30 Under 30

Meet the 22 impressive Texans on Forbes' coveted 30 Under 30 list

Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe, based in Austin, is one of the many Texans on Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

Photo by Andrew Chan

Perhaps Forbes took a little inspiration from last year's CultureMap Top Texans Under 30 program, because a few of our winners show up on the business site's vaunted 30 Under 30 list.

Now in its sixth year honoring "the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators, and game-changers" — and boasting an acceptance rate of less than 4 percent, statistically making the list "harder to get into than Harvard" — 30 Under 30 actually encompasses 600 finalists in 20 categories. Twenty-two of this year's recipients are Texas-based.

Here are the Texas honorees that are gaining global attention.

Austin

Adam Lyons and Joshua Dziabiak: Consumer technology
Independently comparing car insurance can eat up your time and sanity, so these two lads are building a search engine to make the task easier. Called The Zebra, it will instantly compare insurance options from more than 200 companies. So far, $23 million in venture funding and a staff of 50 make The Zebra look likely to succeed — not bad when one of its founders, Lyons, dropped out of high school at age 15.

Whitney Wolfe: Consumer technology
Dating is hard and online dating can be creepy, so Tinder co-founder Wolfe decided to make it all less so with her app, Bumble. With 11 million registered users as of January 2017, it's safe to say that singles are digging the concept of women making the first move. But there's also Bumble BFF, which lets potential friends find each other based on compatible interests.

Blair Brettschneider: Education
While tutoring teenage refugees in Chicago, Brettschneider was inspired to start GirlForward, a nonprofit that five years on has provided mentorship, education, and leadership opportunities to 200 refugee girls. The U.S. Department of State chose her as one of two youth delegates to represent the U.S. at the UNESCO Youth Forum in Paris in 2011, and several other high-profile organizations have honored her and her efforts. Add Forbes to that list.

Charlie Upshaw: Energy
Getting a post-doc in energy studies from the University of Texas makes sense when you consider that Upshaw, the co-founder of IdeaSmiths, is interested in making your air conditioner run better. He created a home system that collects rainwater and cools it during the night, when power is cheap, to help reduce air conditioning loads during the day. As summer approaches, Texans everywhere will be saying, "Where can I get one?"

Miguel Garza: Food and drink
Garza says he believes everything is better together, and we believe everything is better with tortillas. The CEO of Siete Family Foods (run mainly by him and six of his family members) focuses on grain-free products so everyone can enjoy delicious Mexican food, regardless of their dietary restrictions. The company is part of the 2 percent of Latino-owned businesses doing $1 million-plus in revenue each year, and even more importantly, the tortillas are "abuela approved."

Dominik Stein: Food and drink
The South may not have been previously known for its European cuisine, but Stein, a native of Germany, is changing that with the success of his fast-casual restaurant Verts Mediterranean Grill. Originally known as Vertskebap, the build-it-yourself eatery has become so popular that its pitas and wraps have shown up in 36 locations around the country so far, 30 of those in Texas alone.

Alex Schwartz: Games
Virtual reality is poised to become the next tech must-have, and Schwartz's Owlchemy Labs is leading the way. Its award-winning game Job Simulator opened the door for its current project, a VR game based on the hit animated sitcom Rick and Morty.

Greg Glod: Law and policy
His official title at Texas Public Policy Foundation is a mouthful — manager of state initiatives and senior policy analyst — but Glod's mission is simple: advance federal criminal justice reform. He's already been integral in the passage of a historic bill that allows convicted low-level offenders the chance to seal their record, and now he's focusing on mandatory minimum penalties and reducing recidivism through programs offered to those already in prison.

Andy Bossley: Marketing and advertising
Not only does Bossley head up the worldwide marketing campaigns for tech giant IBM, he partners with other leaders such as Google to debut game-changing business technologies to the masses. Really puts stressing about your Instagram captions in perspective.

Griffin McElroy: Media
Not only does McElroy understand the value of videos, web series, and podcasts for his parent company, Vox Media, he produces some of the site's most-consumed content as a founding editor of Polygon, Vox's gaming brand. He also hosts four podcasts himself, including one which received over 3.5 million streams in November and is now being developed into a television show for streaming platform Seeso.

Dallas

Kendrick Worrell: Energy
Did you found a company by age 28? Worrell did, and Accelerate Resources combines his expertise in both retrieving natural resources and raising capital, drilling primarily in the Permian Basin with funding from Pine Brook Partners.

Michael Kennedy: Food and drink
If you've ever wondered what the varietals that make up a wine blend would taste like on their own, Kennedy has the answer. He founded Component Wine to "rescue" the varietals that go into some of Napa Valley's most respected blends, then ages and bottles them to sell on their own. But oenophiles be warned: Bottles can cost upward of $100.

Chase Feiger: Manufacturing and industry
When Google Ventures wants to invest in your idea, you might be on to something. The collaborative software that Feiger's company, Parsable, makes is used by industrial companies and teams, helping their businesses run more smoothly thanks to easier communication and project tracking.

Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt: Manufacturing and industry
Not only is it possible to make hydrogen peroxide from plants (who knew?), that food-grade peroxide can then be used in pools, spas, hot tubs, and for cleaning. Chakrabarti and Hunt founded Solugen in 2016, and starting churning out PeroxyZen, the first of its kind.

Sean O'Brien: Marketing and advertising
College seniors are very into mobile messaging, but while at the University of Notre Dame, O'Brien and his Swyft co-founder, Evan Wray, were into building their own mobile messaging system (originally called TextPride). Three years later the company was acquired for $27 million by Monotype Imaging, and now Swyft runs as an independent subsidiary.

Amber Venz Box: Retail and e-commerce
First came RewardStyle, where social media "influencers" could earn money off their content, and now LikeToKnow.It, allowing Instagram users to move directly from the app to e-commerce sites where they can purchase clothes they saw on their faves' feeds. It's the only ready-to-shop consumer service on Instagram.

Houston

Christina Karapataki: Energy
Karapataki is really good at spending other people's money. Specifically, she does venture capital investing for Schlumberger, the world's biggest oilfield services company. Her money moves have helped finance 10 companies in recent years, to the tune of $9 million.

Jessica Traver: Healthcare
The mere idea of a spinal tap probably sends shivers down your, well, spine. Traver and Nicole Moskowitz thought imaging technology, pressure sensors, and predictive analytics could not only increase the procedure's accuracy but also lessen trauma to the patient, and so IntuiTap was born.

Jonathan Saperstein: Manufacturing and industry
How hard can it be to grow trees? Harder than you'd think, especially if the trees need to be consistent in appearance in order to sell. Saperstein has grown his business, Tree Town USA, into the country's largest wholesaler of trees — he even bought out his father in 2007, after beginning to run the business in 2002.

Simone Biles: Sports
The pint-size powerhouse from Spring is one of the youngest people on Forbes' list, but she also happens to be one of the most decorated U.S. women gymnasts ever with four Olympic gold medals and 10 world championship gold medals. Her athletic skill has attracted endorsement deals with Nike, Kellogg's, and Hershey's, and she even has her own line of gymnastic equipment.

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The Stars at Night

9 Hill Country organizations commit to projects keeping night sky dark

Photo by Todd Winters

Guadalupe Canyon Milky Way

While the stars at night are famously big and bright (insert four claps) here in Texas, it’s a team effort to keep them that way. One nonprofit organization, the Hill Country Alliance (HCA), is dedicated to doing just that by working with partners across the region to preserve the open spaces and starry night skies we all know and love in Central Texas.

On January 14, the organization announced the first-ever recipients of its Night Sky Preservation Fund. Spanning seven counties, the projects are each dedicated to improving regional night sky quality by improving outdoor lighting; educating communities about night skies preservation and its benefits; and measuring changes in our region’s sky quality over time.

Established in 2024 with support from the Coypu Foundation, the fund supports regional nonprofits, local government entities, and small businesses interested in ramping up initiatives to preserve clear night skies.

“By keeping light pollution at bay,” reads a release from the Alliance, “these efforts help reduce energy waste, protect wildlife habitats and migratory pathways, make our roads safer for both drivers and pedestrians, and preserve our region’s stargazing and astrotourism opportunities.”

While there are numerous funding opportunities for land and water conservation across the state, night sky preservation funding is harder to secure. The HCA fund is the first project specifically aimed at night sky protection in Central Texas, and the organization hopes to offer the fund again in future.

HCA invited applications during the annual Hill Country Night Sky Month in October 2024, releasing its list of seven winning projects on January 14, 2025. The full list of awardees is below, along with details from the release about their individual initiatives:

Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky will expand their sky quality monitoring and Night Sky Friendly Business Recognition programs while also helping Johnson City become a designated International Dark Sky Community.
Comal County Friends of the Night Sky will expand their sky quality monitoring efforts and assist the Cities of Spring Branch and Bulverde in becoming designated International Dark Sky Communities.
Gillespie County will support their Dark Sky Initiative by replacing non-compliant light fixtures at the county courthouse with night-sky-friendly compliant light fixtures approved by Dark Sky International.
Jonestown Night Sky Advocacy will automate its sky quality monitoring efforts, further supporting its designation as an International Dark Sky Community.
Keep It Real Beautiful will continue to grow and expand its Real County Friends of the Night Sky group, providing public education and outreach, as well as assistance to and recognition of Night Sky Friendly Businesses.
Northwest Hills Homeowners Association will support the wellbeing of their residents and the surrounding environment by upgrading non-compliant security lighting in communal areas with night-sky-friendly and compliant light fixtures approved by Dark Sky International.
Real County Public Library will support their dark skies education and summer reading programs through the purchase and promotion of youth and adult literature about night skies and night sky preservation.
Travis County Parks Foundation will establish educational public programs focusing on night sky preservation, and contribute to regional data collection efforts through the installation of sky quality monitoring stations throughout the Travis County Parks system.
Vision Lampasas, Lampasas County Friends of the Night Sky will provide night sky preservation outreach and education, resources, and networking opportunities through their annual Stars at Night Event.

To contribute to the Night Sky Preservation Fund and help safeguard Texas’ natural nighttime splendor, donate here.

“We are honored to play a supporting role in these projects and grateful to everyone who applied to the fund this year,” said Executive Director for the Hill Country Alliance Katherine Romans. “Our region is known for its awe-inspiring celestial vistas, and like so many things in the Hill Country, unless we work to protect them, we could easily lose those starry views as our region grows and the impacts of light pollution cloud the skies. The Night Sky Preservation Fund and the projects it enables will help achieve that goal.”