An updated edition of the November 7, 2025, article.

Founders have a distinctive capacity to shape and develop their companies from the very beginning, much like a parent guiding a child’s growth. Driven by a strong vision and deep commitment, they navigate uncertainty, embrace risk and often pursue unconventional paths that traditional managers might shy away from. Founder-led companies tend to mirror the personal values, beliefs and long-term ambitions of their creators, becoming lasting expressions of their drive and creativity. Beyond laying the groundwork, founders instill a clear sense of purpose and identity that supports sustainable, long-term growth.

Although founder-run firms make up less than 5% of the S&P 500, they wield a disproportionate impact on the global economy. Entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have transformed entire industries and built trillion-dollar enterprises that continue to flourish well beyond their early stages. Today, companies including NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA Quick QuoteNVDA - Free Report) , Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon, Meta, Tesla, Alphabet and Netflix highlight the enduring strength of founder-led organizations. Together, they account for nearly 15% of the S&P 500’s total market capitalization, with technology companies playing a dominant role.

Many of these businesses began with revolutionary ideas rooted in technological innovation. Built from the ground up, they are often designed with resilience and longevity in mind. In the early stages, founders frequently encounter skepticism from investors who struggle to see the promise of their vision, compelling them to rely on personal funds or bootstrapping. As momentum builds, outside capital typically follows, though founders usually retain the maximum financial exposure and ownership.

That same intensity and dedication, however, can also create challenges. Founders may be hesitant to delegate authority, often taking on multiple senior roles out of concern that others may not share their level of commitment or insight. This reluctance can restrict access to professional expertise and potentially slow scalability or adaptability. Even so, research consistently shows that founder-led firms outperform their peers. A Harvard Business Review study revealed that these companies generated a market-adjusted return of 12% over three years, compared with a negative 26% return for businesses run by non-founder CEOs—highlighting the long-term benefits of founder-driven leadership.

Our Founder-Run Companies Screen makes it easy to identify high-potential stocks. Currently, stocks like NVIDIA, Palantir Technologies (PLTR Quick QuotePLTR - Free Report) , Blackstone Inc. (BX Quick QuoteBX - Free Report) and Robinhood Markets (HOOD Quick QuoteHOOD - Free Report) look appealing. 

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4 Founder-Run Companies to Add to Your Portfolio

NVIDIA, with a market capitalization of approximately $4.58 trillion, is a global leader in visual computing and the pioneer of the graphics processing unit (GPU). While the company initially built its reputation in PC graphics, its strategic focus has expanded toward artificial intelligence-driven solutions that power high-performance computing (HPC), gaming and virtual reality (VR) platforms.

Founder and CEO Jensen Huang maintains that accelerated computing and generative AI are fundamentally reshaping not only the computer industry but virtually every sector of the global economy. NVIDIA has already leveraged AI to create multiple multi-billion-dollar businesses across industries such as gaming, healthcare, automotive and robotics. Its Hopper 200 architecture and the forthcoming Blackwell GPUs are specifically engineered to support the training and inference of large language models, recommendation systems and a wide range of generative AI applications.

The data center segment represents a significant growth driver for NVIDIA. As enterprises increasingly migrate to cloud-based infrastructure, demand for data centers continues to rise. In response, major operators such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet are rapidly expanding their global data center footprint, fueling strong and sustained demand for NVIDIA’s GPUs.

NVDA currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Palantir Technologies, with a market capitalization of about $439 billion, develops and deploys advanced software platforms, primarily for the intelligence community, supporting counterterrorism analysis and mission-critical operations. The company was co-founded in 2003 by Alex Karp alongside Peter Thiel, Stephen Cohen and Joe Lonsdale, with Karp currently serving as executive chairman.

Palantir’s AI strategy is built around its core Foundry and Gotham platforms and is supported by a clear roadmap to drive AI adoption across both government and commercial markets. In a crowded AI landscape where many competitors remain stuck in experimental or pilot phases, Palantir has distinguished itself by delivering production-ready, scalable AI solutions. Its emphasis on making AI immediately practical—through deployable agents and operational platforms—has established a strong competitive moat across its public- and private-sector businesses.

By closely aligning its AI initiatives with U.S. defense priorities, Palantir has reinforced its role as a critical partner in the defense ecosystem. Additionally, the company’s modular sales model allows customers to adopt individual components rather than committing to the full platform at once, lowering barriers to entry and accelerating growth in its U.S. commercial customer base.

As AI reshapes the software industry, Palantir, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company, stands out as one of the few companies translating AI enthusiasm into real-world value. Its focus on operationalized AI solutions has resonated with customers, driving strong financial momentum. Reflecting this strength, the company raised its full-year 2025 revenue guidance, with the midpoint of $4.398 billion implying year-over-year growth of 53%.

Blackstone, with a market capitalization of about $190.4 billion, is the world’s largest alternative asset manager, overseeing more than $1.24 trillion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, 2025. The firm’s broad product offerings, diversified revenue streams and dominant position in alternative investments are expected to continue driving long-term AUM growth.

The company was co-founded in 1985 by Stephen A. Schwarzman and Peter Peterson, with Schwarzman currently serving as executive chairman. Blackstone also holds the distinction of being the first major alternative asset manager included in the S&P 500 index.

This Zacks Rank #2 company benefits from a strong global footprint, wide diversification and solid organic growth opportunities. These strengths, combined with a balanced revenue mix, industry-leading scale, and healthy total and fee-earning AUM levels, are likely to support continued expansion.

Despite a challenging fundraising environment for asset managers, Blackstone has continued to generate meaningful inflows. As of Sept. 30, 2025, fundraising across its global private equity and real estate strategies increased the firm’s available capital, or “dry powder,” to $188.1 billion. This substantial capital reserve positions Blackstone well to take advantage of market disruptions. Management remains optimistic about long-term opportunities in areas such as digital infrastructure, energy and power, life sciences, alternative investments, and a recovery in commercial real estate. In addition, strong growth trends in markets like India and Japan further enhance the firm’s prospects and support its disciplined approach to capital deployment.

Robinhood Markets, with a market capitalization of approximately $105.6 billion, is a technology-driven financial services platform focused on modernizing investing and banking. The company was co-founded in 2013 by Vladimir Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, with Tenev serving as CEO.

As part of its ambition to become a global financial platform, Robinhood has introduced a range of new products and services. These include tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for European Union investors, as well as the launch of its advanced desktop trading platform, Robinhood Legend, in the U.K., following its U.S. debut in October 2024.

Robinhood now operates nine business segments, each generating more than $100 million in annualized revenues. At the same time, it is rapidly expanding newer initiatives such as Robinhood Strategies, Robinhood Banking, and the recently announced acquisition of Bitstamp. The company plans to scale many of these emerging businesses into $100 million-plus revenue drivers over the coming years, supporting its vision of a diversified and scalable financial ecosystem. Revenue diversification is further supported by offerings like Robinhood Gold, retirement accounts, cryptocurrency trading and rising interest income.

With a long-term vision of becoming a global player, Robinhood is continuing to expand its footprint beyond the Americas and Europe, setting its sights on growth opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region. It carries a Zacks Rank #2.