Published inAustin Startups·PinnedThe Entrepreneur’s Essentials: ContentsNote: On Mother’s Day 2022 to honor my mom, Brenda, and also my wife, Debra, and after 13 months of work alongside David Judson (a true partner), I came out with the second, expanded edition of this book in print on Amazon Prime. Like the first edition, it is also…Startup2 min readStartup2 min read
May 23What would your data say if it could talk to you? A lot, if you learn to listen to it with AI…As we live in a moment when just about everyone is analogizing the fast-emerging tools of artificial intelligence to one science fiction movie or another, I’ll offer up my own — that scene in The Matrix where Morpheus offers Neo the choice between the life-changing “red pill” or the stay-in-the-ordinary…Ted13 min readTed13 min read
Apr 2Back to The Future of a Higher-Minded Austin With a New University Devoted to That IdeaI’ll give the benefit of doubt to the new University of Austin (UATX), which can bring together a young MAGA Republican and a student activist in Black Lives Matter and help them listen to one another, politely debate, and even find a bit of common ground. It’s a hard thing…Uatx15 min readUatx15 min read
Mar 2Part II: How the ‘Fourth Surge’ of the ‘Double Helix of Data’ Became a Torrent of InnovationProving that an agile approach is just as relevant to data delivery as it is to software development Part Two Sometimes, technology evolves very quickly, as I discussed in my last essay on the past half century’s three “surges” of data. …Data Governance12 min readData Governance12 min read
Jan 11The “Fourth Surge” of the Data-Driven Economy and How it Will Transform Our WorldAmid large layoffs at iconic technology firms, tech job hiring shifts to more traditional sectors such as manufacturing and health care, foreshadowing data’s “Fourth Surge”. Part One You’ve seen the headlines that closed out 2022 and began 2023: layoffs at Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Salesforce, and others. You’ve watched the year…Data12 min readData12 min read
Jan 2Elon Musk is Not a Bad Man or Entrepreneur, He’s Merely a Bad WizardAnd the spell of wizardry, an enchanting but false mythology of leaders beguiling us, is the real culprit we together should be focused on in 2023. When it comes to the curious case of Elon Musk, and his ongoing sh*tshow in San Francisco, we’re referencing it all with the wrong…Elon Musk6 min readElon Musk6 min read
Dec 24, 20222022 angel investing statistics for Hurt Family InvestmentsHurt Family Investments is our family office (we’ve been doing this for 11 years, following successful exits at Coremetrics and Bazaarvoice, my prior startups): 1. We invested 19% more in startups and VC funds this year than last. 2. We made 26 investments, over two per month. 7 of these…Fundraising1 min readFundraising1 min read
Jun 14, 2022It’s Critical to Leverage Your Data during a DownturnIn the now iconic line of the 2015 movie The Martian, marooned astronaut Mark Watney (played by Matt Damon) gave us a new verb to sum up his only possible exit from his Red Planet dilemma: “I’m going to have to science the sh*t out of this.” For many businesses…Data Science12 min readData Science12 min read
Feb 26, 2022Dawn in the Anthropocene, an Allegory on The Evolution of DataThe quantum speed with which data is insinuating itself into every facet of life is challenging to comprehend. But doing so is imperative to our future, which is why we must be crystal clear about the past. By Brett A. Hurt Not long ago, I had the chance to share…Data16 min readData16 min read
Jan 19, 2021Three big reasons you should have faith in a Biden+Harris administrationIt’s finally the day before Inauguration. I originally wrote this post on Lucky7, my main blog, on Nov. 14 after it was very clear that the Election had been called. I’ve refreshed it below given what has happened since, with Stop the Steal and the attack on our nation’s Capitol. …Biden5 min readBiden5 min read