The Finalists

By Aaron Ricadela, Douglas MacMillan, Arik Hesseldahl, and Olga Kharif

The Finalists

Innovation among startups is alive and well, judging from the crop of entrepreneurs who made it onto this year's list. Herewith, BusinessWeek.com's annual rundown of the most promising tech startups and the young people, age 30 and under, who set them in motion. To arrive at the finalists, we weighed input from readers, investors, and BusinessWeek editors and writers who cover the tech sector. Each slide lists the company name, executives age 30 and under, a business description, and lessons learned amid the recession.