30 Under 30: Super Connectors

Staying in touch during the pandemic (and beyond) with the Forbes 30 Under 30, in 30 words or less.

Networking, in 30 words or less.

Akash Nigam 28

Evan Rosenbaum 28

COFOUNDERS, GENIES

L.A.-based pair built some 10 apps before creating AI avatars that can mimic you on messaging services like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp. With millions of avatars created, Genies has raised $40 million.

Joe Thomas 30 Vinay Hiremath 28 Shahed Khan 25

COFOUNDERS, LOOM

Slack meets Zoom: Bay Area trio has raised $73 million for software enabling 5.5 million users to record video presentations shared instantly via chat.

Ariel Pasternak 29 Atara Bernstein 30

COFOUNDERS, PINEAPPLE COLLABORATIVE

Friends from a D.C. farmers’ market transformed their potluck into this 100,000-strong community—90% women, including celebrity chefs Christina Tosi, Carla Hall—to share recipes and host cooking demos.

Tyler Faux 30

COFOUNDER, SUPERGREAT

After helping to build crime-tracking app Citizen, this New Yorker now hosts more than 150,000 user-generated beauty and skin-care product reviews. The site’s viewership has tripled during the pandemic.

Hayley Leibson 26 Scott Wu 23

COFOUNDERS, LUNCHCLUB

The duo raised over $5 million to make an AI service that matches professionals (thousands weekly) for lunch dates (virtual now, natch) based on their background and goals.