But what if there is a way to rank these startups? Similar to how there are algorithms to pick startup winners: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428427/an-algorithm-to-... and software to pick Blockbuster hits: PDF: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1329.pdf and of course, my very own academic research in this arena: http://startupframework.tumblr.com/post/29634915106/what-i-l...

What if the only criteria required by this article was to list startups that sold something (rather than be a platform or <insert disruptive buzzword here> that doesn't currently monetize. E.g. Makr.io, ReelSurfer). So that would boil it down to: Double, Coco Controller and a handful others.

As investor Kevin O'Leary would say: Follow the money.

9gag is a pretty obvious selection - they have tens of millions of users.

I was under the impression that quality triumphs over quantity for these cases.

Your opinion of the content/product being sold should not be mistaken for the quality of a business model. The two are vastly different things. For example, I don't smoke cigarettes--hate the things, but I'll be damned if tobacco wasn't a great way to make a buck in the past century.

Because Instacart will fail while 9GAG already is one of the most successful YC companies ever.