You know that little square that pops into the vendor’s phone at your local farmers’ market when you make a purchase? That’s Square, a device revolutionizing the way small businesses are being able to operate and mobilize. Serving as the company’s CFO, Sarah Friar has joined the company after a long stint at Salesforce.com, another Silicon Valley tech giant. Friar encourages women not to become discouraged by the skewed gender ratio in the tech industry; instead, she pushes women to feel emboldened by that, stating the female voice will inevitably stand out so why not take advantage of it!

Though her title as the Chief Executive Officer of Xerox Corporation seems like a feat in itself, Ursula Burns has a much more reputable addition to her resume: she is the first black-American female CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Additionally, in 2009 President Obama appointed her to help grow the White House’s program for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), AND Forbes rated her as the 22nd most powerful woman in the world in 2014. Talk about a fierce lady! She has spent almost the entirety of her career with Xerox, and seeing where she is now, it’s a testament to the notion that hard work pays off!

Indiegogo, a global crowdfunding site, has done wonders to help eradicate the financial burden from lofty dreams of non-profits, individuals, and artists. Chances are you’ve probably donated through the site to help a friend or organization reach their unique fundraising goal, and cofounder Danae Ringelmann is to thank for that! Her initial aim was create a platform so that it was simply easier to make the world a better place, ridding campaigns or fundraising efforts from the logistical barriers that often get in the way of having their ideas come to life.

Start-ups are everywhere now, but the ones you see are the lucky few who made it out of the initial stages and into the development and implementation aspect of the business. Jessica Livingston, cofounder and partner at the Y Combinator, is one of the initial few who helped get some of the today’s most influential companies started. The Y Combinator works as an accelerator that picks promising companies and helps fund them and get their business in motion. So really, her pick is shaping the development of the tech industry as we know it!