Brett Hurt | Business As An Art - Keys To Success In Entrepreneurship

Investing On Purpose with JP Newman

Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world, an Austin-based Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation. data.world makes it easy for everyone—not just the "data people"—to get clear, accurate, fast answers to any business question. data.world's cloud-native data catalog maps its customers siloed, distributed data to familiar and consistent business concepts, creating a unified body of knowledge anyone can find, understand, and use. data.world is also home to the world’s largest collaborative open data community, including public COVID-19 datasets. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab that recognizes the top 10% of all B Corps globally. And in 2020, data.world was named by the Austin Business Journal as one of the top-three companies to work for. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 115 startups, 31 VC funds, and multiple philanthropic endeavors.

Brett co-founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO, through its IPO, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions. Bazaarvoice became the largest public SaaS (Software as a Service) business in social commerce and was named by the WSJ as one of the top IPOs of 2012. Brett also founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010 for around $300m.

In 2017, Brett was given the Best CEO Legacy Award by the Austin Business Journal. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute. Brett began programming at age seven and doing so on the Internet at age eighteen. He finished his book, “The Entrepreneur’s Essentials”, in August 2019 (available at databrett.medium.com for free).

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Timestamps: 0:00 - 4:45 - Business is Art

4:45 - 7:43 - Data.World

7:44 - 10:30 - Mathematics and Seeking Truth

10:30 - 14:40 - Markets Are Conversations

14:41 - 18:51 - Brett's origins

19:00 - 29:59 - Company culture, authenticity, and timing of ideas.

30:00 - 43:59 - Hiring and checking references.

44:00 - 47:59 - Giving back is not an option.

48:00 - 54:00 - The importance of diversity in company culture.

54:01 - Henry Crown Fellowship