?Everybody aspires to be a star:' says Steve Chen, a Taiwanese immigrant who came to the United States with his family in hopes of
?a better life.From holding promotions such as the iPod Nano daily giveaway to having an external video player that can be placed on any website and can link back to their own, Hurley and Chen created
a platform that continues to grow at an exponential rate.s
Well-Timed: Some have suggested that YouTube's success was due to a perfect storm6 of environmental factors.After graduating from Twin Valley High School in 1995, where his mother
?continues to teach in the gifted program,2 Hurley enrolled in the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to pursue a bachelor's degree in fine art.Using the money they had received from the PayPal buyout, Chen and Hurley decided to create YouTube, to make uploading and sharing videos online as easy as anyone could want.Chen's aspirations became a reality when he, along with Pennsylvania-born Chad Hurley, created what is today the world's largest online video website.YouTube has now become a global sensation, propelling both Hurley and Chen to the top of Business 2.0's list of "The 50 People Who Matter Now." YouTube was also named TIME magazine's 2006 "Invention of the Year:' When Hurley and Chen decided to sell their company, they did so for a hefty price tag of $1.65 billion.After graduating from high school, Chen enrolled
?in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to pursue a degree
?in computer science.User-Oriented: Hurley and Chen knew from personal experience how difficult it was to upload and share videos online.From the lessening of the cost of bandwidth and digital cameras to the growth of online social networks, Hurley and Chen created a company that was right for the times.Focused: Hurley and Chen were never out to create a money-making machine.And so, instead of overloading its pages and videos with advertisements, Hurley and Chen are being careful and testing the waters as to which ads will work, and where.His family then emigrated to the U.S., where Chen attended John Hersey High School and later the Illinois Math and Science Academy.With Chen's engineering skills and Hurley's creativity, they thought forming
a company together was a plausible idea.With the Google buyout, the company faces a more uncertain future in terms of how it will operate and who will call the shots.a One thing is for sure, however, and that is that
Hurley and Chen are still here, and their business is still booming.He was flown to California and, as part of his job interview, was asked to design a logo for the young company that would demonstrate his artistic abilities.?Steve Shih Chen was born in August 1978 in Taiwan, where he lived
?until he was eight years old.?Chad Meredith Hurley was born in 1977 as the middle child I of parents Donald and JoAnn Hurley.?Before graduating from the university, Hurley also applied for a job at
?PayPal.