Ali Ghodsi, CEO and cofounder of Databricks. When Ghodsi reluctantly agreed to help start Databricks in 2013, he only joined as a part-time engineer: “Three months in, I realized I’m doing 100 hours a week here. It was impossible to keep doing research.” Within a year, he was running all of engineering. Within three, he was running the place.
TIMOTHY ARCHIBALD FOR FORBES