Brett Hurt

Brett lives in Austin and has been married to Debra for 29 years with two children, Rachel and Yuzu. His podcast, Love Conquers Fear, launched on September 24th, 2025. He was most recently the CEO and co-founder of data.world, which raised over $150 million and grew to be a global company with customers in all major verticals (from federal to financial services). data.world was acquired by ServiceNow on 7/7 for their enterprise AI platform.

Brett is also the co-owner, alongside Debra, of Hurt Family Investments (HFI). HFI is involved in 150 startups, 50 VC funds, and multiple philanthropic endeavors. Prior, Brett co-founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO, through its unicorn IPO, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions. Prior, he co-founded and led Coremetrics as CEO. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM for $300m. He's the author of The Entrepreneur's Essentials, on Amazon or online for free at TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com. His second book, a science-fiction novella on Amazon named The Lattice, is a positive vision on how humanity evolves from 2030 to 2085. His third book, Love Conquers Fear: Humanity, AI, and the Age of Abundance for All, is being published by Do More Good® and comes out on June 23, 2026 in honor of the solstice.

Brett has been named the Tulane University Distinguished Entrepreneur of the Year (2026), Batshit Crazy Entrepreneur of the Year in Austin by Silicon Hills News (2025), one of the Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs (2022), and the Best CEO Legacy Award by the Austin Business Journal (2017). He is a Henry Crown Fellow and was a Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute. He began programming at age seven, thanks to his mom. Brett's an MIS graduate of U.T. Austin and MBA graduate of The Wharton School.