Peter Barris (New Enterprise Associates)

A venture capitalist from Chevy Chase, Md., is poised to reap one of the greatest returns in venture history. Barris saw early promise in Groupon (then a two-man-show with no revenue model, called ThePoint) after his counterparts on Sand Hill Road (notably Sequoia and Benchmark) passed. Just three years later, NEA is poised to reap a 500x return, based on the latest valuation. Since joining NEA in 1992, Barris has led investments in more than 25 companies that have gone public or completed successful acquisitions.

He took Neutral Tandem public in 2007 (current market cap: $570 million) and Echo Global public in 2009 (current market cap: $260 million). Another portfolio company, Boingo Wireless, just filed for its IPO (NEA owns 23%). Besides Groupon--where Barris serves on the board--he is most excited about MediaBank (media procurement), Jobfox ("eHarmony for job recruiting"), and SnagFilms (a documentary film platform). Says Groupon cofounder Eric Lefkofsky: "ThePoint was a tough business to make work, but NEA said 'If there is a business here, we'll find it.' They took a leap of faith and invested. Now it's one of the highest returning investments in their history. It's awesome they took that stance--that's how they are."