2013 – Oculus Rift

Palmer Lucky was able to leverage the never-ending demand for VR; the dramatic increase in PC processing power, the advent of low-cost, high-quality hobbyist hardware and circuit boards; the explosion of the large screen; high-resolution smart phone display, which is still the primary source of screens in HMDs and the raw power and acceptance of crowd-sourcing. This perfect storm of tech, money, ideas, enthusiasm, and execution allowed him to sell his company to Facebook for $2 billion.

Palmer deserves credit for re-creating the VR demand that has brought us Cardboard, Gear, Daydream, and HoloLens, which are all discussed in greater detail elsewhere in this book.