I am skeptical on these lists, how many tech people are they actually aware of to choose the list, would surprise me if it was chosen from a pool of less than

I am skeptical on these lists, how many tech people are they actually aware of to choose the list, would surprise me if it was chosen from a pool of less than 100 possible people. Also as I have seen in the past from these lists they use money raised as a metric for achievement/ success.