The past six years in tech can be simply called as “Tesla Years” due to their massive success, growth, and Elon Musks’ mainstay in the headlines due to his other ventures. Aside from him, there are other names like Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Google (or Alphabet) CEO Sundar Pichai, and of course – The Zuck or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
However, there are others who made waves in the scene despite not having big names. In one way or another, they have influenced their respective industries and made lasting effects that will be emulated in years to come.
6. MKBHD – Tech YouTuber
It’s impossible to not know Marques at this point. If you’ve searched for a review or any video of an internationally available phone, you will see him in the first few lines of the results. His original style and clear presentation got him at the forefront of traditional tech media and soon, found his way into private interviews with the biggest personalities of the industry like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Apple’s Craig Federighi.
Aside from his content, the technicality of his videos also laid the foundation for other aspiring tech YouTubers to improve upon. His clean thumbnails, presentation, camera work, camera choice, lighting, even the way he makes the title of his videos all became templates that others built on.
He may have almost 12 million subscribers now but there’s no sign of MKBHD slowing down nor getting lax in his line of work.
5. Ted Sarandos – Netflix
Reed Hastings will forever be remembered as that guy who took a DVD renting business online at the right moment, avoiding closure. However, what took Netflix to the next level was its catalogue of original content and for that, we’d have to thank Ted Sarandos.
These past six years, Netflix became known for producing original content that are at par with those from longtime studios and cable channels. House of Cards wasn’t the first but it’s the one that gave rise to this new side of Netflix, paving way for other shows like Orange is the New Black, Sense8 and Stranger Things. This was all done under Chief Content Officer and now Co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
With other studios having their own streaming platform now, it’s exciting how Sarandos and co. would take them on in terms of original content.
4. Steven Mollenkopf – Qualcomm
Steven Mollenkopf was relatively new in 2014, one year in his tenure as CEO of Qualcomm, and yet they made great waves in the mobile processor industry.
The iPhone’s main advantage is its hardware is tuned to the software using it, resulting in high efficiency – something that’s hard to replicate with other brands who use third-party providers. It changed when Qualcomm entered the market and was put inside almost every smartphone that doesn’t have an Apple logo.
Mollenkopf’s gameplan of lower cost, better architecture, and higher efficiency opened the gates for alternative flagships – those with specs that will rival an iPhone or Galaxy Note series but at half the cost. This is on top of the slew of midrange and entry-level phones we enjoy today.
3. Ren Zhengfei – Huawei
Ren Zhengfei is the founder and CEO of Huawei, a company known for disrupting the smartphone market albeit in a positive way. It was under his management that Huawei got into Google’s Nexus program that cemented their legitimacy as a smartphone maker, creating the last iteration of the phone in the Nexus 6P. After that, they made their own line of phones that competed neck and neck with Samsung and Apple. They were also among the first to do an expertise partnership when they decided to work with Leica for the cameras of their smartphones.
The company might be in hot water right now considering their phones can’t have Google services due to the US ban. However, with the US elections near, we might see them make a comeback in the smartphone market.
2. Frank Wang – DJI
Frank Wang’s name is not as popular as the brand he created, and he’s okay with letting his babies do the talking for him.
DJI not only made aerial photography and cinematography more attainable for production houses, it also compressed it into a consumer format in the form of the Spark and Mavic Mini. It also made videos extra stable with their production-grade gimbals and stabilizers in the Ronin, while casual users have the Osmo Mobile and Osmo Pocket.
DJI might not have affected a big market but it disrupted its niche so much that it set the new standard for everything else that follows.
1. Lisa Su – AMD
AMD was at their lowest point when Lisa Su took over the helm. Intel was on the top of their game, and AMD was weighed down by massive debt, on the verge of bankruptcy.
Lisa’s solution was simple – focus on their stronger areas. That means not dipping their toes on smart devices and mobile processors, something that was profitable at the time she stepped in as CEO.
Instead, they focused their development towards data centers, consoles, and gaming processors, something they have lots of experience in. It proved timely because by the time Intel encountered a hiccup compressing their 14nm architecture down to 10nm for better efficiency and power, AMD was more than ready with their new Ryzen processor that can take on the blue giant.
Now, six years after Lisa became the CEO of AMD, desktop enthusiasts are switching over to AMD en masse. Laptop makers are beginning to put them in their consumer laptops and some high-end ones, while their benchmark scores overshadow any Intel in any category. Intel even had to put out a statement saying those scores are not everything.
The tech landscape is constantly shifting and no powerhouse is safe. Jony Ive left Apple, AMD suddenly is on a roll with their processors, YouTube’s monetization rules are constantly in contrast to creators on its platform, DJI has no real competitor, the Huawei ban might be lifted after Trump – these are only on the surface of what’s happening right now. The world paused due to the pandemic but once it’s deemed safe to go back, tech would be at the forefront of innovation. Once that happens, another set of movers would come out on top.
