Lucas Duplan, 22Founder, ClinkleJust over a year after receiving his undergrad computer science degree from Stanford, Duplan is running one of the most hyped and controversial startups in the nation, Clinkle, which seeks to disrupt the way financial transactions are done—with a digital wallet used on mobile phones. He has shocked Silicon Valley with his ability to raise $30 million from the likes of Richard Branson, Peter Thiel and Andreessen Horowitz for an unreleased secret product and attract talent like former Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy, who is now Clinkle’s COO. At the same time Duplan has been slammed by tech bloggers, who have pointed to the large number of departing employees—one of whom anonymously posted a harsh criticism of Duplan—and made fun of some of his decisions, like the over-the-top video ad Clinkle produced. “At the end of the day only one thing will matter: Do people like and use our product?” says Duplan. “Our focus is not on the press or who is backing it. Our focus is on product.”

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