Dagne Dover's handbags target professional women who routinely tote with them a day's worth of supplies, from laptops to gym clothes. Its products balance California Closets-like storage efficiency with the fashion sense that co-founder and creative director Jessy Dover honed while interning at companies like Coach and Dennis Basso. She was recruited as a co-founder of Dagne by Melissa Mash, CEO, and Deepa Gandhi, COO, who conceived the idea while students at Wharton. The three launched Dagne Dover with $200,000 from friends and family and have since raised more than $3 million from people like Warby Parker investor David Bell and Nicolas Topiol, CEO of luxury brand Christian Lacroix. Dagne Dover debuts this year on Nordstrom.com, Revolve, Equinox, Bandier, and Stitch Fix. Still, “we are a digitally native brand,” says Dover. Many decisions, such as an early move into leather, were driven by customer suggestions. That engagement guides the business as it chooses among opportunities for expansion. "There are so many ways we can interpret our mission of how to bring life to this," says Dover. --Leigh Buchanan

Andrew Gazdecki used to run an online job board. It was back in 2009, when Gazdecki was a marketing student at California State University, Chico. At the time, mobile apps were still new--and all the rage--so the job board focused on connecting local companies with mobile app developers. While skimming listings in his dorm room, Gazdecki noticed a pattern: A lot of companies, primarily restaurants, were requesting near-identical products with near-identical functionalities. “If this could work for one restaurant, this could work for every restaurant in the United States,” Gazdecki recalls thinking. He sold the job board for a six-figure sum, enough to launch Bizness Apps, a mobile-app developer, in June 2010. In the seven years since, that company has grown to more than 100 employees and a valuation over $120 million. It’s expanded well beyond restaurants; Bizness Apps has developed apps for everyone from auto companies Michelin and Harley-Davidson to rappers Soulja Boy and Fetty Wap. Bizness Apps wasn’t Gazdecki’s first company, but it very well may be his last--even if it gets acquired. “The way I view this industry is that it’s one in a lifetime,” he says. “I just can’t see myself getting away from this.” --Cameron Albert-Deitch