The founders who still run the companies they started
Ten people who started a company and are its chief executive today, listed in the order their companies were founded.
How this list was made
The rule: founding year, oldest first
To be on this list, a person co-founded the company and is its chief executive on October 3, 2026, as the company's Wikipedia entry records it that day.
The order is the year the company was founded, oldest first. Two companies founded in the same year are listed alphabetically.
Jensen Huang
Co-founded Nvidia in April 1993 in Sunnyvale, California, with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Marc Benioff
Co-founded Salesforce in March 1999 with Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff and Frank Dominguez.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: Salesforce, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mark Zuckerberg
Co-founded the company in February 2004 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum and Chris Hughes.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: The White House, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Tobias Lütke
Co-founded Shopify in 2006 with Daniel Weinand and Scott Lake.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: Benjamin Forrest, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brian Chesky
Co-founded Airbnb in August 2008 in San Francisco with Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: Celeste Sloman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Matthew Prince
Co-founded Cloudflare in July 2009 with Lee Holloway and Michelle Zatlyn, who is co-chair and president.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Evan Spiegel
Co-founded the company as Snapchat Inc. in September 2011 with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: cellanr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Brian Armstrong
Co-founded Coinbase in June 2012 in San Francisco with Fred Ehrsam.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Melanie Perkins
Co-founded Canva in 2013 with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: Melanie Perkins, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tony Xu
Co-founded DoorDash in January 2013 in Palo Alto, California, with Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Evan Moore.
Source: the company's Wikipedia entry, read October 3, 2026
Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Questions about this list
- Why is a founder who stepped down not on the list?
- The list counts only founders who are chief executive today. A founder who moved to chair, or left the company, is outside the rule.
- How often is this list checked?
- Every quarter, and the same day a listed founder's role changes. The date at the top says when it was last checked.
- Can a company pay to be added?
- No. Entries come from the rule and the public record, never from a request or a payment.
See a mistake? Write to the editors at editors@mysweetmags.com and the list is corrected with the date of the change.
More lists
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Thought leaders
The business books founders recommend most
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Image credits
- Glass wall: David Adam Kess, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Nasdaq tower: NASA, Emma Howells, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Bookstore: Panamitsu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Each image is cropped and resized from the original; the name links to its Commons page and the license to its terms.