26 comments

  • mikewarot 21 hours ago

    Henry Maudslay, who made the first practical screw cutting lathe, bench micrometer, and transformed the world of machine tools. He made a bench micrometer that could measure to the 1/10,000th of an inch in the early 1800s.

    He helped set up the very first machine tool based line for the production of pully blocks for the British Navy. [1] https://todayinsci.com/M/Maudslay_Henry/MaudslayHenry-ToolBu...

  • claudiulodro 9 hours ago

    It's not one particular entrepreneur, but my favorite are the long-term local small business owners, like the guy I met a few months ago that's had a tire shop in town since the 70s. They've found a sustainable way to make a living providing something useful for their local community. That should really be the goal.

    • bawis 8 hours ago

      I love the typical family-owned small businesses, their runners are the ones that aspired entrepreneurs should listen to their advices instead of bestsellers books of ghouls preaching their bullshit.

  • dnnddidiej 21 hours ago

    Geohot. He is unconventional. Probably leaving money on table but doing more unconventional stuff.

  • tmtvl 21 hours ago

    Richard Stalman, someone who puts other people's rights before his own wallet.

    • oulipo2 20 hours ago

      He's got a lot of sexual assault allegations against him. Also awful personal character

      • tmtvl 15 hours ago

        Considering some others mentioned here are Elon Musk and Steve Jobs it seems like 'awful personal character' doesn't count for much.

        If we completely ignore the Stallman support and take the Stallman report as completely factual and accept it at face value, then I still think the good he has done outweighs the bad.

    • __patchbit__ 20 hours ago

      Elon Musk then Steve Jobs.

  • mitchbob 11 hours ago

    José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen [1]

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Central_Kitchen

  • smackeyacky 18 hours ago

    Rod Canion.

    Practical, but radical enough to take on IBM when their PC looked unassailable. Being first to the table with a 386 and working with others to make sure micro channel was DOA set the standards for the industry for decades.

    Edit: 2nd was Gary Kildall

  • nickfromseattle 18 hours ago

    Palmer Luckey. Many of the things he discusses, he brings an interesting angle I didn't think of, and has changed my opinion on numerous topics. Great orator.

  • ekm2 12 hours ago

    A better question would have been..who would you consider a formidable rival?

  • late_night_fix 19 hours ago

    I admired Steve jobs for product vision, but I wouldn't ignore the ecosystem around him.

  • jgrahamc a day ago

    I just don't idolize individuals.

  • omertt27 19 hours ago

    pieter levels, the guy is honest i think.He is doing simple things and succeed.I love his videos.

  • oulipo2 20 hours ago

    Anyone that worked unselfishly for the public good. People like doctors and scientists putting their career at work to improve humanity

  • manu3000 20 hours ago

    Marcel Duchamp

  • trolleski 18 hours ago

    Do you mean which billionaire master do you simp for? Stop idolizing them!

  • perilunar 21 hours ago

    Elon Musk.

    Ok, so he's a bit of a arse, and I really wish he had stayed out of politics, but overall...

    • dgellow 20 hours ago

      He’s responsible for at least hundred of thousand of death with the illegal shutdown down of USAID

    • jorisboris 17 hours ago

      i share your sentiment, the politics venture hurt his brand, but he's still a crazy impressive entrepreneur

    • tmtvl 21 hours ago

      How is the hyperloop coming along nowadays?

      • al_borland 14 hours ago

        We’re just going to ignore Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink to point at something that he said he didn’t even want to do and said other people should try it?

        If anyone else had a single one of those companies it would be considered a life-defining achievement. He has multiple at the same time. Not having a 100% unicorn rate doesn’t make someone a failure.

  • jorisboris 17 hours ago

    Richard Branson, he goes against so much convention:

    - everyone has so much process to "hire right", but in his books he hired kinda random it seems. And seems to delegate a lot rather than "founder mode"

    - the original remote worker: bought a caribbean island for cheap and managed his businesses from there

    - random collections of businesses under his brand: airline, telecom, music, ...

    was he just like super lucky that everything worked out for him?