He really helped usher in the social web era, as neither a designer or a coder, mind you. He hustled his site using the opportunities at hand, raised tons of money, got shot to be on covers of some really huge magazines, and probably had a ridiculously fun time through it all.
If you listen to some of his videos, it's easy to see that he's got lots of big ideas, and he's put himself in a position to make it happen (again, without bringing any technical skills to the table, which, I think, is impressive and speaks to his ability to inspire people). If you look at his about.me/kevinrose, you'll find that he's also an investor in lots of really popular services, and he's well-connected with the best of the best in the valley.
So, props to Kevin. He's done some big things (Digg, Revision3), other smaller ones (Pownce, WeFollow), and seems to be onto others. I certainly would love to be in his position.