Nest Labs, the company behind The Learning Thermostat, was started by the guy who created the iPod.
While at Apple, Tony Fadell helped redefine the concept of a portable music player by developing the iPod. Fadell left the company in 2008 and later founded Nest Labs in 2010, a company that is redefining another product: the thermostat. Google bought Nest in January 2014 for $3.2 billion.
Andy Rubin, the founder of Android, originally started out at Apple.
Andy Rubin started his career in the early 90s as an engineer at Apple. He later founded Android, an open source mobile software company, which was eventually bought up by Google. Apple later accused Rubin of drawing a little too much inspiration for Android from his time at Apple. Rubin left Google in October 2014 and is now working on his own startup incubator and venture capital fund.
Enjoy, a startup that wants to bring the Apple Store Genius Bar to you, was created by Apple's former retail chief Ron Johnson.
Enjoy is a shopping platform that sells high-end electronic devices. But the real crux of the company that makes it stand out is its team of experts, which delivers products to you after you purchase them and sets them up for you. You can also book a session with an expert if you're having an issue with a device or simply need help learning how to use it. Ron Johnson, Apple's former vice president of retail, recently launched Enjoy in New York and San Francisco.
SITU, a Bluetooth food scale that syncs with your iPad, was invented by a former Apple employee.
Michael Grothaus was looking for an easy way to keep track of how many calories he was consuming on a regular basis, so he created the SITU scale. The scale is capable of weighing your food in terms of calories and nutrients in addition to grams and ounces. At Apple, Grothaus worked with the company's partners to devise sales strategies, according to his LinkedIn. He also credits his time at Apple between 2002 and 2007 for developing his business skills.
Upthere, a new cloud OS startup, was founded by two former Apple employees including the brains behind the Mac OS X.
As the brains behind the Mac operating system, Bertrand Serlet was widely considered to be one of Apple's true geniuses. Serlet left the company in mid-2011 and has since been working with a couple other ex-Apple employees on a startup in Palo Alto called Upthere, which is working to create a cloud OS that will change the way people store their files online.
Dave Morin, the founder of Path, is an Apple alum too.
Dave Morin is probably best known for his impact on social networking, first as an early Facebook employee working on initiatives like Facebook Connect and more recently as the founder of Path, a startup that strives to be a more intimate social network. But before he worked in either of these companies, Morin managed higher education marketing at Apple. Path recently sold to Daum Kakao, the company behind the popular Kakao Talk messaging app, for an undisclosed amount.
Flipboard, a social news app, was co-created by a senior Apple software engineer.
Evan Doll worked at Apple for six years, first as a pro video software engineer and then as a senior iPhone software engineer. He left the company in mid-2009 to co-found Flipboard, an app that essentially turns your social news feeds into a magazine. Apple recently announced that it's launching a Flipboard competitor called Apple News, which will be released in the fall with iOS 9.
Duet Display, an app that turns your iPad into a second computer display, was created by an ex-Apple engineer.
Duet Display was created by Rahul Dewan, an engineer that worked at Apple for three years on the Mac and iPad teams. Duet Display lest you use your iPad as an extra display for your Mac or PC.
Stocktwits, a social platform for investors, was founded by an Apple security analyst.
Stocktwits provides stock traders with a way to share investing news with one another in real time. The startup was cofounded in 2008 by Soren Macbeth, who spent a brief period working as a senior information security analyst at Apple in the mid-2000's.
Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, worked as a user experience architect at Apple for a couple years.
Nearly a decade before Reid Hoffman launched LinkedIn in 2003, he worked as a user experience architect at Apple. According to Hoffman's LinkedIn profile, he spearheaded several big projects for Apple including eWorld International and Global Access Assistant. If those names don't exactly sound familiar, keep in mind this was the mid-90s, before Steve Jobs made his return to the company and completely changed its direction.
Inkling, a digital textbook startup, was founded by a former Apple education marketer.
Matt Macinniss spent seven years working at Apple in several different positions that revolved around education marketing. He left the company in 2009 to found Inkling, a promising education startup that offers an alternative platform for publishing interactive digital textbooks.
Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts, worked at Apple in the early days.
Trip Hawkins served as a marketing director at Apple in the early days, but ended up leaving the company in 1982 to found Electronic Arts. Steve Jobs apparently viewed this move as an "act of betrayal," but something tells us Hawkins probably made the right decision. Hawkins also brought on a couple other Apple employees to help run the young video game company, including Dave Evans and Pat Marriott.
Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com's founder, spent a summer working at Apple, but it had a big impact on him.
Marc Benioff, the founder and current CEO of Salesforce.com, actually spent a summer coding for Apple back in the 1980's. While that may not be enough time to truly consider him an Apple alum, the experience did have a big impact on him. Benioff later wrote in his memoir, "That summer, I discovered it was possible for an entrepreneur to encourage revolutionary ideas."
