Heidi Messer

When Stephen and Heidi founded LinkShare in 1996, here major online advertising networks like Google AdWords didn’t yet exist. (In fact, Google itself was still a couple of years away.) They were nearly alone in their recognition of this opportunity, and they had to endure years of being told that it was a foolish pipe dream. They weren’t fazed. When Stephen and Heidi commit to an idea, their commitment is deep. They will work together for as long as it takes to build a lasting company, always avoiding the temptation to exit before seeing their vision through. The marketplace needs more founders like them.

There is, by the way, one thing that makes the Messers’ story almost completely unique: it’s one of the only sibling startup success stories that I know of.