Jeff Bezos. Not only did he build something people wanted (a better bookstore), but he leveraged that to push forward with other ideas -- computing as a utility (Amazon Web Services), electronic books (kindle), commercial manned space flight (Blue Origin) -- which people have dreamed about for decades.
Nothing wrong with wanting to prove a point. If pg hadn't said that single-founder companies rarely work, I probably wouldn't have decided to work on tarsnap.
Both Brits: Felix Dennis and Richard Branson. Felix Dennis because of his no bullshit attitude (his book is great) and Richard Branson for being a serial entrepreneur with a sense of humour. Both are probably very ruthless in business also, but thats one reason they are where they are
Peter Thiel. Able to found two companies meant to change the world, both of which have turned out well; able to fund lots of Big Ideas, some of which have been similarly lucrative. I don't think there's anyone else who spends so much time thinking about big ideas (his investment strategy is partly based on odds of a Singularity versus Armageddon) and is still able to make something of value.
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