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20 Big Name Stars Under 25 That Are Making A Name For Themselves In New Yorks Tech Scene

By on September 2, 2011
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New York is a young, hot city and the tech scene is no exception.

From venture capitalists to founders, we rounded up 20 super stars that are creating big names for themselves despite their young ages.

Top Tech Startups Under 25 In New York City

 

Jared Hecht of GroupMe sold his startup for about $80 million last month.

Jared Hecht of GroupMe sold his startup for about $80 million last month.

Age: 24

What he’s done: Hecht and his cofounder Steve Martocci created a group mobile text messaging application, GroupMe.

Just 370 days after GroupMe’s launch, Hecht and Martocci sold the company to Skype for an estimated $80 million.

 

Gauri Manglik cofounded SpotOn and was a TechCrunch Disrupt finalist.

Gauri Manglik cofounded SpotOn and was a TechCrunch Disrupt finalist.

Age: 22

What she’s done: Manglik cofounded SpotOn, a company that helps friends discover places to go, and was a TechCrunch Disrupt finalist this year.

The NYU graduate was a former BlackRock analyst and teacher at The Princeton Review.

 

Alex Taub is a mentor at DreamIt Accelerator and is the head of business development at Aviary.

Alex Taub is a mentor at DreamIt Accelerator and is the head of business development at Aviary.

Age: 24

What he’s done: Taub has been running around the New York tech scene since he was 19 at Yeshiva University.

Now he’s a mentor at DreamIt Accelerator and heads up business development at photo editing startup, Aviary. He is also on the board of New York Venture Community, he organizes the Digital Learning Series with Startl, and is a Next New York fellow.

 

Chris Paik is a “chief hustler” at Thrive Capital.

Chris Paik is a

Age: 24

What he’s done: Paik joined Josh Kushner’s firm Thrive Capital last year. He has played a large role in all of Thrive’s investments, from Zaarly to GroupMe.

People close to Paik say he’s unbelievably well connected, technical and product focused.

Paik and Kushner were classmates at Harvard and Paik formerly worked at Pixar.

 

Will Peng already sold two companies to Facebook, Drop.io and Hot Potato.

Will Peng already sold two companies to Facebook, Drop.io and Hot Potato.

Age: 22

What he’s done: Will is currently a venture capitalist at Raptor Ventures.He was formerly a product guy at file sharing startup Drop.io and at Twitter-like company, Hot Potato; both sold to Facebook.  He also worked as an analyst at RRE Ventures.

  

Lauren Leto founded Texts from Last Night and runs Bnter.

Lauren Leto founded Texts from Last Night and runs Bnter.

Age: 24

What she’s done: Lauren founded Texts from Last Night and is now running Bnter, a way to “frame and share conversations.”

She’s also writing a book that’s due out in 2012, Judging a Book by its Lover.

  

Dan Leahy ditched Wall Street and raised $3 million for his startup, Savored.

Dan Leahy ditched Wall Street and raised $3 million for his startup, Savored.

Ben McKean and Dan Leahey, cofounders of Savored

Age: 25

What he’s done: Dan Leahy graduated from Georgetown with his cofounder Ben McKean. The pair ditched their Wall Street jobs and founded Savored last summer.

The restaurant deals site now partners with Open Table and Zagat. Buddy Media founder Mike Lazerow is an investor, and Savored raised a $3 million Series A.

 

Josh Weinstein cofounded YouAre.TV and snagged funding from all-star investors Peter Thiel, SoftBank Capital and FirstMark Capital.

Josh Weinstein cofounded YouAre.TV and snagged funding from all-star investors Peter Thiel, SoftBank Capital and FirstMark Capital.

Age: 24

What he’s done: Weinstein has pivoted his way to tech stardom.  He cofounded GoodCrush and RandomDorm, which pivoted into CollegeOnly, a social network for students. CollegeOnly has since become YouAre.TV and is backed by FirstMark Capital, SoftBank, Peter Thiel, High Line Venture Partners, David Kidder and David Tisch.

Weinstein also got former Brett Favre flame Jenn Sterger to host one of the web shows on YouAre.TV.

  

Alexis Tryon left American Express and moved into DogPatch Labs to rent art.

Alexis Tryon left American Express and moved into DogPatch Labs to rent art.

Age: 25

What she’s done: Tryon was a manager at American Express until she and her boyfriend/cofounder Scott caught the entrepreneurship bug.

They founded Artsicle, an art rental company, and moved into DogPatch Labs. Expect to see these two on future power couple lists.

  

Jason Baptiste and Andres Baretto cofounded breakout Techstars company, OnSwipe. 

Jason Baptiste and Andres Baretto cofounded breakout Techstars company, OnSwipe.

Ages: 25 and 24, respectively

What they’ve done: Baptiste and Baretto made Inc’s 30 Under 30 list and their startup, OnSwipe, has Apple working up a sweat.

OnSwipe is an easy app-workaround for publishers who want their blogs to look good on mobile devices.

OnSwipe has raised $6 million from the most accredited investors and was the breakout winter Techstars NYC company.

  

Matt Brimer and Brad Hargreaves cofounded General Assembly

Matt Brimer and Brad Hargreaves cofounded General Assembly

Ages: 25 and 25, respectively

What they’ve done: Brimer and Hargreaves have been starting companies together since they were undergrads at Yale. Their first company, GoCrossCampus, should have been a success. It had plenty of users and funding, but it failed.

Now Brimer and Hargreaves are at it again, but this time they’re building an entrepreneurship school in NYC.  General Assembly, their company, is the home to a bunch of startups. It also offers community entrepreneurship courses.

 

Christina Cacioppo is an analyst at top NYC firm Union Square Ventures.

Christina Cacioppo is an analyst at top NYC firm Union Square Ventures.

Age: 25

What she’s done: Being well acquainted with Fred Wilson at age 25 is impressive. Cacioppo is an analyst at his firm, Union Square Ventures.

She graduated from Stanford University and formerly worked at Google.

 

Joseph Cohen, Dan Getelman and Jim Grandpre dropped out of UPenn and landed a spot in the summer Techstars class.

Joseph Cohen, Dan Getelman and Jim Grandpre dropped out of UPenn and landed a spot in the summer Techstars class.

Ages: 20, 21 and 20, respectively

What they’ve done: Cohen, Getelman and Grandpre cofounded Coursekit, a social education tool that wants to kill Blackboard.

All three founders raised $1 million for their startup, dropped out of UPenn, and were accepted ino the summer session of Techstars NYC.

 

Jonathan Hefter founded Neverware.

Jonathan Hefter founded Neverware.

Age: 25

What he’s done: Hefter is disrupting the education space, but not the same way other entrepreneurs are. His company, Neverware, makes old computers run like new by accessing the latest software via the cloud.

It’s a good solution for schools that can’t afford to keep updating computer software.

 

Andrew Ferenci cofounded Spinback, which was acquired by Buddy Media earlier this year.

Andrew Ferenci cofounded Spinback, which was acquired by Buddy Media earlier this year.

Age: 24

What he’s done: The 2x entrepreneur recently sold his social commerce and analytics startup, Spinback, to Buddy Media.

He sold his first company, The College Shack, to Carolina Beach Apparel in 2010.

  

Carter Cleveland is the founder of Art.sy.

Carter Cleveland is the founder of Art.sy.

Age: 24

What he’s done: Cleveland has never had a “real” job. As soon as he graduated from Princeton he got to work on Art.sy, an art discovery tool.

He raised $1.25 million from the likes of Eric Schmidt and Jack Dorsey. He also won TechCrunch Disrupt’s Rookie Award in 2010.

 

Alex Godin is the second youngest member of Techstars. His dad is Seth Godin and he cofounded Dispatch.io.

Alex Godin is the second youngest member of Techstars. His dad is Seth Godin and he cofounded Dispatch.io.

Age: 17

What he’s done: Godin seems to be as motivated as his father, marketing guru Seth Godin. He’s the second-youngest Techstars member ever and his startup, Dispatch, is on track to be the summer session’s breakout company.

He also taught himself to code in 7 days over winter vacation and won a hackathon.

  

Dan Herman founded ChatID, a summer Techstars company.

Dan Herman founded ChatID, a summer Techstars company.

Dan Herman cofounded ChatID, formerly called Chatalyst.

Age: 20

What he’s done: Dan Herman was accepted into the summer NYC techstars program with his live chat platform for businesses, ChatID.

  

Adam Liebman is SinglePlatform’s VP of Sales.

Adam Liebman is SinglePlatform's VP of Sales.

Age: 25

What he’s done: Adam Liebman is SinglePlatform’s VP of Sales.

SinglePlatform is a tool for restaurants to manage websites easily across one network. He graduated from Mizzou and formerly worked at Yext.

  

David Karp’s Tumblr is expected to become an $800 million company any day now.

David Karp's Tumblr is expected to become an $800 million company any day now.

Tumblr Founder, David Karp

Age: 25

What he’s done: Karp founded Tumblr, a social blogging platform that’s reportedly raising a massive round.

If it closes, Karp’s company could have a whopping $800 million valuation.

 

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About The Author: Joel

Joel Brown is the CEO and Founder of Addicted2Success.com. With a long time passion for Entrepreneurship, Self development & Success, Joel started his website with the intention of educating and inspiring likeminded people all over the world to always strive for success no matter what their circumstances. Joel’s passion for what he does shows through the continual growth of Addicted2Success.com's online community. Follow Joel Brown on Twitter

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