21 Entrepreneurs You Should Be Following On Twitter

by Kathrine Sterrett
Posted in Entrepreneur 11 Apr 13
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Image via Annette Shaff/Shutterstock

If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s essential you get your ass in gear every day and find information you need to keep your business going. This is where the expertise, motivation and quotes from other entrepreneurs can help you.

Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes, so don’t be too surprised when I mention people you think are ridiculous. Just read on and be amazed instead of judging a book by its cover, damn it.

1. Richard Branson (@RichardBranson)

Branson is notable because he is not only a big-shot entrepreneur, he’s someone who likes to “turn dreams into reality” (quote his Twitter page, naturally). He loves to seek adventure and stuff to do, but he’s also known as Dr. Yes at his company, Virgin. Most of his tweets are encouraging, even for the most shy of entrepreneurs.

2. Mark Cuban (@MCuban)

The shark is back in town, and he’s ready to EAT you! Well, not really eat you. More like…talk you to death, because his Twitter is seriously filled with tons of information. He talks about the Mavs (he owns them, after all) but he’s got some pretty sweet advice, too.

3. Daymond John (@TheSharkDaymond)

The second shark on the list, Daymond John is the CEO and founder of FUBU. He brings his steet cred to his Twitter account with tidbits of life lessons and smartass remarks. Of course, he spends plenty of time promoting “Shark Tank,” and much of the rest of his tweets have nothing to do with business at all. But they’re all entertaining, and if you spend time scrolling through his feed, you’re sure to find plenty of insightful remarks on both life and entrepreneurship.

4. Ev (@Ev)

Ah, yes: the smallest packages have the most awesome prizes. Missing out on Evan Williams’ Tweets is like missing out on Twitter because, well, he totally co-founded the website. He talks a lot of crap about famous people and all that, but in between all of those tweets he hands out some pretty valuable advice.

5. Tony Hsieh (@Zappos)

Shoes. Yep. While you might not find shoes very exciting, Tony Hsieh does. He’s made a small fortune off of shoes and his Web site Zappos.com. He’s a great guy to follow for a couple of reasons, one being he is funny as hell. Another is he hands out nice advice about teamwork and how to keep it together even when it sucks. He’s not as active as he once was on Twitter, but you can find a ton of stuff by going through his archives.

6. Adam Toren (@TheBizGuy)

The lovely Adam Toren runs this Twitter account, and he’s the co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com (if you haven’t heard of this Web site, you’re an idiot. Go read some of the stuff it has to offer now). He talks a lot about the marketplace and success and all that jazz. If you don’t follow YoungEntrepreneur, follow the Twitter.

7. Guy Kawasaki (@GuyKawasaki)

This dude might not be as well-known as some other people you know that make a bunch of crazy money every year, but he’s pretty awesome. Because… you know. He was part of Apple and stuff for a long time. Now he writes–a– lot. For Entrepreneur Magazine. So he’s always got something cool to say.

8. Caterina Fake (@Caterina)

Caterina does what everyone expects women to do: Art. However, she creates art and makes a butt-ton of money while she’s at it. While she doesn’t have a whole ton of advice on her own, she does have a lot of good article links and retweets and stuff you’d probably find pretty useful if you’re a lady looking to rock the world with your product and/or service (that sounds wrong, but you know what I mean).

9. Jessica Jackley (@JessicaJackley)

If you haven’t heard of Kiva, you’re pretty heartless (or at least I think so). It’s one of the few microlending services in the world that helps people from all over start small businesses when they would otherwise have no means of doing so. Your loans stay in the system and rotate through a number of different people (depending on who you want to invest in) once they come back to you. It’s DAMN awesome.

10. Rick Myers (@RickM)

Ever heard of the Talent Zoo? It kind of sounds ridiculous, but it’s really awesome if you’re looking for a job in a few select categories. New jobs are posted all of the time, and Rick Myers here is responsible for the Web site in the first place. He’s awesome because his tweets cover business, economic trends and all kinds of stuff you should know about. Today.

11. Rajesh Setty (@Rajsetty)

This guy used to blog and all that jazz, but he’s more of a tweeter and rich person now that doesn’t need to blog to make money. Well, he still sort of blogs, and his blogs are freaking GOLD. You want to read this. He has a unique perspective on just about everything, and because of that, you’ll see some twists on old ideas.

12. Randall Fishkin (@RandFish)

This dude is pretty darn awesome because he always has tons of crap to say about marketing, entrepreneurship and startups. He tweets like 100 times a week, too, so there’s always some crap you can read. Oh, did I mention he founded SEOmoz? Bet you’ve heard of that.

13.  Mike Michalowicz (@MikeMichalowicz)

So you should be following this guy because he’s pretty cool, too. You’ve probably heard of the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, and that’s this guy. He’s light and kind-hearted, and he’s always got something to give to you that’s valuable – he always surrenders his advice willingly and is always looking out for you, a fellow entrepreneur.

14. Anita Campbell (@SmallBizTrends)

The person who runs this Twitter account is Anita Campbell, and she’s the ever-lasting editor-in-chief of Small Business Trends. She’s also one bitchin’ entrepreneur and doesn’t abandon her Twitter when stuff gets busy. Her tweets are always on topic and on top of stuff you probably haven’t even heard of yet.

15. Deirdre M. Coyle (@AllWorldNetwork)

This particular Twitter account is run by Deirdre M. Coyle (junior – which is weird, because you never see female juniors). Anyway, AllWorld strives to make all businesses look big and bad against the backdrop of crazy large businesses, and it does a pretty bangup job, too. Anyway, this Twitter serves for daily motivation (like, eight times a day, really).

16. Gary Swart (@GarySwart)

So this guy really isn’t known all that well, but his Web site – oDesk – is. If you’re looking for a couple of folks who know what they’re doing and will do it pretty reasonably, you’ll probably find them on oDesk, whether you need someone to code, design a layout, or write. Anyway, Gary’s Twitter isn’t all that interesting, but it retweets a lot of the good points that the oDesk Twitter has to say without any of the boring crap, so check it out.

17. Steve Case (@SteveCase)

Even though a lot of the people we’re going over today aren’t really in the “big market,” this is one of the exceptions. Case is the co-founder of AOL and is part of the reason it’s still running. He’s ALWAYS on top of stuff going on in the business world, and the stuff he posts is seriously invaluable… even if someone else is posting it for him (that’s the point of being an entrepreneur though, right? So you can pay someone else to do something for you and still make money?).

18. Mark Suster (@Msuster)

Mark Suster is not only an entrepreneur, he’s also a venture capitalist and one seriously badass dude. He focuses mostly on the technology niche, but he writes and works with Salesforce.com, too. He has tons of experience and knows what helped him succeed… and he’s convinced it’ll help you succeed, too. He’s a little rambly sometimes, and he likes sports so just go ahead and look around that crap.

19. Timothy Berry (@Timberry)

This guy founded Palo Alto Software and has a tech spin on everything, but he’s also a solid entrepreneur with a good world view. He writes and blogs, like many entrepreneurs, and he’s good at figuring out how to help people LAUNCH businesses (not necessarily maintain them). He also retweets some pretty cool stuff from other people that you may not see otherwise.

20. Bernadeen McLeod (@Bernadeen)

Oh, look! A whole FOURTH WOMAN makes it to the list! Hurray, Bernadeen McLeod. This lady owns and operates Mentor Works Ltd, which helps folks get on track with excellent, quality  business coaching (basically, she’s getting paid to mother businesses. Who knew?). She offers free advice, awesome articles, and the occasional resource. Oh, and she’s been on Twitter so long that she actually used her first name as her Twitter handle, so go worship her now. Well, go worship her if you’re Canadian. Otherwise you can just follow her instead.

21. Seth Godin  (@ThisisSethsBlog)

You probably didn’t think you’d find Seth all the way down here, did you? Well, it just so happens I completely forgot about him. SO JUST BE HAPPY HE MADE THE LIST.

Anyway, Seth is fabulous, and you should read all of his entrepreneur books. If you’re poor and can’t do that, at least take a gander at his blog and his Twitter. The boldness will bring you in and hypnotize you, I promise.