In 2012, a few talented tech people began working on big new projects.
Take, for example, Bret Taylor. He left his position as Facebook's CTO to found a startup. He hasn't revealed what he's working on yet, but we're sure it's something good.
Then there are people like Chris Dixon and David Tisch, who either took new startup investing jobs or left them. They're both positioned to have big 2013's too.
We pulled together the 30 tech people we're most excited to follow this year. They're either rising tech stars about to make big breaks in the startup scene, or they're current tech stars taking on new, challenging roles.
Bret Taylor and Kevin Gibbs — Quip
What they've done: Bret Taylor is the former CTO of Facebook, having joined the social network after Facebook acquired his company FriendFeed in 2009. Taylor has also worked at Google as a group product manager, where he helped create Google Maps and its API.
Kevin Gibbs, also a former Googler, founded the Google App Engine and managed the project from its inception up until July 2012.
What they're working on now:Quip. It's not yet clear what Quip will actually do, since the startup is still in stealth mode.
Why you should care: If Bret Taylor and Kevin Gibbs are working on something, there's no doubt you want to stick around to see what it is.
Brandi Temple and Emily Hickey — Lolly Wolly Doodle
What they've done: Brandi Temple is a stay-at-home mom-turned entrepreneur. But her COO, Emily Hickey, has quite the entrepreneurial background. Hickey was the 14th employee at Hot Jobs and eventually went on to launch Photoshelter with a few of her co-workers from Hot Jobs. Most recently, Hickey served as Chief Marketing Officer at Hashable.
What they're working on now:Lolly Wolly Doodle, an apparel store for kids that lives on Facebook.
Why you should care: Temple was about to sell off her startup because it became so successful, it was too much for her to handle alone. She was a stay-at-home mom and a great seamstress, and it was hard for her to fill all the orders that were coming in.
Investors found her and helped her hire stars like Emily Hickey, and now Lolly Wolly Doodle is growing quickly. Almost all of its business comes from its Facebook page, where it shows new clothes and lets fans buy them directly from the social network. By the end of 2013, we bet a lot more people will know about Temple and her company.
Noah Brier and James Gross — Percolate
What they've done: Noah Brier was formerly the executive director of strategy at The Barbarian Group, a digital marketing agency, and James Gross worked as a sales executive for Federated Media.
What they're working on now:Percolate, a platform that helps marketers figure out what kind of content to produce that fits their brand's message.
Why you should care: Percolate finished 2012 strong. Brier and Gross were able to run their company on its own revenue and turn a small profit without much outside capital. They were able to recruit 30 Fortune 500 clients, including American Express, GE and Diagio. Many of them were on-boarded in the past six months, and they're paying up to $10,000 per month to use Percolate.
Late last year, Percolate raised $9 million, which will fuel the fire in 2013. It will be interesting to see what Percolate does with all that cash, since it was pretty successful without it.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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