Henry Maudslay, who made the first practical screw cutting lathe, bench micrometer, and transformed the world of machine tools. He made a bench micrometer that could measure to the 1/10,000th of an inch in the early 1800s.

He helped set up the very first machine tool based line for the production of pully blocks for the British Navy. [1] https://todayinsci.com/M/Maudslay_Henry/MaudslayHenry-ToolBu...

It's not one particular entrepreneur, but my favorite are the long-term local small business owners, like the guy I met a few months ago that's had a tire shop in town since the 70s. They've found a sustainable way to make a living providing something useful for their local community. That should really be the goal.

José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Central_Kitchen

Geohot. He is unconventional. Probably leaving money on table but doing more unconventional stuff.

Richard Stalman, someone who puts other people's rights before his own wallet.

Rod Canion.

Practical, but radical enough to take on IBM when their PC looked unassailable. Being first to the table with a 386 and working with others to make sure micro channel was DOA set the standards for the industry for decades.

Edit: 2nd was Gary Kildall

A better question would have been..who would you consider a formidable rival?

Palmer Luckey. Many of the things he discusses, he brings an interesting angle I didn't think of, and has changed my opinion on numerous topics. Great orator.

I admired Steve jobs for product vision, but I wouldn't ignore the ecosystem around him.

I just don't idolize individuals.

pieter levels, the guy is honest i think.He is doing simple things and succeed.I love his videos.

Anyone that worked unselfishly for the public good. People like doctors and scientists putting their career at work to improve humanity

Marcel Duchamp

Do you mean which billionaire master do you simp for? Stop idolizing them!

Elon Musk.

Ok, so he's a bit of a arse, and I really wish he had stayed out of politics, but overall...

Richard Branson, he goes against so much convention:

- everyone has so much process to "hire right", but in his books he hired kinda random it seems. And seems to delegate a lot rather than "founder mode"

- the original remote worker: bought a caribbean island for cheap and managed his businesses from there

- random collections of businesses under his brand: airline, telecom, music, ...

was he just like super lucky that everything worked out for him?