These Young Entrepreneurs Made Millions and Billions Before 40

Gabrielle Olya
Updated

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 13 of the Richest Young Entrepreneurs of 2018

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs in America are in their 20s and 30s, and have already made a name for themselves in the worlds of tech, consumer goods, entertainment and more. These young, rich entrepreneurs are proving you don’t need to wait until later in life to build the career of your dreams — and make a lot of money while doing it.

Jessica Alba

  • Net worth: $200 million

  • Age: 37

  • Main source of income: Consumer products

Jessica Alba might be best known as an actress, but the majority of her wealth actually comes from her business, The Honest Company, according to Forbes. When the publication released its America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 list in 2016, she was one of only two female entrepreneurs who made the cut.

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Nathan Blecharczyk

  • Net worth: $3.7 billion

  • Age: 35

  • Main source of income: Airbnb

Nathan Blecharczyk is one of the three Airbnb co-founders, and he’s the youngest of the bunch at age 35. Blecharczyk was the company’s first engineer, and he now serves as chief strategy officer.

Ryan Graves

  • Net worth: $1.6 billion

  • Age: 35

  • Main source of income: Uber

Ryan Graves was hired as Uber’s first employee back in 2010. Since joining the ride-hailing app, he has held the positions of CEO, president and senior vice president of global operations. He announced that he was resigning from the company in August 2017, shortly after co-founder Travis Kalanick was forced to resign as CEO. Graves continues to serve on Uber’s board of directors.

Drew Houston

  • Net worth: $2.3 billion

  • Age: 35

  • Main source of income: Dropbox

Drew Houston co-founded the file-sharing service Dropbox in 2007 when he was just 24 years old. He now serves as CEO and owns 25 percent of the company, which went public in 2018.

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LeBron James

  • Net worth: $440 million

  • Age: 33

  • Main source of income: Basketball

Four-time MVP LeBron James earns the majority of his money from his basketball salary and endorsements, but he has also had success as a young entrepreneur. He owns 17 stores in the Blaze Pizza franchise along with his investment group, and has his own production company and media company, Forbes reported.

Beyonce Knowles

  • Net worth: $355 million

  • Age: 37

  • Main source of income: Music

Along with Jessica Alba, Beyonce Knowles was one of two women on Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40. Most of her wealth comes from her music, including album sales and tour profits. She also owns a piece of the music streaming service Tidal.

Palmer Luckey

  • Net worth: $400 million

  • Age: 26

  • Main source of income: Oculus

Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus and the inventor of the Rift virtual reality headset. He sold the company to Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion, and he left Oculus three years later amid allegations that he was involved with an anti-Hillary Clinton smear campaign, CNET reported.

Apoorva Mehta

  • Net worth: $400 million

  • Age: 32

  • Main source of income: Instacart

Apoorva Mehta is the founder of the on-demand grocery delivery service Instacart, which secured an investment from Whole Foods for a reported $36 million, according to Forbes. The company is now worth an estimated $7.87 billion, Reuters reported, and Mehta is counted among the top young entrepreneurs who have changed the way people live.

Adam Neumann

  • Net worth: $2.5 billion

  • Age: 39

  • Main source of income: WeWork

Adam Neumann co-founded WeWork, which rents out communal office spaces around the world. Neumann now serves as WeWork’s CEO. The company’s investors include Goldman Sachs and SoftBank, and it’s valued at $21 billion, Forbes reported.

Ben Silbermann

  • Net worth: $1.6 billion

  • Age: 36

  • Main source of income: Pinterest

Thanks to Ben Silbermann, you can digitally “pin” your favorite home decor ideas, wedding inspiration, hairstyles and more right to your mobile phone or computer. The 36-year-old is one of the co-founders of Pinterest, and now serves as the company’s CEO.

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Evan Spiegel

  • Net worth: $1.6 billion

  • Age: 28

  • Main source of income: Snapchat

Evan Spiegel founded Snapchat in 2011, and became one of the youngest CEOs of a public company when Snap Inc. had its public offering in 2017 — he was 26 at the time. Spiegel owns 18 percent of Snap Inc., according to Forbes.

Kevin Systrom

  • Net worth: $1.2 billion

  • Age: 34

  • Main source of income: Instagram

Kevin Systrom co-founded Instagram in 2010 and served as its CEO at the time of the app’s sale to Facebook for $1 billion. In September 2018, Systrom announced that he was leaving the company to build something new.

Mark Zuckerberg

  • Net worth: $53.8 billion

  • Age: 34

  • Main source of income: Facebook

Despite a rocky year for Facebook, its co-founder, chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg remains one of the richest entrepreneurs under 40. Zuckerberg founded Facebook back in 2004 when he was only 19; the company went public in May 2012.

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Net worth information is according to Forbes, except for Jessica Alba, LeBron James, Palmer Luckey and Apoorva Mehta’s net worths, which were sourced from Celebrity Net Worth.