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Ryan Lee

Ryan Lee

Age: 31
Companies: Xm-i, Metacommunique

In rare cases, thinking small can have big payoffs. Ryan Lee made it big with the X-mini and X-mini Max speakers his company developed. The tiny speaker, which creates a sound 10 times its size, has proved a big hit with consumers worldwide. Within three months of launching the X-mini, Lee's company, Xm-i, broke even on all first-year expenses; within six months of the launch, the product was selling in more than 25 countries. His products received rave reviews from tech critics and won the Red Dot award for product design in 2008. The two-year-old company started with $22,000 but now has an annual revenue turnover of $1.8 million.