Yesterday, Forbes released their lists of the top 30 game-changers in each industry for 2015. The lists include the co-founder of Instagram, the President of Y Combinator, and, oh, and eight Brandery graduates. They represent four companies, three of which are still operating. Here are our people Forbes chose:
1. Eric Elias, William Weibe, William Blum, and Nathan Heidt, Lagoon, Class of 2014
Eric and the Lagoon team are on a mission to empower households and cities to control water usage. In addition to The Brandery, the Lagoon team was also accepted to a hardware accelerator, Highway1, where they developed their product, nailed down about manufacturing, and learned about distribution. Lagoon also won SXSW Eco’s Startup Showcase in the Clean Web category. You can watch Eric pitch SXSW here.
2. Jay Finch, Class of 2012
Jay came through The Brandery back in 2012. He’s moved on from his venture at the time, but his legacy lives on! He’s now the Senior Advisor of Domestic Finance for the U.S. Treasury. Jay runs the MyRA program at the Treasury Department, which offers government alternative independent retirement plans. Before his life on The Hill and at The Brandery, Jay worked at Goldman Sachs where he started two business units, each with $2.5 billion in assets under management.
3. Konrad Billetz, Frameri, Class of 2013
We met Konrad fresh out of Notre Dame’s MBA program in 2013 as he and his team were beginning to develop the first interchangable eyewear company. Now, Frameri is headquartered right down the street from our office and continues to receive accolades from major publications as they scale. Earlier this year, Konrad won Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest pitch competition in Cincinnati.
4. Rujul Zaparde and Kevin Petrovic, FlightCar, Class of 2012
Earlier this year, Rujul and Kevin took the title of youngest entrepreneurs to ever raise $20 million, so we’re not surprised to see their names on the list. They interviewed at The Brandery the day after their high school graduation and never looked back. We can’t wait to see what cities FlightCar will land in next!
Also on the list were Brandery mentor Adam D’Augelli (True Ventures) and speaker Mattan Griffel (One Month), who presented to the Class of 2014 on Growth Hacking. We’re honored to have been surrounded by such great talent across the board!
Congratulations to all the 30 Under 30 winners. Keep doing work!
