#8 Bill Hewlett and David Packard, HP

Mentor: Frederick Terman- Father of Silicon Valley

Frederick Terman is an American academic who is widely credited as the father of Silicon Valley. He was the mentor to Bill Hewlett and David Packard, who turned their garage-started small company into the world’s largest PC manufacturers. Terman was their past professor. Bill and David sought guidance from him and he took the role of inspirational mentor to HP founders. Terman, who kept track of his former students, gave Hewlett and Packard a list of about 25 potential customers for their first product, an audio oscillator. And regardless to say, the product was their first success.

#7 Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook

Mentor: Don Graham, CEO of Washington Post

The person who inspired one of the successful entrepreneurs of this decade, Zuckerberg, was a man from a different media world- Don Graham, CEO of Washington Post. Zuckerberg has in turn gone to Graham for insight, even spending several days following the media mogul to learn about life as a CEO. Since 2009, Graham has served on Facebook's board. The duo, separated by 39 years has formed an unlikely relationship. Graham was introduced through a college friend of Zuckerberg in 2005. Zuckerberg also helps Graham with his views on social media and news-sharing.