Internet Innovators:

Internet Innovators   

Traditional and startup companies are continually having to push their boundaries and release new products. I first had to look up what exactly a startup company was as I was unsure of what that meant. A startup company is defined as a product or service that is in its early stage of business by entrepreneurs. I am going to discuss a few different innovators and companies that are pushing the envelope. The first company I am going to look at in their startup phase is Halo Top Creamery. Halo Top is sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The company was created in June 12, 2012 by Justin Woolverton and its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, CA. Halo Top’s is popular for its low-calorie ice cream. Their website compares their ice cream flavors to multiple other top ice cream brands. The company continues to grow by marketing themselves on mobile apps like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

I decided to look into the Forbes 30 Under 30 and how young adults are marketing themselves in a successful manner. First I looked at digital star Liza Koshy who I’ve been a fan of for a while now.  Liza started off as a low-key YouTube user and began to gain popularity and now has 16.3 million subscribers. From there Koshy began to market her personality and has landed a role in a Hulu original. She is now the host of Double Dare a television reboot on Nickelodeon.  At the young age of 22 Liza has an estimated net worth of four million and has released her own merchandise based on the theme of her YouTube channel. 4Ocean a project cofounded by Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper has made the 30 Under 30 list for their ideas. They sell $20 bracelets made only from recycled materials, and they remove one pound of garbage from our oceans. They also bring in local workers to help with cleanup to make up lost wages due to pollution, the company has removed over two million pounds of garbage in such a short amount of time.

The real innovators of the internet are the creators of Amazon. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 in Bellevue, Washington. Recently announced as the most valuable company out there and continues to grow week after week. The company is a major online shopping site and has a mobile app as well. Innovations like releasing Amazon Prime with 2 day fast and free shipping provided with a paid monthly membership keeps bringing in new customers. Amazon Prime currently has 100 million members. Along with Prime they came out with Amazon Prime Video that goes along with the membership customers will get access to multiple movies and TV shows for free streaming on any device. The company along with basic shopping has downloads for all electronic devices. You can purchase digital versions of books, magazines, audiobooks, and video games. Amazon also released multiple version of Kindle’s electronic reading devices in different versions. They changed the game when readers could download new books, video, and movies directly to their device. Amazon gift cards also allow members to purchase any of these products for their devices. Amazon is estimated to be worth $160.5 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow throughout the year.

Social Media plays a huge role in how we use the internet on a daily basis. Internet Innovators Evan Spiegel (23) and Bobby Murphy (25) are the creators of Snapchat. A social media app where users can send pictures back and forth. Currently Snapchat sits at number six in downloads this week and the app has about 400 million photos and videos sent each day. The cofounders recently turned down an offer from Facebook for three billion dollars. Another app popular today is Pinterest, an application where users can share/learn new interests on their profiles. The mastermind behind this software? Tracy Chou a 26-year-old software engineer who graduated from Stanford University. Out of college Chou interned at both Google and Facebook, then later turned down a job offer from Facebook. Before Tracy started working for Pinterest she worked for a question and answer service called Quora. Kik Messenger was a popular messaging application for anyone but blackberry users. Ted Livingston currently age 26 created Kik when blackberry’s messages weren’t working on other phone types. Livingston got the idea when he was working as an intern at Blackberry. He is now the CEO of the company that has over 100 million users and is continuing to grow. Lastly the creators of the infamous Tinder dating app where users can swipe left or right to match with possible partners. The creators are Sean Rad and Justin Mateen both age 27. The company makes over 4 million matches on a daily basis, before Rad was the CEO of Tinder he founded a marketing firm called Adly that worked with celebrity endorsements specifically on Twitter. These are just a few of the internet innovators changing the way we use social media every day.

            The names I listed and so many more are changing the way we use and interact with the internet. Whether it be through media outlets like YouTube or even creating a photo chat app like Snapchat. Companies like Amazon continue to evolve with modern changes and have innovated the way we shop online and explore media. The Forbes 30 Under 30 list provided total insight into the world of the internet innovators and how they are pushing the envelope.

 Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/special-report/2014/30-under-30/technology.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/heatherfarmbrough/2018/05/01/reflectly-wants-to-be-an-adidas-of-the-mind/#64684faa4204