The Mount Everest
of Steves
Seven Steves are too famous to rank. They're clouds now. Poke one.
Steve HuffmanGold · best Steve alive953Steve EloCo-Founder & CEO · Reddit · 2 exits2Steven HaoSilver · so close396Steve EloCo-Founder and Chief Technology Officer · Cognition3Steve (Shiping) ChenBronze · still third-best Steve alive336Steve EloCo-Founder and Chief Operating Officer · Alamar Biosciences · 3 exitsSteve Huffman by Cody Glenn / Web Summit (Sportsfile), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
866 more down there
7 Steves who are done competing. Retired, deceased, or just advising now. No scores. They get clouds.
- Steve Jobsthe TurtleneckRecord closed
Co-founder of Apple; founder of NeXT; chief executive of Pixar. Died 2011.
Automatic. The archetypal retired-from-competition Steve, and the reason the Hall of Fame exists at all.
- Steve Wozniakthe WozNo current operating role
Co-founder of Apple; designer of the Apple I and Apple II.
Privateer still lists him as a co-founder, but its operating leadership is Alex Fielding as chief executive and chairman, and Wozniak is not named in it. Speaking, advising and ceremonial founder activity do not keep a Steve on the competitive board.
- Steve Blankthe Lean LaunchPadRetired from competition
Serial founder across eight startups; originator of the customer development method.
States plainly that he retired from entrepreneurship in 1999. He remains intellectually active and still teaches Lean LaunchPad at Stanford, which is exactly the category of activity the Committee has ruled is not competition.
- Steve Bournethe ShellRetired from competition
Author of the Bourne shell; major early Unix figure; later a Silicon Valley executive and a venture firm's chief technology officer.
His venture role ended years ago and ACM material describes him as retired. Current activity is ACM and ICPC involvement, which is service rather than operating.
- Steve CrockerRFC 1No current operating role
Author of RFC 1; ARPANET pioneer; former chair of the ICANN board and a central figure in early Internet governance.
The IETF currently lists no active roles for him. This is almost exactly the case the Hall of Fame was built for.
- Steve "Slug" RussellSpacewar!No current operating role
Wrote the original Spacewar!; implemented the first Lisp interpreter; later at the Stanford AI Lab and Silicon Valley firms.
Whatever technical engagement continues, it is nowhere near the major current operator or investor threshold the standings require.
- Steve Kirschthe Optical MouseRetired from competition
Optical mouse work; founder of Frame Technology, Infoseek and several later startups.
His own biography describes him as a retired high-tech serial entrepreneur, and M10 announced that he stepped down as chief executive and director in 2021.
Where every Steve starts
Not on the list? You weren't judged. We just couldn't find you. Don't take it personally. Or do.
Last tallied 9/23/2026