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Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner : The Founder & Former CEO of Opera Software

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Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner is one of the early pioneers of mobile web browser development. The Icelandic entrepreneur had always wanted to create browsers that fulfil the specific needs of the users. The man behind Opera, the much in demand, mobile web browser, and the former CEO of Opera Software is a browser Visionary. The values, that this 6’5” businessman holds, has led the two of his browsers to become the most loved browsers of all.

Early Life

Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner was born on 29 August 1967, in Reykjavík, Iceland. His father Stephen von Tetzchner is of Norwegian ethnicity and worked as a professor of psychology. His mother Elsa Jónsdóttir belongs to the Icelands. Tetzchner spent most of his childhood in Seltjarnarnes with his grandparents. He completed his education from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík School and later, moved to Norway, to pursue a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Oslo.

Founding Opera

In 1991, after graduating with a master’s degree from the University of Oslo, Tetzchner started working at the Norwegian state phone company, that was later, renamed as Telenor. Tetzchner was a member of a research team of the company, where he met Geir Ivarsøy. Tetzchner and Geir, with the team, developed a browsing software called MultiTorg Opera. Due to some reasons, Telenor abandoned the project. Tetzchner and Geir were familiar with the potential of the project, hence acquired the rights related to it. In 1995, both Tetzchner and Geir, left the company to establish their own software development firm, named as Opera Software, Tetzchner becoming the CEO, and Geir the lead programmer of the company. The two kept on working on and improving the Opera browser to make it more user-friendly.

Tetzchner Jon
Image Source: www.tu.no

In 1998, the two started working on the different platform compatibility of Opera Browser, and in 2000, launched Opera 4.0, a multi-platform compatible browser. The first four of the versions of the browser that Opera launched, were all paid, providing the user one month trial period. But, after Opera’s fifth version came, all of the Opera versions were free to use. The new versions of Opera browser received sponsorship from displaying ads on it.

On 21 April 2005, the company launched Opera 8. At the launch meeting, Tetzchner announced that he would swim in the Atlantic Ocean from Norway to the United States if the new Opera 8 will get one million downloads, within four days. He made the statement and had to complete the challenge only after two days of its launch, as the downloads for Opera 8 reached 1,050,000 by 23 April. Though he could not complete the challenge and fail in no time.

As soon as Opera Software launched the Opera 8.5, the ads were removed from the browser, and Opera received a sponsorship from Google, making Google its default search engine.

As the CEO of the company, Tetzchner led Opera Software successfully, making it global, and established its offices in 13 different countries, including Poland, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, US, Iceland and Singapore.

In January 2010, Tetzchner left the post of the CEO of Opera, and in June 2011, he officially left Opera, to found Vivaldi Technologies. At the time he was the CEO of Opera Software, the Opera browser had reached 350 million users. Now, Opera Software is a Chinese company.

Tetzchner, in December 2013, started a new venture Vivaldi Technologies, and launched its new web browser Vivaldi 1.0 version, in April 2016. Tetzchner serves as the CEO of the company. Vivaldi Technologies is a self-funded company, in which the employees hold the equity.

Paul Allen : Self-made Billionaire & the Co-founder of Microsoft

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A business magnate, investor, philanthropist and also a cancer survivor, the computer enthusiast, Paul Allen, was the one, who persuaded Bill Gates to drop out of his college and start a software company, that later, became the multi-billion Microsoft. He was the 46-richest person of the world, at the time of his death and comprising of 100 million Microsoft shares. The self-made billionaire also founded another multibillion-dollar company,  Vulcan Inc., which managed his various business and philanthropic efforts.

Early Life

Paul Allen was born and brought up in Seattle, Washington, U.S. He was born on 21 January 1953, to Kenneth Sam Allen and Edna Faye Allen. His father worked as the associate director of the University of Washington Libraries. Paul completed his schooling from a local private school named as Lakeside School. This was the place, where he met his two years younger friend, Bill Gates. The two shared a common interest- Computers. Both of them started learning programming languages and improvising their skills. They also sneakingly used the laboratory of the Computer Science Department of the University of Washington, to carry out their experiments. As they were not the students of the university, they got banned from the University campus, in 1971, after they got caught by the university authority. Later, Paul got a 1600 SAT score and got proper admission to the Washington State University, as a student.

Founding Microsoft

Allen decided to leave the college only after two years of his enrollment, to join a job as a programmer, for Honeywell in Boston, near Harvard University. Gates was an alumnus at the Harvard University. After working for a small time at the Honeywell, Allen convinced Gates to drop out of the university and start Microsoft with him.

Paul Allen
Image Source: geekwire.com

Allen and Gates together, built software for the first microcomputers on BASIC. They started marketing for their software, and in 1980, they bagged a contract from IBM. According to the contract, they had to develop a Disk Operating System (DOS) for the IBM PCs. The two were not able to complete the order, hence Allen made a deal with Tim Paterson, and purchased his QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) software to complete the contract. The deal was a success, and Microsoft emerged as a leading software development company.

In 1982, Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin disease, and hence, resigned from his post of Microsoft’s chief technologist. It led the parting of Microsoft shares between the two partners in 60:40 ratio, Allen having 40 per cent shares in the company.

Allen served as the member of the board of Microsft until 9 November 2000 and remained as a senior strategy advisor to the company’s executives.

Other Ventures

After leaving Microsoft in 1982, Allen invested in other businesses. Allen with his sister Jody Lynn, co-founded Vulcan Inc., in 1986. Under Vulcan Inc., Allen made various investments in different fields, including America Online, SureFind, Starwave, hardware, software, and wireless communications. He also founded the Vulcan Capital under Vulcan Inc.

Allen and Judy had also started a film production company named Vulcan Productions, and produced films like We The Economy, Far from Heaven, Hard Candy, Where God Left His Shoes, Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial, Racing Extinction and Body Team.

Allen was also into philanthropy and contributed more than $2 billion towards the advancement of science, technology, education, wildlife conservation, the arts, and community services in his lifetime. A trust named as Paul G. Allen Family Foundation was also founded by Allen, that had donated $494 million to over 1,500 nonprofits.

Allen also launched institutes like The Allen Institute for Brain Science (2003) and Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (2014), that carry out the scientific researches.

Personal Life

Allen stayed single whole his life. He was assumed to be reclusive. Allen was a pro guitarist and got his first guitar at the age of sixteen. Even Sony had released his major label with the name Everywhere at Once by Paul Allen.

Allen also owned two professional sports teams, the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League and the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA.

In 1982, after receiving radiation therapy for his Stage 1-A Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Allen had recovered from the disease. But, in 2009, he was again tested positive with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It was also cured after treating Allen for a long time. Although cancer returned back and Allen died on 15 October 2018.

Steve Ballmer : The Former CEO of Microsoft

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In the past three decades, Microsoft has become one of the most successful software company, making Bill Gates the richest person in the world. The people behind the success of Microsoft stuck with it since the beginning of the company and has been a part of it till now. It is not only Bill Gates who is responsible for the rise of Microsoft, but people like Steve Ballmer have also been the strongest pillar of the Microsft empire. From the product manager to the CEO of Microsoft, Steve has also seen tremendous success with the success of Microsoft.

Early Life

Ballmer was born as Steven Anthony Steve Ballmer, on 24 March 1956, in Detroit, Michigan, to father Beatrice Dworkin and mother Frederic Henry Ballmer. His father worked as the manager at the Ford Motor Company. He spent three years of his childhood in Brussels, where he attended the International School of Brussels. After coming back to Detroit, he joined the Detroit Country Day School. Being a bright student, Ballmer was able to win a scholarship after scoring 800 marks in the mathematical section of the SAT.

After completing his school, Ballmer joined Harvard University and earned a B.A. degree in applied mathematics and economics. In the college, he not only excelled in studies but also, acted as an important part of various college activities and clubs.

Steve Balmer
Image Source: forbes.com

After graduating from Harvard University, he started working as the assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble. After working for two years in the same position, Ballmer decided to go back to school, and pursue a master’s degree. Hence, he enrolled in the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California.

Journey with Microsoft

Ballmer had met Bill Gates at the Harvard University, as he was also a fellow student there. In fact, Ballmer scored more than Bill Gates, in an exam conducted by the Mathematical Association of America’s. The time he was studying at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, in California, Bill Gates offered Ballmer the position of the 30th employee and the first Business Manager of Microsoft. Ballmer left his studies in between, and joined the company, on $50,000 salary and a small share in the ownership of the company.

Besides securing the position of the Business Manager of Microsoft, Ballmer also held the positions in the operations, operating systems development, and sales and support, in the company. In 1993, Ballmer became the Executive Vice President, of the Sales and Support department of Microsoft.

In July 1998, he was appointed at the second highest position of the company, becoming the President of Microsoft. He was also the head of the .NET Framework development team.

On 13 January 2000, Bill Gates handed over the position of the CEO to Ballmer, continuing as the chairman of the board, and the chief software architect of Microsoft. At the time Ballmer was the CEO of the company, Microsoft saw a huge surge in the profits and annual revenues of the company. Ballmer became one of the most successful CEO, and his performance made him top the list of the most efficient CEOs of all time.

Ballmer as the CEO of Microsoft started various new businesses and introduced the competitor of Sony Play Station, i.e., the Xbox, to the world. He also created the most powerful services, under the name of Microsoft, such as Exchange, Windows Server, SQL Server, SharePoint, System Center, and Dynamics CRM. Also, he led the many beneficial acquisitions of his time including Skype.

By the end of 2012, few of Ballmer’s decisions, as the CEO of the company, resulted in bad backfires, resulting in criticism. In fact, he was named one of the worst CEO’s by the BBC, in 2013. Even with the criticism, he was able to accomplish the major acquisition as CEO for Microsoft, by acquiring the Nokia’s mobile phone division, in September 2013. On 4 February 2014, Ballmer retired as the CEO of Microsoft and also resigned from the Board of Directors of Microsoft, on 19 August 2014.

Personal Life

Ballmer is married to Connie Snyder, since 1990. He along with his wife and three sons live in Hunts Point, Washington. After retiring from Microsoft, he purchased the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers in a bid of $2 billion, on 29 May 2014. He is also in philanthropy, and donated $50 million to the University of Oregon, in 2014 and US$1 million the Jewish National Fund, becoming a member of its Chairman’s Council.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou : The Founder of EasyJet

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The airline industry is one of the largest operating industry, in current time. The aeroplanes have truly connected the world and brought it closer. Each day, millions of people travel from one country to another or even within the country, through flights. Therefore, airline companies have also buckled up to provide top-notch services for their customers and make their travel experience unforgettable. One of the main features that airlines are trying to introduce is the cost of air tickets. The aim, is to make air travel affordable, for every individual and some of the companies are already on top of it, like EasyJet.

Founder of EasyJet

EasyJet was founded by Stelios Haji-Ioannou, when he was just 28, in the year 1995. Born on 14th February 1967, in Athens, Greece, his father was a self-made Greek-Cypriot shipping magnate. He is the second child among three children in his family. He has an older brother, Polys, and a younger sister, Clelia.

Stelios Haji-Ioannou
Image Source: The Telegraph

Stelios completed his secondary education in Athens, and then further went to London School of Economics to earn a BSc in Economics, in 1967. After completing his BSc, Stelios went on for a higher degree and enrolled himself in Cass Business School for MSc in Shipping, Trade & Finance.

His outstanding performance in the entrepreneur world was recognized by numerous prestigious institutions. He received four honorary doctorates from Liverpool John Moores University, Cass Business School, Newcastle Business School, and Cranfield University.

Early Career

Stelios started his work, in 1988, with his father’s successful shipping business called Troodos Shipping Co Ltd. He received a sum of £30 million from his father, when he was just 25, and used that money to start his own shipping company named Stelmar Shipping. He was also known as a self-made “serial entrepreneur”.
In 2001, Stelios listed Stelmar Shipping on New York Stock Exchange. And, in 2005, the company was sold to its rival OSG Group, for a whopping $1.3 billion.

The “Easy” Brand

Stelios started the Easy venture, in 1995, with its first business of low-cost airline named EasyJet. This venture was managed by Easy Group, and Stelios took the position of Chairman. The first EasyJet flight operated between Luton and Scotland.

With this first flight service, EasyJet set on to revolutionize entire European air travel. In the last two decades, the airline service has become a stellar success achiever and the most preferred air travel option for flyers.

In 2000, Stelios observed the need to fund the company for further expansion and, therefore, partially floated EasyJet onto the London Stock Exchange. Stelios and his family members are the highest stakeholders in EasyJet and own about 34% of shares, which are calculated worth £6.8bn as of 2015. EasyJet PLC has now become the largest airline company in Europe and owns more than 240 jets, carrying more than 85 million passengers each year.

Stelios joined hands with Lonrho PLC in Africa to start a new low-cost airline service called Fastjet. The airline company started operating on November 29, 2012, with its first aircraft Airbus A319.

Personal Life

Stelios stays in Monaco as his family left Athens when he was a teenager. He is also known for his charitable works and owns a charitable trust called Stelios Philanthropic Foundation. The foundation works towards education, entrepreneurial, and environmental initiatives.

Stelios received a knighthood from HM Queen Elizabeth II, for his services to entrepreneurship.

Jerry Yang : An Internet Entrepreneur & Founder of Yahoo!

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Destiny and hard work play a vital role in the success of a person. Not neglecting the hard work, to achieve something big, you have to be at the right place at the right time. The Taiwanese-American Internet entrepreneur, Jerry Yang had his circumstances, that brought him from Taiwanese to California, when he just knew a single word from Engish, i.e. Shoe. It took him only three years to master the language. As soon he became proficient with English, his aptitude proved his excellence in other fields too.

Early Life

Yang was born on 6 November 1968, as Yang Chih-Yuan in Taipei, Taiwan, to an English professor mother. He lost his father at the age of two. Yang was just ten, when his mother, along with him and his younger brother, moved to San Jose, California, in 1978. His mother taught English to the other immigrants, and the two children grew with their grandparents.

Jerry Yang
Image Source: South China Morning Post

Yang joined the United States Educational System in San Jose, where he excelled at every other subject. His remarkable performance made his teachers to put him in advanced classes for gifted students. He attended the Stanford University, where he earned the bachelor’s as well as the master’s degree in electrical engineering, just in four years. In 1989, at the university, he met his future partner and a fellow Stanford student, David Filo.

Founding Yahoo!

During the time, Yang was studying at the Stanford University, the internet was making its base in the city of San Jose. Yang became familiar with this new technology and decided to learn more about it. In 1994, he along with his friend David Filo created a web directory, that included the names and addresses of other websites. The two, named the website, as Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web. After a few months, it became popular and was renamed as Yahoo Inc.!! Within a few months, the website gained 100,000 unique visitors.

With the increasing popularity, Sequoia Capital became its first official investor by investing $2 million in the venture. Yang and Filo becoming the Chief Yahoo appointed Tim Koogle as the first CEO of the company. Within one year of Yahoo’s launch, it gained the attention of other venture capitalists too, gaining more and more fundings.

In 1998, Yahoo was the most popular starting point for web users, and by 2004, Yahoo had its own search software. In 2007, Yang replaced the second CEO of Yahoo, Terry Semel and served as the CEO for two years. In 2012, Yang left Yahoo.

Share in Alibaba

In 1997, Yang had gone for a trip to China, where he met the founder of Alibaba; Jack Ma. At the time Jack Ma was working as a government employed tour guide and had taken Yang to the Great Wall of China. Their meeting included a conversation based on the development of the web. And after a few months, Jack Ma started working on Alibaba.

In 2005, Yang made Yahoo buy a 40% stake in Alibaba paying $1 billion. Yahoo, under Yang’s direction also bought the assets of Yahoo! China, for $700 million. Later, there was an alteration in the shares, as Yahoo sold a small portion of it, later buying another portion from the Alibaba stakes, again.

Yang as an Angel Capitalist

In 2015, Yang started his capital venture named as AME Cloud Ventures. According to another venture capitalist, Rob Solomon, Yang was “a great founder, evangelist, strategist and mentor”, having “created the blueprint for what is possible on the Internet. Till date, Yang has funded over 50 startups including Tango, Evernote, Wattpad, Vectra Networks Inc.

Personal Life

Yang is married to Akiko Yamazaki, whom he met during his student-exchange program to Japan, in 1992. The two are currently living in Los Altos Hills, California. Yang is the member of the boards of many technology companies and is also involved in philanthropy.

Susan Wojcicki : The Second Chief Executive Officer of YouTube

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From being a mother of five children to making a name in the list of the Most Powerful Women of biggest forums like Forbes and Fortune, Susan Wojcicki has become an inspirational example of women empowerment. A part-time painter, doodler, and a scholar from the University of California, Wojcicki is responsible for Google’s most beneficial deal- YouTube. The current CEO of YouTube oversaw the potential of the user-uploaded content, and convinced Google’s board members, to give her idea the green light, and steal the deal.

Early Life

Susan Wojcicki was born on 5 July 1968, to a physics professor, Stanley Wojcicki, and Esther Wojcicki, an educator, in Santa Clara, California. Her father served at the Stanford University, so she along with her two sisters, Janet Wojcicki and Anne Wojcicki, spent most of their childhood in the university campus.

Susan Wojcicki
Image Source: flickr.com

Wojcicki completed her high school from Gunn High School, Palo Alto, California. In 1990, she graduated from the Harvard University with primary subjects, history and literature. Later, she attended the University of California, to pursue a master’s degree in economics, followed by an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

During her graduation, Wojcicki took Computers as a subject and grew an interest in it. Her interest led her to drop the long-term plan of pursuing a career as an educator and choose a career in the technical field.

Early Career & Joining Google

After her MBA, Wojcicki started working in the marketing team at Intel in Santa Clara, California, in 1999. Later, she became the management consultant at Bain & Company and R.B. Webber & Company. In the year 1998, the founders of Google, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, used Susan’s garage in Menlo Park, as their first Google office. In 1999, she joined Google as the first marketing manager and the 16th employee of Google. She was also among the first Google Doodle team and has been a part of Google’s most important projects, like Google Images, AdWords, DoubleClick, and Google Books.

Wojcicki continued working in the marketing department of Google, becoming the senior vice president of Advertising & Commerce department of Google. In 2007, Google acquired DoubleClick by paying $3.1 billion, on the suggestion of Wojcicki.

CEO of YouTube

During the rise of YouTube, Wojcicki foresaw the scope of it and advised Google to take over it, merging the Google Video into it. Hence in 2006, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. Within less than a decade of the acquisition of YouTube, YouTube valued at $160 billion, 100 times more than the initial investment of Google.

In February 2014, Wojcicki was appointed as the second CEO of YouTube. After she became the CEO, the number of logged in users per month raised to 1.9 billion, watching videos on it one billion hours a day. Her leadership rose, up to 30% female employees in the YouTube office. She also imposed some policies on the content of YouTube to prevent hate speech and violent extremism.

Personal life

On August 23, 1998, in Belmont, California, Wojcicki got married to Dennis Troper. The two are parents of five children. Wojcicki and Dennis Troper move philanthropy through the Troper Wojcicki Foundation. She has been a supporter of Women’s computer education. She even advocated for the paid maternity leaves for women and gender discrimination. In 2017, Wojcicki was ranked at number 6 in the list of Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.