount brokerage company called Zerodha. Who is Nithin Kamath? Nithin Kamath is the best entrepreneur from India. He founded Zerodha in 2010, which is India’s leading discount brokerage company that is used by more than 10 million customers. Nithin was named one of the “Top 10 Businessmen to Watch Out for in 2016 in India” by The Economic Times for bootstrapping and scaling discount broking in India. Here’s the famous quote by Nithin Kamath What can you learn from Nithin Kamath? Start early and become an authority in your field: If there’s anything you can learn from Kamath, the founder of Zerodha, it is this: start early, get lots of experience and dominate your industry. Kamath worked nearly 20,000 hours in his field before he launched the Zerodha stockbroker platform. The #1 reason he succeeded because he learned a lot more than his competitors. So if you want to be successful, don’t wait until everything is right. Start small. Start when you’re in college (or start today even if you’re at the age of 50) and establish yourself as an authority to dominate the market. What Others Are Reading:
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Here are some interesting questions abt the world’s most famous entrepreneurs. Read: Top 7 Bloggers With Maximum Google Adsense Earnings In India → Mukesh Ambani (Founder of Reliance Industries)→ Ratan Tata (Chairman of Tata Group)→ Shiv Nadar (Founder and chairman of HCL Technologies Limited) – Work super hard– Take risks– Be consistent → Improve your communication skills→ Open-minded→ Determination→ Inspiring others to work hard
What are some of the famous entrepreneurship quotes?
Are you looking for the best quotes to motivate yourself? Here are some of the best quotes: Read: 100 Most Motivational Network Marketing Quotes
Final thoughts on the top entrepreneurs in the world
Entrepreneurship is about taking risks, being bold, working extremely hard, and building great products that people use. It doesn’t matter what field you are in, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, learn from others that are already doing well.
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