Founder, Pandora
The Stanford grad created an algorithm that dissected the various musical attributes -- he calls it the "genetic code" -- of musical compositions. Launched Pandora in 2005 as an ad-driven web service that enabled music fans to aggregate thematically similar songs. Today, Pandora is the most popular radio service on the web and is accessible on more than 200 devices, from Blu-Ray players and set top boxes to smart phones and tablet computers. The latest get: Ford and Mercedes, each of which signed on to incorporate Pandora into its dashboards.
--P.N.
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Last updated November 19 2010: 10:47 AM ET