New York, NY – Seven WeWork members from across the world were selected as honorees for Forbes annual 30 Under 30 list. The Forbes 30 Under 30 list includes 30 honorees for each of the 20 categories, with WeWork members acknowledged in the categories of Retail and Ecommerce, Education, Social Impact, Games, Food and Drink, and Media and Marketing. Being named a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree denotes these individuals as someone embodying the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit both WeWork and Forbes have come to represent.
WeWork’s intentionally-designed spaces create a flexible environment for members to work, collaborate and continue to grow their company regardless of their age or the size of their business. The community-driven ethos of WeWork also provides a launch pad for businesses to connect with not only potential customers, but fellow entrepreneurs who share their drive. This year, the WeWork members highlighted below continued to push forward, adapting and innovating their respective businesses to meet the demands of the moment. The WeWork member honorees are:
- Madison Guy, GrantMe (Vancouver, BC): Madison Guy is the founder of GrantMe, a platform that personalizes a students education journey. She launched the company in 2018 to help students find and win scholarships and their team has plans to expand to the United States over the next 18 months. To date, she’s helped connect students with $3 million in scholarships and grants.
- Matthew Davis and Gauthier Van Malderi, Perlego (London, UK): Matthew Davis and Gauthier Van Malderen wanted to find a way for university students to have affordable access to learning materials. Perlego, founded in 2017, is a subscription- based model that provides unlimited access to textbooks from over 3000 publishers, including Pearson, Elsevier and Wiley.
- Darius Baxter, GOODProjects (Washington, D.C.): Darius Baxter, alongside college football teammates Troye Bullock and Daniel Wright, founded the GOODProject, a nonprofit focusing on alleviating poverty in metro D.C. neighborhoods, currently focused on the 6th ward. To date, they have raised $6 million in grants and contracts to help at-risk youth through mentorship, education and family-centered services.
- Vanessa Pham, Omsom (New York, NY): First Generation Vietnamese American sisters Vanessa and Kim Pham created Omsom to reclaim the complexity, integrity, and nuances of Asian cuisines and communities. With their dish starters, Omsom provides Asian Americans a modern way to access a real-deal taste of home and shows non-Asian Americans what it means for this category to be done right. They are currently members of WeWork’s Food Labs test kitchen and winners of a 2019 Food Labs competition.
- Saoud Khalifah, Fakespot (New York, NY): In 2016, Saoud Khalifah started Fakespot, a free service to help eliminate fake reviews on Amazon. Since that time, Fakespot has expanded to provide real-time eCommerce protection on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Shopify stores, and other online marketplaces via its chrome extension. Millions of consumers trust Fakespot each year to protect them from eCommerce scams including fake reviews, unreliable third-party sellers, counterfeits, defective products, and more. In addition, Fakespot will automatically find you a more reliable seller than what the marketplace offers to save you time, money, and frustration. With Fakespot, you get what you want at the best price and only from the best sellers. Last month, the company raised a $4 million Series A with Bullpen Capital leading the round.
- Matthew Benson, eFuse (Columbus, OH): Matthew Benson co-founded eFuse, known as the Linkedin for esports. Since 2018, the company grew to over 12,000 listings on the platform where players can upload their in-game credentials and highlight reels in addition to applying for scholarships, internships, and competitive tournaments.
- Tess Michaels, Stride Funding (Dallas, TX): Tess Michaels was inspired to create a better platform for STEM graduates to access alternative funding for school. Stride Funding was founded in 2018 to offer income share agreements (ISAs) to students where they don’t pay upfront and only pay a share of their post-graduation income. She is looking to have 1800 students within the next year and of those students, 80% are women and 75% are underrepresented minorities.
This year, WeWork launched the All Access and On Demand products to expand the flexible options available for our members and provide more optionality in where and how they access the safe and collaborative workspace that allows them to continue innovating.
About WeWork
WeWork is a global leader in flexible space, providing businesses of all sizes with the space, community, and services they need to run and grow their business. With 859 locations, in 151 cities in 38 countries across the world, WeWork delivers flexible space solutions to its 542,000 members worldwide.
To learn more about All Access and On Demand, visit our memberships page.
