Top 40 Under 40!

They ride motorcycles to unwind, dream of going into space, and turn into mush around their pets. They're the entrepreneurs kicking off our first batch of 40 Under 40 profiles. Stay tuned as we write about all of these young leaders over the next several weeks, and then help us celebrate them on Feb. 12. 

Brian Ballard
APX Labs

Brian Ballard, 34, launched APX Labs five years ago when the only smart gadget we had was our phones. But the 53-person company created a software platform that powers industrial applications for smart glasses in manufacturing and field services for large enterprise customers. It’s raised $15.6M and recently debuted new partnerships with Sony and Vuzix. Brian, a former defense industry CTO, says the company is best known for its partnership with Google through its Glass At Work program and developing enterprise applications on Epson Moverio AR glasses.

What you didn't know about Brian: 

• He races motorcycles and once had a wreck going over 160 mph.

• Halloween is his favorite family holiday – he dressed his 6-month-old as Darth Vader and turned her stroller into a TIE fighter. 

• He started his career in supercomputing.

• Brian and his best friend tried to make a Kung Fu movie in China, even filming a fight scene on the Great Wall. 

Gary Hensley
EdBacker

Education has been Gary Hensley’s life – he’s worked as a teacher, a dean and an assistant principal. He also founded and sold edtech firm Intagrade to Pearson in 2009 by age 30. Now at 37, he’s running EdBacker, an end-to-end solution for schools, organizations, and PTAs and PTOs to manage fundraising. The revenue-generating firm, with four people and five developers, has over 200 parent organizations on board in 25 states. Gary has also brought on advisers like serial entrepreneurs Michael Chasen and Craig Cummings. EdBacker, run out of 1776, has raised $400k and will soon close another round.

What you didn’t know about Gary:

• Bucket list includes running with the bulls in Pamplona and being on stage with Drake with him wearing an EdBacker shirt. 

• Grew up a preacher’s kid, and dad is a Chaplain Colonel in the Army. 

• He’s half Puerto Rican and half Italian. 

• To unwind, he rides his Harley V-rod Muscle and does yoga. 

• His favorite movie is Dead Poets Society.

Tom Giannattasio
Macaw

Tom Giannattasio is barely into his 30s (age 31 to be exact) and he’s designed and developed web-based products for Apple, Oracle, Twitter and MIT. His latest venture, Macaw, has been building creative software for professional web designers and developers for nearly a year. Now the four-person firm, which raised $275k through Kickstarter, is working on a new product (code named Scarlet) that will launch this year. Tom says one of his biggest, “more nerdy” milestones was seeing a book published about Macaw’s software sitting on the shelf at Barnes & Noble.

What you didn't know about Tom:

• He’s a designer but also colorblind.

• He’s obsessed with outer space and will do whatever it takes to get there one day. 

• He dedicated himself to working on the web at age 13 and was asked to help promote Tony Hawk’s tour on his personal skateboarding site.

• He’s a comedy fanatic and is currently obsessed with the show Broad City but always finds his way back to Seinfeld and Arrested Development.

• He’ll be a professional skydiver in a future life. (He’s only skydived once.) 

Martin Ringlein
nvite

The first month of 2015 put Martin Ringlein’s nvite on the right path. The events platform for RSVP’ing, registering and purchasing tickets opened its product during Q4 last year and has already signed contracts with events that will process over $20M in ticket sales this year. Martin, 33, says NASDAQ used the embedded technology for an event that sold out in 20 minutes. Other clients have included Adobe, NPR, the White House’s Student Film Festival screening, and all of José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup restaurant events. Martin exited his first company through an acquisition by Twitter and helped lead Twitter’s design and research team as the company’s first design manager. He was also a Presidential Fellow at the White House.

What you didn't know about Martin:

• He owns a dog and a cat, who are best friends. Preston (half pug-half beagle) is on Twitter @puggle. 

• Martin met Mickey Mouse and Michael Jackson in December 1986 when his family walked through the turnstiles at Disney and set its attendance record. The family won a car and rode in the parade. “Epic childhood memory!”

• He designed the first LivingSocial logo when it was four Hungry Machine guys in a Georgetown attic. 

• He’s had lunch at The White House.

• His entire career has been based on his ability to design and use Photoshop, a skill he learned to impress a girl in high school yearbook class.