15 People Every Entrepreneur Should Be Following

If you’re already on Twitter then you likely also understand one of it’s main attractions, the opportunity to follow some really cool people.

Twitter was the first social network that truly allowed you to follow anyone you wanted and it worked so well because the follow function was built as a series of one way streets. Meaning people don’t have to follow you back when you choose to follow them.

These days you can find a lot of truly influential people on Twitter and you have the opportunity to see their opinions on current events, get an inside line on what they’re working on and if you’re lucky maybe you’ll get to exchange a few tweets with an idol of yours.

You’ll find thousands of successful entrepreneurs on Twitter but we’ve gone ahead and assembled a list of entrepreneurs that are not only hugely successful but ones that also offer a lot of value in their Twitter streams on a regular basis.

Brian Clark

Follow on Twitter – @copyblogger

Brian Clark is the mastermind behind the hugely successful Copyblogger brand. As his site approaches 150,000 subscribers it has been continuously recognized over the years by publications and industry professionals as a high quality and useful resource. New posts are published on a daily basis and feature writers from all over the fields of copywriting, internet marketing and SEO.

Brian is a regular on Twitter and you’ll find his tweets are a healthy mix between casual banter, links to great content and occasional commentary and opinions on current events. An absolute must follow for entrepreneurs across the board, regardless of what industry you’re in.

Neil Patel

Follow on Twitter – @neilpatel

Neil Patel is the self made man behind software companies Crazy Egg and KISSmetrics. He’s had incredible success for so young an entrepreneur and I recommend that everyone read the About page on his website, it’s both inspirational and a testament to failure being the breeding grounds for success. He’s clearly weathered his own failures but each time he learned a lesson and he’s shared those lessons. If you’re just starting out read up on some of his posts reflecting on his own failures, you might be able to avoid the same fate by doing so.

Neil is a regular on Twitter and shows up nearly everyday with unique offerings. He engages regularly with followers and is especially recommended for those in the software development industry.

Ali Brown

Follow on Twitter – @AliBrown

Ali Brown, a self made millionaire by age 35 has become hugely successful and considered the voice for women’s entrepreneurial success. Her success in online ventures quickly spiraled into print and then television where she’s graced shows like Secret Millionaire and been interviewed by nearly every major network. She’s also the host of Shine, an annual conference for women entrepreneurs.

A highly recommended follow for the women reading but that’s not at all to imply her stream isn’t just as valuable to the men. Her stream is full of follower engagement, inspirational quotes and all the latest on her current projects.

Daniel Pink

Follow on Twitter – @DanielPink

Daniel Pink is the author of four provocative books about the changing world of work, including the New York Times bestsellers, A Whole New Mind and Drive, which together have been translated into 32 languages. A former speech writer for Vice President Al Gore, Daniel has since turned his talents towards his passion of the human mind. His books offer totally original perspectives that challenge the traditional and push the human body and mind towards a better more productive future.

If you often have difficulty motivating yourself to get your work done or you’re looking to become a more efficient worker, Dan is the man to follow on Twitter (and reading his books isn’t a bad place to start either.)

Michael Gerber

Follow on Twitter – @MichaelEGerber

Michael founded the company that would eventually become E-Myth Worldwide more than 30 years ago to address a significant need in the small business market: businesses owned primarily by people with technical skills but few business skills, and no place to go to get meaningful help. Over the years, E-Myth has helped tens of thousands of small business owner clients to successfully transform their businesses into world-class operations.

Darren Rowse

Follow on Twitter – @problogger

Darren Rowse, the man behind Problogger makes a full time living online through a variety of websites and blogs. The Problogger website is a private community of bloggers who come together to collaborate, learn and grow their blogs in a walled forum area. There’s a small monthly subscription fee to help keep the site sustainable and to hire an administrator but also to keep the forum focused.

If blogging is going to be a big part of your business, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to follow the best in the business of blogging.

Missy Ward

Follow on Twitter – @MissyWard

Missy Ward is the Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit, FeedFront Magazine, GeekCast.fm, VelocityNYC Press, AffStat.com, AffiliateBuyersGuide.com, ShipToTroops.com and Founder of AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com. Affiliate Summit just happens to be the largest Affiliate Marketing Conference on the planet. Missy is the type of woman that seems like she never stops working and she also pulls double time raising absurd amounts of money for charities that support breast cancer research, treatment and community programs.

If affiliate marketing is your game then you’ll be hard pressed to find a more informative and enjoyable person to follow and learn from on Twitter.

Jason Fried

Follow on Twitter – @jasonfried

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, the Chicago-based web-application company. He has co-authored all of 37signals’ books, including the upcoming, “Rework,” as well as the ‘minimalist manifesto,’ “Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application” He also helps to maintain the company’s popular blog, Signal vs. Noise, and is regularly invited to speak around the world on entrepreneurship, design, management, and software.

First off, if you’re a user of any products made by 37signals, follow away. He’s a great all around person to follow and interacts often with followers.

Bob Burg

Follow on Twitter – @BobBurg

Bob Burg is the author of national bestseller, The Go-Giver which has been heralded as a new business classic. He is an advocate, supporter and defender of the Free Enterprise system, believing that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people they serve and how well they serve them.

The truth is networking is great for business and thinking of others is hard when you’re so wound up in your own projects. As you might imagine, Bob interacts daily with his followers, a true practitioner of what he preaches.

John Jantsch

Follow on Twitter – @ducttape

John is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing System and Duct Tape Marketing Consulting Network that trains and licenses small business marketing consultants around the world. His blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for marketing and small business and his podcast, a top ten marketing show on iTunes, was called a “must listen” by Fast Company magazine. His practical take on small business is often cited as a resource in publications such as the Wall St. Journal, New York Times, and CNNMoney.

Following John you’ll get links daily offering all kinds of tips related to internet marketing. Hugely useful to entrepreneurs looking to boost website traffic and business.

Chris Brogan

Follow on Twitter – @chrisbrogan

Chris Brogan consults and speaks professionally with Fortune 100 and 500 companies like PepsiCo, General Motors, Microsoft, and more, on the future of business communications, and social software technologies. He is a New York Times bestselling co-author of Trust Agents, and a featured monthly columnist at Entrepreneur Magazine. Chris’s blog, [chrisbrogan.com], is in the Top 5 of the Advertising Age Power150. He has over 11 years experience in online community, social media, and related technologies.

Chris’s Twitter as all of his social accounts, is pretty high volume so if constant posts aren’t for you, you may want to skip out on this follow. However, there’s no debating that Chris is a leader in the industry of internet marketing and branding with lots of great advice to pass on.

Derek Sivers

Follow on Twitter – @sivers

Derek Sivers is best known as the founder of CD Baby. A professional musician (and circus clown) since 1987, Derek started CD Baby by accident in 1998 when he was selling his own CD on his website, and friends asked if he could sell theirs, too. CD Baby was the largest seller of independent music on the web, with over $100M in sales for over 150,000 musician clients. After he won the 2003 World Technology Award, Esquire Magazine’s annual “Best and Brightest“ cover story said, “Derek Sivers is changing the way music is bought and sold… one of the last music-business folk heroes.” In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby to focus on his new ventures to benefit musicians, including his new company MuckWork where teams of efficient assistants help musicians do their “uncreative dirty work”. His current projects and writings are all at sivers.org.

Compared to most people in this list Derek is a light Twitter user. He shares links to his current projects and promotes other great original ventures along with the occasional light hearted entertaining link.

Anita Campbell

Follow on Twitter – @smallbiztrends

Widely considered a “small business expert,” Anita Campbell serves as CEO of Anita Campbell Associates Ltd, a woman-owned consulting firm helping companies and organizations reach the small business market.

As Publisher of several online media properties and syndicated content, Anita reaches over 1,000,000 small business owners and entrepreneurs annually. She is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Small Business Trends, an award-winning online publication.

Are you a small business? There’s no better follow than Anita. You’ll get daily links from a variety of sources around the internet but all of them quality and all of them relevant.

Aliza Sherman

Follow on Twitter – @alizasherman

Aliza Sherman is a Web pioneer, mobile strategist, and social media innovator and commentator. She speaks around the world and writes about Internet, social media, the intersections of social and mobile, and women’s technology and business issues. Aliza specializes in making technology more accessible to humans.

In 1995, Newsweek named her one of the “Top People Who Matter Most on the Internet” after she founded the first woman-owned, full-service Internet company, Cybergrrl, Inc. and the first global Internet networking organization for women, Webgrrls International.

This Alaskan local is a great follow for those interested in the fields of social media, business, crowdsourcing (if you’re lucky perhaps you can catch her at a stop on her book tour), mobile and women’s issues.

Richard Branson

Follow on Twitter – @richardbranson

Richard Branson is the only person on this list that I feel needs no introduction. He is the hugely successful billionaire behind the Virgin Media Group. Most billionaires don’t bother much with Twitter but Richard seems to genuinely enjoy it. While he doesn’t bother much trying to reply to one of his million plus followers, he’s regularly sharing interesting projects of his and promoting some pretty unique opportunities.

So there’s my list of influential and successful entrepreneurs that are without a doubt worth following. Combined they should get your Twitter stream up and running quickly if you don’t already have one.

Did I miss someone you think belongs on this list? (I know I did.) But I’d love to do a follow up down the line, please let me know in the comments!