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Who are the most successful entrepreneurs to come out of a startup incubator program?

Mell Larvor

So, you want to know who are the most successful entrepreneurs to come out of a startup incubator program? Buckle up, my friend, because I have some amazing stories to tell you.

First up, we have Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, the founders of Airbnb. Back in 2007, they were struggling to pay rent in San Francisco, so they decided to turn their living room into a “bed and breakfast” to make some extra cash. And that’s how Airbnb was born. They joined Y Combinator, a prestigious startup incubator program, and received a $20,000 investment. Fast forward to today, Airbnb is worth over $30 billion and has completely revolutionized the travel industry.

Next, we have Dropbox, founded by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi. They met at MIT and bonded over their frustration with email attachments and USB drives. They joined Y Combinator in 2007 and received a $15,000 investment. Today, Dropbox is a household name and has over 600 million registered users.

But wait, there’s more. Ever heard of Twitch? It’s a live streaming platform for gamers that was acquired by Amazon for nearly $1 billion in 2014. Justin Kan and Emmett Shear founded Twitch after Y Combinator encouraged them to pivot from their original startup idea. In just three years, they grew the company to over 50 million monthly active users.

And let’s not forget about Reddit, the “front page of the internet.” Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian founded Reddit in 2005 while they were still in college. They joined Y Combinator in 2006 and received a $12,000 investment. Today, Reddit is one of the most popular websites in the world with over 330 million active users.

But it’s not just Y Combinator that produces successful entrepreneurs. Techstars, another popular startup incubator program, has also spawned some impressive companies. Take SendGrid, for example. It’s an email delivery platform that went public in November 2017 and was valued at over $1 billion. It was founded by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins after they went through Techstars in 2009.

And let’s not forget about ClassPass, the fitness membership platform that lets you discover and book classes at top studios. It was founded by Payal Kadakia, Mary Biggins, and Sanjil Shah after they went through Techstars in 2012. Today, ClassPass is valued at over $1 billion and has over 30,000 studio partners worldwide.

So, there you have it. These are just a few examples of the successful entrepreneurs to come out of startup incubator programs. It just goes to show that with the right idea, the right resources, and a lot of hard work, anything is possible. Who knows, maybe the next great entrepreneur is reading this post right now.