Nate Levine
As a Stanford sophomore, Nate Levine saw opportunity where governments have historically been flat-footed. "Governments struggle to access [their own] data, because there aren't good tools out there," Levine says. With that in mind, he cofounded OpenGov in 2012 at age 20. OpenGov's software platform helps governments make intelligent, data-driven decisions and communicate financial information with their constituents. The startup has raised over $7 million—$4 million in 2013 alone—and works with more than 50 municipalities, school districts and other local government organizations, involving over 7 million people nationwide. As OpenGov expands—possibly into the for-profit sector—Levine is focused on building new tools to revolutionize how cities share data with one another and how they approach the budgeting process. Says Levine, "Better access to information allows officials to focus on the hard problems of governing. It's especially important now that governments are being asked to do more with less."