New Clue #: 102 Yeah, the Internet hasn't solved all the world's problems.  That's why the Almighty hath given us asses: that we might getoff of them.
— New Clues

Thanks for visiting Lucky7.  From 2012 to 2015, when I started writing Lucky7, I was dedicated to doing my part to teach Austin's entrepreneurs how to lead the way.  I had just finished taking Bazaarvoice public at a unicorn valuation, and it was time to really try to give back. As such, I was focused creating a lot of jobs and economic ripples in the process. I measured that phase of my life based on impact, and Lucky7 was initially a reflection of my dedication to Austin's success.  My goal was to get Lucky7 to be an "encyclopedic resource" of what I had learned in founding five companies (now six!) and investing in and mentoring many others in the hopes that it helps you.  I've been a lifelong student of leadership and entrepreneurship since I began my career, and I will always be learning.

Refreshing the best of Lucky7, I published the first edition of my free book, “The Entrepreneur’s Essentials”, online in 2019. It is over 50,000 words long, a 207-minute read. It took me almost a year to complete. It will always be available online for free in that interactive format (on Medium). Fast forward - 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 my book in print on Amazon Prime. Like my first edition, the second is also available for free (on TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com). It is a much better product than the first edition, taking into account lessons from the pandemic and data.world, as we’ve built it into a successful company after six years of work.

Back in 2016, I launched my sixth company alongside three amazing co-founders (Bryon Jacob, Jon Loyens, and Matt Laessig).  It is named data.world - and I believe it is our biggest business idea to date (I wrote a post about why).  You can read about what we are up to in John Battelle's Newco, Fast Company or on our website (Product Overview).  I'm also particularly pleased with this Forbes interview, which was a precursor to us being named to the "Best for the World" 2017 list by B Lab, and I also think that ZDNet did the best job of covering our enterprise launch back in the day.  Bazaarvoice spawned 70 startups (and counting) due to its success and, most importantly, the amazing people that worked there who were very entrepreneurial and mission oriented in their core nature.  We'll see how well data.world does (and it really is off to a great start), but one thing is for sure - the world needs what we are building and we are creating a lot of positive change.  We've now become the world's largest collaborative data community (for both open and private data) and are signing a lot of enterprise clients, including many Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, we announced our $50m Series C growth round with Goldman Sachs as our lead investor.

The most important people in my life are my family.  I'm a proud father, a lucky husband, and we also have four dogs.

Below is my bio and you can also read about my entrepreneurial roots in my return to The Wharton School as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence post or my keynote to the entering 2015 MBA class at McCombs School of Business in the University of Texas at Austin post (I’m living what I projected in that UT keynote here at data.world).  Oh, and if you are wondering why "Lucky7", you can read about that here - this blog is named after an incredible woman (my mother).

Brett Hurt is the CEO and Co-founder of data.world, which is building the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world as a Public Benefit Corporation (Certified B Corporation®).  In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab.  This Product Overview describes what data.world does for our clients pretty well.  He is also a seed-stage investor at Hurt Family Investments (HFI) in partnership with his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 135 startups and counting, 81 of which are headquartered in Austin and 59 are SaaS.  HFI are also investors in 42 venture funds - three with Next Coast Ventures, ten with Capital Factory, one with Chicago Ventures, two with Rothenberg Ventures, four in Silicon Valley that are very high profile and confidential (per their request), two with CAVU Venture Partners, one with Multicoin Capital, two with Moonshots Capital, two with Forerunner Ventures, two with Congress Avenue Ventures, one with Tech Pioneers Fund, two with FJ Labs, one with FYRFLY Venture Partners, one with Night Ventures, one with Flex Capital, and six with Lead Edge Capital - and these funds hold investments across many startups.  You can see a partial list of portfolio companies at Lucky7.io.  Multicoin Capital also holds positions in various cryptocurrencies.  HFI also holds a few real estate investments. To support entrepreneurship through philanthropy, HFI are donors to various causes at the University of Texas at Austin and also The Wharton School's Entrepreneur Fund, which supports Wharton student entrepreneurs. HFI were one of the top donors to the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas, which supports communities through entrepreneurship, and the founding donors to establish the Bazaarvoice Foundation, which catalyzes the next generation of highly-educated, entrepreneurial youth.

Prior to his own family office alongside his wife, Brett co-founded Hurt+Harbach with Jeff Harbach.  But he ultimately decided that running a venture capital fund and raising money from other people was not his calling in life (read "listening to your soul" for more on that).  Brett also tried his hand at a big venture capital firm and worked at Austin Ventures from November of 2012 to August of 2013 but decided he enjoyed investing alongside his wife, with their own money, more than being a part of a large fund (Brett and Debra were active angel investors the entire time Brett was at Austin Ventures).  Prior to Austin Ventures, Brett co-founded Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ: BV) and served as CEO and President for seven and half years, leading the company from bootstrapped concept to almost 2,000 clients worldwide and through its successful IPO (named one of the top five IPOs of 2012 by the WSJ).  He subsequently helped guide the company through a successful follow-on offering, and two acquisitions, PowerReviews and Longboard Media.  Prior to Bazaarvoice, Brett founded Coremetrics and helped grow the company into a global, leading marketing analytics solution for the eCommerce industry before its acquisition by IBM.

Brett has been pioneering eCommerce innovations since 1998 and online communities since 1982.  He started programming at age 7. Brett was entrepreneur empowerment group RISE's Serial Entrepreneur of the year for 2012.  He was named by E&Y as Entrepreneur of the Year for Austin in 2009 and is a member of the Austin chapter of the international Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) Gold.  He was named CEO of the Year for large companies by the Austin Business Journal in 2012 and given the Best CEO Legacy Award by the same publication and its judges in 2017.

Brett holds an MBA in High-Tech Entrepreneurship from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin.  He served three terms on the Board of Directors of Shop.org, the leading non-profit industry association for retailers online and a division of the National Retail Federation, the largest trade organization for retailers.  He also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School. Brett established the Bazaarvoice Foundation and is very active in the philanthropic arena.  He received the Austin Entrepreneurs Foundation's Community Leadership Award in 2012.  In 2013, Brett received the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership.  In 2014, Brett and Debra received the LBJ Humanitarian Award for their dedication to public service, philanthropy, and the Austin community.  In 2015, Brett was chosen as a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute and joined the XIX class, named "Dare, Greatly". In 2020, he was chosen as a Braddock Scholar by The Aspen Institute and joined the V class.

Brett serves as a Partner at Capital Factory, Mentor at Techstars Austin, and blogs at Lucky7.io to help mentor Austin's entrepreneurs.  Brett serves on the non-profit Boards of Data Coalition and Data Foundation, both of which are dedicated to advancing the open-data movement in government.  Brett recently served on the Board of Directors of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas as well as Conscious Capitalism, both of which are non-profits designed to bring out the best in business in the way it can serve society at large.  Brett was the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship - Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business in the University of Texas at Austin for the academic 2013-2014 year.  He can be followed on Twitter at @databrett.

On Mother’s Day 2022 to honor his mom, Brenda, and also his wife, Debra, and after 13 months of work alongside David Judson (a true partner), Brett came out with the second, expanded edition of his book in print on Amazon Prime. Like the first edition, it is also available for free (on TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com). It is a much better product than the first edition, taking into account lessons from the pandemic and data.world, as Brett and his team have built it into a successful company after six years of work.

If you are looking for a shorter bio to include in a website or presentation, please use this one:

Brett Hurt is the CEO and Co-founder of data.world, which is building the most meaningful, collaborative, and abundant data resource in the world as a Certified B Corporation®.  In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab.  This Product Overview describes what data.world does for our clients pretty well.  He is also a seed-stage investor at Hurt Family Investments (HFI) in partnership with his wife, Debra.  HFI are involved in 135 startups and 42 VC funds and a few real estate investments.  Prior to HFI and data.world, Brett founded Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ: BV) and served as CEO and President for 7½ years, leading the company from bootstrapped concept to almost 2,000 clients worldwide and through its successful IPO (named by the WSJ as one of the top IPOs of 2012).  He subsequently helped guide the company through a successful follow-on offering and two acquisitions, PowerReviews and Longboard Media.  Prior to Bazaarvoice, Brett founded Coremetrics and helped grow the company into a global, leading marketing analytics solution for the eCommerce industry before its acquisition by IBM.

Brett holds an MBA in High-Tech Entrepreneurship from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin.  He serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Wharton School.  Brett previously served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the McCombs School of Business and also served on the Board of Directors of Shop.org for six years.  Brett established the Bazaarvoice Foundation and is very active in the philanthropic arena.  He received the Austin Entrepreneurs Foundation’s Community Leadership Award in 2012.  Brett was entrepreneur empowerment group RISE’s Serial Entrepreneur of the year for 2012.  He was named by E&Y as Entrepreneur of the Year for Austin in 2009 and is a member of the Austin chapter of the international Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) Gold.  Brett was named CEO of the Year for large companies by the Austin Business Journal in 2012 and received the Joseph Wharton Award for Young Leadership in 2013.  Brett and Debra received the LBJ Humanitarian Award in 2014 for their dedication to public service, philanthropy, and the Austin community.  Brett was named a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute and joined the 2015 XIX class, named "Dare, Greatly".  In 2017, Brett was given the Best CEO Legacy Award by the Austin Business Journal. In 2020, he was chosen as a Braddock Scholar by The Aspen Institute and joined the V class.

To help support Austin's entrepreneurs, Brett serves as a Partner at Capital Factory and Mentor at Techstars Austin; invests in early-stage companies, funds, and philanthropic endeavors with Hurt Family Investments; and blogs at Lucky7.io.  He serves on the non-profit Boards of Data Coalition and Data Foundation, both of which are dedicated to advancing the open-data movement in government.  He recently served on the Board of Directors of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas as well as Conscious Capitalism, both of which are non-profits designed to bring out the best in business in the way it can serve society at large.  Brett can be followed on Twitter at @databrett.

On Mother’s Day 2022 to honor his mom, Brenda, and also his wife, Debra, and after 13 months of work alongside David Judson (a true partner), Brett came out with the second, expanded edition of his book in print on Amazon Prime. Like the first edition, it is also available for free (on TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com). It is a much better product than the first edition, taking into account lessons from the pandemic and data.world, as Brett and his team have built it into a successful company after six years of work.

And if you are looking for an even shorter bio (around 200 words), please use this one:

Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world, a Public Benefit Corporation (and Certified B Corporation®) that is the platform for modern data teamwork and the world’s largest collaborative data community. data.world's modern catalog for data and analysis wakes up the hidden data workforce within every company, unifies silos, and creates data-driven cultures faster. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab, placing the company in the top 10% of all B Corps globally. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 135 startups, 42 VC funds, a few real estate investments, 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.

On Mother’s Day 2022 to honor his mom and also his wife, and after 13 months of work alongside David Judson (a true partner), Brett came out with the second, expanded edition of his book in print on Amazon Prime. Like the first edition, it is also available for free (on TheEntrepreneursEssentials.com). It is a much better product than the first edition, taking into account lessons from the pandemic and data.world, as Brett and his team have built it into a successful company after six years of work.