MARK VADON

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Net Worth        : $73.2 million
Place of Living    : San Francisco

Mark C. Vadon, 39, who is the co-founder of the Blue Nile and has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since its inception in March 1999. He has served as the Company’s Executive Chairman since February 2008 and served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer from March 1999 to February 2008. March 1999 to February 2007, Mr. Vadon was also Blue Nile’s President. From December 1992 to March 1999, Mr. Vadon was a consultant for Bain & Company, a management consulting firm.

Maveron missed out nearly a decade ago when it failed to make an early investment in Blue Nile, an online jewelry retailer that’s now valued at more than $830 million. But the 39-year-old entrepreneur said he will certainly apply some lessons from Blue Nile — which survived the dot-com bust and last year posted revenue of $295 million — to the new startup. Nine years later Vadon’s online shop, Blue Nile (Charts), is one of the largest vendors of engagement rings and wedding bands in the U.S., selling $197 million worth last year – ahead of Tiffany in that department.

I’ll open up 20 or so and read any order that’s above $50,000. To the horror of many in the insular and secretive diamond industry, Vadon, 34, is well on his way. In five years his company, Blue Nile, has grown to $154 million in sales and now sells as many engagement rings in the U.S. as Tiffany & Co.

“If you’ve done it before, it is just so much easier. It is so much faster, because you know how to do everything,” said Vadon.

“Going through the startup process 10 years after you did it the first time, it is a hell of a lot easier.”

“They have kind of caught up to the innovation that was happening in the early days,” he said.

“We are at the point where things that are a little more innovative and creative are starting to work as consumers are catching up with it.”