The young changemakers on our 13th annual Forbes 30 Under 30 are putting their intelligence into artificial intelligence. They’re automating more than ever, deploying AI in manufacturing (powering more-sustainable delivery routes), marketing (mass customized ads) and much more. As for the rest of the entrepreneurs on the 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30: They’re fighting climate change with carbon credit marketplaces, reinventing the 911 call, building banks and brewing up eco-friendly plastics.
To assemble the list, Forbes editors (with the expertise of independent judges) evaluated more than 11,000 candidates, judging them on financials, impact, creativity and potential. The final product: 600 go-getters across 20 industries—and a peek into things to come.
Kristin Stoller, Senior Editor for Forbes 30 Under 30 Lists, joins 'Forbes Talks' to discuss the process of launching this year's selections.
To assemble the list, Forbes editors (with the expertise of independent judges) evaluated more than 11,000 candidates, judging them on financials, impact, creativity and potential. The final product: 600 go-getters across 20 industries—and a peek into things to come.
Kristin Stoller, Senior Editor for Forbes 30 Under 30 Lists, joins 'Forbes Talks' to discuss the process of launching this year's selections.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hi everybody, I'm Brittany Lewis with Forbes Breaking News.
00:05 Joining me now is Kristen Stoller, a senior editor covering the Forbes 30 Under 30 lists.
00:11 Kristen, thank you so much for joining me.
00:12 Of course, thanks for having me Brittany.
00:14 First of all, I want to extend a big congratulations.
00:17 The 2024 Forbes 30 Under 30 list has officially dropped.
00:21 I know how big of an undertaking that must be.
00:24 Yes, it just feels like a giant weight off my shoulders and like I gave birth to a baby.
00:29 So I am thrilled that it's live.
00:32 So let's just start from the beginning here.
00:34 Let's talk about logistics.
00:35 How do the under 30s get chosen?
00:38 So there's a lot.
00:39 So we it's pretty much a whole year round process.
00:43 So we open up our nominations for this North America list in the spring.
00:48 This year, I believe it was around March or April.
00:50 We got 11,000 people who applied for just the North America list itself.
00:55 So our reporters, I have a team of 54 reporters who work on this list with me for all 20 categories.
01:01 And we read every single application.
01:03 We look through them.
01:04 We vet these people.
01:06 Sometimes we'll reach out with a phone call, sometimes an email.
01:09 And that's one way we're getting candidates.
01:11 The other way is for with good old fashioned reporting.
01:15 So we're scouting year round for people in our beats who we think are the best and brightest
01:19 in their categories.
01:20 We're talking to our sources, analysts and doing some reporting that way.
01:24 So it's a mix of both people applying or being nominated by a friend, family member or colleague,
01:29 and then also our own scouting and reporting.
01:32 And let's talk about how you're whittling this down.
01:35 Not only you, but judges too.
01:37 So it goes from over 11,000 to 600 entities.
01:40 Describe that process.
01:41 Yes.
01:42 So we have a team of four expert judges for each category, three or four, depending on
01:47 the category.
01:49 And these are people who are the top people in each of the industry industries they represent.
01:53 You know, we've had everyone from Taylor Swift be a judge.
01:56 We've had Tory Burch be a judge.
01:58 So people who are A-listers in their field.
02:00 The creme de la creme.
02:03 Exactly.
02:04 So we as reporters take a look at that 11,000.
02:08 We try and narrow it down to who we believe are the top about 100 to hand off to the judges.
02:12 And then from there, the judges then score that roughly 100 people and give their scores
02:17 back to us.
02:18 But we're really looking at because it's Forbes, we're looking at the financials.
02:22 So we're looking at funding, revenue, we're looking at valuation, who people's investors
02:27 are, what their revenue model is, if they have a solid idea that's never been done before,
02:33 if there's the potential to scale.
02:35 So things like that are top of mind for us.
02:37 And you mentioned there are 20 categories.
02:40 Can you go through the different categories a bit for us?
02:42 Absolutely.
02:43 So we have everything from the more creative side of things, which is music, entertainment,
02:48 social media with our creators, sports, which is a big category and games, we have eSports
02:53 too.
02:54 Art and style is a big one.
02:56 And then we have, you know, the finance, the venture capitals, the tech, consumer and enterprise,
03:03 food and drink, marketing and advertising, media, and science, healthcare, it really
03:08 runs the gamut.
03:09 We have 20 of them.
03:10 So I encourage everyone to look online and read all of them.
03:13 But those are just some of the top ones I can think of.
03:16 The list continues to be inspiring year over year over year.
03:20 What are some of the inspiring stories this year?
03:22 Does anything stick out to you?
03:24 Yes, there is one story that I love.
03:27 Raja, who is our social impact call out with her co founder Ray, they co founded this company
03:32 called InvisiWare.
03:34 And it came from when when the co founders was in college, she had a very scary experience
03:39 that a lot of women have, which is she was being catcalled late at night walking home
03:43 from a class.
03:45 One of the men got out of the car and she got very scared and just ran all the way back
03:51 to her house.
03:52 And from there, she was kind of inspired to rethink the 911 call and rethink, you know,
03:58 how women can feel safer at night and just when you know, pretty much in any setting.
04:03 So she teamed up with one of her friends from college Ray to create this jewelry, which
04:08 is called InvisiWare.
04:09 And it's like a little button about that big, either on a necklace or on a key chain or
04:13 on a bracelet or watch.
04:15 And if you double tap it, it'll connect you with an ADT security.
04:20 And then from there, you have the option to call 911.
04:22 So they say I think they did about 6 million in revenue last year, and it's taken off.
04:28 So that's one of my favorite stories.
04:29 She's one of our big call outs this year on the social impact list.
04:32 That's incredible.
04:33 And that's a story many women, many girls can relate to.
04:36 Absolutely.
04:37 I do not want to pivot a little bit.
04:39 And you actually broke the list down by some numbers.
04:42 Yes.
04:43 What are some of those stats?
04:44 Give us a taste of that.
04:45 I absolutely can.
04:46 Okay, so the first is the total funding raised by all of our people on the list is 3.6 billion
04:52 this year.
04:53 And interestingly enough, that is down from last year.
04:56 Last year, it was at 5 billion.
04:57 And I think just people were getting there was so much funding floating around after
05:00 the pandemic.
05:01 And now it's finally come back to normal.
05:03 And is that a normal number now that in the 3 billion neighborhood?
05:07 That's pretty normal based on what we've had pre pandemic.
05:11 The youngest person on our list this year is 15 years old, if you can believe it.
05:16 So the average age that we have on the list is 27.
05:21 This year, we reached an all time high with gender parity, which I am thrilled about.
05:27 We have 42% of people on the list identify as female, 1% non binary, and 57% male.
05:36 That's incredible.
05:37 Love to hear more women's stories being highlighted.
05:40 Another number that you pulled I found very interesting was the average amount of hours
05:44 per week worked.
05:45 Yeah, what does that look like?
05:47 66 hours per week, these listers work on average, which is up from last year.
05:52 Last year, it was 64 hours a week.
05:54 So sadly, they're putting in the time I know.
05:57 Don't like to hear that.
05:58 No, not at all.
05:59 And a lot more time but getting great results being on the list.
06:03 And when you boil down the list this way by the stats, what is surprising to you?
06:08 I think the most surprising thing to me is, well, I guess this shouldn't be too surprising.
06:12 But obviously, this is the greatest number of Gen Z that we've ever had.
06:16 And we're starting to get more of Gen Alpha too, especially with, you know, the youngest
06:19 being 15.
06:21 That was super surprising.
06:22 The number of immigrants has always stayed pretty much the same.
06:26 This year, you have 23% of people on the list are immigrants, and 43% self identify as people
06:33 of color, which is really exciting.
06:35 So those have been some interesting, surprising things for me.
06:38 I do want to talk about Gen Z a little bit because as millennials start to age out, become
06:44 over 30, you're seeing more Gen Z on the list, as you said.
06:48 So what is the difference that you're seeing between the Gen Z generation, perhaps the
06:52 Gen Alpha generation from millennials?
06:56 I think for me, and as a millennial member, which has been really, I've learned so much
07:01 from Gen Z.
07:02 I continue to every day.
07:03 Yeah, I think it's that they are not afraid to really put themselves out there and promote
07:10 themselves.
07:11 Whereas I think for us millennials, it's like, take what you're given, like be humble, do
07:16 this.
07:17 They're in a great way, like really promoting themselves and pumping themselves up and saying
07:21 like, here's why I'm awesome.
07:23 Here's why you should consider me and they really reach out in a way that I feel like
07:27 millennials are sometimes scared to.
07:29 And I love that I want to channel that energy all the time.
07:31 I do think in the difference I've seen is that they are more self assured, where our
07:36 generation definitely has a lot of self doubt.
07:39 100% and I'm working on it.
07:42 And Gen Z is inspiring me.
07:43 Oh, absolutely.
07:45 And you and I had this same conversation last year.
07:48 So I'm curious how this year is shaping up to be different than last year's list.
07:53 This year, we are seeing a lot of AI and that's like the big buzzword right now.
07:57 But I feel like almost, I'd say a good majority of the applications mentioned AI in some way.
08:04 We have, you know, on our marketing list, that our big call out there who did the photo
08:10 shoot with us is with this company called Tavis and they are using AI to change the
08:15 face of marketing, which is really interesting because you don't really feel that way about
08:19 marketing and advertising.
08:21 But they're doing this thing where you as you know, a company like a Salesforce or a
08:26 meta can record a video of yourself.
08:29 And then using AI, it'll clone the video hundreds of times and put in a different word or phrase
08:35 or person.
08:36 So if you're pitching a client or saying it'll like put in their name instead of it using
08:40 AI.
08:41 So that's been cool.
08:42 We have AI for insurance, AI bots selling insurance, which is really interesting.
08:48 So that's been a big theme this year that I feel like has been quieter in previous years.
08:53 And I'm I am curious about what this does to a person's personal brand, because we're
08:58 seeing like we do every year, the under 30 list go massively viral.
09:02 You can't go on Instagram the day of the launch day, go on Twitter, it's automatically trending,
09:06 you see who's a new under 30.
09:08 What does this do for your personal brand?
09:10 I can only speak anecdotally from what our community members have told me, but I feel
09:15 like for a lot of them, it helps a with funding, they are able to get conversations with venture
09:21 capitalists and other people that they might not have been able to before.
09:24 So I think that is a big gap for them.
09:28 The other is just the sense of community.
09:30 So when you make the under 30 list, you're then part of our under 30 community, we have
09:36 internal slack groups and other systems where they can communicate.
09:39 And a lot of under 30s find each other, collaborate with each other and then come up with business
09:44 ideas or, you know, buy each other's companies out or merge and things like that.
09:49 So that I think is part of the magic of being on the under 30 for these people.
09:54 Forbes had it first, it's been duplicated many times, the under 30s, my alma mater does
09:59 a under 30 Temple University.
10:02 The first professional event I've ever been to fresh out of college, I actually went to
10:07 the under 30 event in Philadelphia, I was not a lister.
10:09 Oh my gosh, that's amazing.
10:12 So this really resonates with people under 30 in general.
10:15 Why do you think that is?
10:17 I think it's just, you know, it's part of like, it's an achievement, not like any achievement,
10:22 you know, it's like, everyone wants to feel a sense of accomplishment.
10:26 And like, they've done something great.
10:28 And the business they've created is great.
10:29 But I think it's, I think it's again, goes back to the community aspect.
10:32 It's like you are in such good company, you're with Rihanna, you're with Malala Yousaf, you're
10:37 with all of these really inspirational people.
10:41 And you're in good company.
10:43 So I think being part of that group is, you know, a validator, it shows that you've done
10:49 something incredible, and you've changed the world or your industry.
10:53 And I think that's really important to people.
10:55 And I know that this will be hard.
10:57 But if you could boil down this year's list into one word, one characteristic that all
11:02 of these under 30s embody, what is that word?
11:05 This year for me, I think it's grit.
11:08 We're seeing people coming out of the pandemic, coming out of war, coming out of all this
11:12 negative stuff that's been going on, and still finding a way to move forward and keep building
11:18 and do better than previous years.
11:21 Kristen Stoller, once again, big congrats to you.
11:24 Thank you.
11:25 Everyone, check out the list.
11:26 It is out now.
11:27 Thank you so much for joining me.
11:28 Thanks, Brittany.
11:28 Thanks, Brittany.
11:30 Thanks, Brittany.
11:30 Thanks, Brittany.
11:31 Thanks, Brittany.
11:32 Thanks, Brittany.
11:33 Thanks, Brittany.
11:34 Thanks, Brittany.
11:35 Thanks, Brittany.
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