Fast forward to today, Canva is generating $3 billion in annual revenue, with over 220 million monthly users, and is deemed the most valuable female-led startup in the world. Perkins, now 38, has herself amassed a fortune of $5.8 billion, placing her among the richest self-made women on the planet.

That’s exactly the purpose of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list—to identify transformative talent early. Perkins is one of many alumni who have gone on to reshape entire industries with ideas that are both simple and revolutionary. Take Forbes’ recent cover star Vlad Tenev, who had the idea to make stock trading digital with Robinhood. Today, Tenev is worth around $6 billion, with Robinhood generating $1.4 billion in profit on nearly $3 billion in revenue last year.

Then there’s Ankur Jain, a 2015 Under 30 alum, who asked: Why not earn rewards for paying rent with a credit card? That idea became Bilt, his second startup, which recently raised an additional $250 million at a $10.75 billion valuation.

These success stories aren’t random. They’re the result of a rigorous selection process. Each year, Forbes combs through tens of thousands of nominations across our U.S., Asia and Europe 30 Under 30 lists. We consult with leading venture capitalists, accelerators and top universities, then tap experts across different industries—four of whom serve as judges for each of our 20 categories—to help us identify the brightest rising stars.

We evaluate everything from the innovativeness of the idea to the strength of its backers, and its potential to scale far beyond current trends. While there's no formula for making the list, we’re looking for true changemakers. (More on how we make the list here.)

And now, in the age of AI, a new generation of innovators is emerging. Look at Lovable, a startup that lets users build apps simply by entering a prompt. Cofounder Fabian Hedin made the list last year. In just eight months time, Lovable hit $100 million in annualized revenue, making it the fastest-growing software startup ever. Or consider Mercor, which builds AI agents to streamline hiring for companies like Meta and OpenAI. It's already valued at $2 billion, and the cofounders weren’t even legal adults when they started.

So here’s the question: Are you next? Or do you know someone who could, one day, rank amongst Melanie Perkins or Vlad Tenev?

Forbes is actively searching for the next class of 30 Under 30—and nominations for U.S. and Canada close in less than a month. Don’t wait. Submit yours here.

More next week, 
Zoya, Alex and Alexandra

-Do you find yourself accidentally coming across political content on TikTok? That passive consumption (compared to actively seeking out this sort of information) online is having a big impact on politics. While many signs pointed to Gen Z being the most progressive generation yet, last year’s election indicated otherwise. Vox dug into why—and what constant scrolling has to do with it. (Vox)

-Welcome, Paramount, A Skydance Corporation. This week, after a year-long process, Paramount and Skydance officially merged to make the combined $8.4 billion media company. The closed deal comes just a few weeks after President Trump sued CBS (owned by Paramount Global) over a 60 Minutes segment that he alleged “tipped the scale” of last year’s election. Paramount’s $16 million payout to settle the suit was apparently not out of any admission of guilt, but to keep this deal moving. (Deadline)

The following has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What is your fifteen second elevator pitch on Paradigm? Paradigm is a spreadsheet interface that enables users to query the internet as if it were a database. We help our clients, whether it be consulting firms or tech giants, automate complex and manual research by filling in cells in a matter of seconds. 

Why did you decide to take on the process of automating spreadsheets? I ran a different company before Paradigm, building websites and AI chatbots for startups. Eventually I realized that although chat features are a great interface, spreadsheets are also a highly valuable tool because most knowledge workers use them to store valuable data. I saw an opportunity in redefining them with AI. 

What is an AI hack that more people should know about? Whenever my friends and I are curious about something, instead of looking it up, we will use ChatGPT’s voice mode to ask questions. There’s a nicer vibe to it. Plus you can ask follow up questions and let people in the group chime in. 

What is a company or venture that you admire? Cursor AI. I love how they were so ruthlessly product-obsessed for the first few years of the company. I feel like they built a product for themselves, which is what I feel like I’m doing at Paradigm.

How do you start your days? I start my days in such a basic founder way by checking email and Slack, responding to as many people as possible. I also love running so I try to do a brief run in the mornings. Our team does internal stand-up at 9 a.m. every weekday where we discuss what’s on the docket for the day. 

What does the Paradigm team look like now? Our team is still super small with six full-time employees. We were only three people a few months ago so we are in the early stages of growing a team. We believe that small teams that are very technical can make a big impact. We want to bring exceptional people onto Paradigm that can have the impact of 10 people while doing the work of one. 

What’s something you can’t live without? Noise-canceling headphones.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received? Make every decision as if you are the most ambitious version of yourself. 

What does Paradigm’s next chapter look like? In terms of internal impact I would like to build an intentional culture that has both deeply technical engineers as well as product-obsessed people that bring creativity to the table. Externally, I would love to keep building this community of people that love using our product. I’ve found that my metric for product satisfaction is not just that someone uses it all the time, but they can’t stop talking about it or showing it to other people. That level of product-obsession is what I am aiming for in the next couple of years.