Whurley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | William Hurley (1971-03-30)March 30, 1971 (age 54) |
| Occupation(s) | Founder,Chaotic Moon Studios Founder, Honest Dollar Founder, Equals Founder, Strangeworks Founder, Ecliptic Capital |
| Years active | 1994-current |
| Website | whurley.com |
William Hurley (born March 30, 1971), commonly known aswhurley, is an American tech entrepreneur and investor who foundedChaotic Moon Studios, Honest Dollar,[1] Strangeworks, Ecliptic Capital, and philanthropic efforts includingCERN's Entrepreneurship Student Programme and Equals: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age. He is anopen source advocate[2] and systems theorist,[3] and is regularly interviewed by the press on technology and related topics.[4]
Hurley was born inManassas, Virginia. In his youth, his family moved around a lot, as his father was a member of theUS Army Special Forces. They lived inGermany,Virginia andArizona before settling inSan Antonio, Texas, where Hurley attended elementary school. The Hurley family later moved toTemple, Texas. Following his graduation fromTemple High School in 1989, Hurley took electronic music courses atTemple Junior College, which would be the extent of his college education.[5]
An abbreviation of Hurley's full name, “whurley” was originally Hurley'sUnix username when he was starting out in theopen source community.[2][6] He began going by “whurley” professionally in 2002.[5]
Whurley moved toAustin in 1994 to work atApple, eventually working in research and development.[7] He left Apple in 1997 forIBM, where he was appointed Master Inventor.[2][8] After leaving IBM in 2000, he worked for a series of start-ups, including security management company Symbiot, which he co-founded and served aschief technology officer from 2003 to 2005; and systems management company Qlusters, where he was CTO from 2005 to 2007.[9] Qlusters closed down a year and a half after his departure.[10] In the summer of 2002, Whurley was hired by a resort group to infiltrate aLas Vegas casino's offices in order to perform security audits. This was covered as part ofKevin Mitnick's 2005 nonfiction collectionThe Art of Intrusion.[11] In 2007, Whurley was hired as chief architect of open source atBMC Software, where he remained until 2009.[9]
In 2010, along with Ben Lamm and Mike Erwin, Whurley foundedmobile software design and development companyChaotic Moon Studios.[12] Chaotic Moon has worked withNews Corp to develop the firstiPad-only digital newspaperThe Daily, as well as building applications forMicrosoft,CBS Sports,Sanrio,Pizza Hut and others.[12] In 2012, Chaotic Moon purchased whurley's old company Symbiot.[12]
In 2011, Whurley and Phil Wheat formed a division to focus on developing new technologies, Chaotic Moon Labs.[6] Whurley serves as the division'sgeneral manager,[12] overseeing the development of such products as aMicrosoft Kinect-controlled skateboard (which the company named the “Board of Awesomeness”);[13] a skateboard controlled by the user's mind through aSamsungtablet runningWindows 8 (the “Board of Imagination”);[13] a shopping cart that follows a shopper around the store (“The Smarter Cart");[14] and a bicycle helmet fitted with seven cameras that begin recording on impact, functioning like an airplane'sblack box in case of a hit-and-run (the “Helmet of Justice”).[15]
In July 2015, Chaotic Moon was acquired byAccenture, a consulting and technology services company.[16]
In 2014, Whurley left Chaotic Moon to co-found Honest Dollar with Henry Yoshida.[17] The Austin-based financial technology company helps set up and maintain employee retirement accounts for small businesses.[18][19] In March 2016,Goldman Sachs announced a deal to acquire Honest Dollar.[20][21] Honest Dollar is now Marcus Invest, part of the suite of products from Marcus by Goldman Sachs.[22]
In September 2016,International Telecommunication Union andUnited Nations Women announced that they had teamed up with whurley to launch Equals: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age, an organization focused on empowering women across the globe by helping them learn technology skills and find technology-related jobs. At the time of its formation, there were 250 million fewer women online than men. Equals is based at the International Telecommunication Union inGeneva, Switzerland. Whurley put together a team in Austin to help launch the organization.[23][24][25]
In March 2018 at SXSW, whurley launched Strangeworks, a startup focused onquantum computing software; whurley is the author ofQuantum Computing for Babies. Prior to the launch of Strangeworks, they raised $4 million in a seed round led byLightspeed Venture Partners. The company designs and sells software developer tools and a systems management platform for clients in the aerospace, energy, finance and pharmaceutical industries.[26][27]
In March 2019, whurley and Mike Erwin formed the venture capital firm Ecliptic Capital, a $125 million fund to invest in the Austin tech scene.[28]
On March 11, 2016, whurley and rapper/producerwill.i.am co-hosted aDemocratic National Committee fundraiser atSouth By Southwest in Austin, featuring PresidentBarack Obama and musical guestJ. Cole.[29][30]
Whurley has co-written two books, both published in 1996:FreeHand: Graphics Studio Skills (a tutorial onAdobe FreeHand) and60 Minute Guide to Shockwave (a tutorial on creating movies for the Internet).
Between 2000 and 2004, whurley was issued 11 patents, mostly related to systems management and security.[31]
In 2009, Whurley regularly wrote a blog on cloud computing forInfoWorld[32] and contributed technology articles toBloomberg Businessweek.[33]
Whurley co-foundedBarCamp Austin in 2006, a technology-related conference which took place aroundSouth By Southwest;[34][35] and iPhoneDevCamp (or “developers camp”), which debuted in 2007 as an assembly of 200-300 developers and enthusiasts who were interested in finding new ways to use and hack Apple'siPhone.[36] It has since expanded to include iOSDevCamp and iPadDevCamp.[37] In the summer of 2013, whurley will be leading the inaugural GlassDevCamp, which will take place in San Francisco and will encourage the development of apps for theGoogle Glass platform.[38]
In June 2013,British Airways hosted UnGrounded, a group of business leaders and creative thinkers who met to address significant global problems. Whurley was one of 100 passengers to take part in the initiative, which took place on an 11-hour transatlantic flight fromSilicon Valley toLondon. His group worked on strategies for getting more women involved inSTEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The passengers later presented their ideas as part of an innovation conference held during the39th G8 summit, as well as to theUnited Nations'International Telecommunication Union.[39][40]
In 2019, Whurley was named the first official ambassador for theCERN & Society Foundation.[41][42] He was named Innovator in Residence at the Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology for the 2020–21 academic year.[43]
In 2012, Whurley began working in film. He served as an associate producer onPit Stop, directed byYen Tan. The feature was an official selection of the 2013Sundance Film Festival.[44][45] That same year, he was executive producer on the short filmSahasi Chori (Brave Girl) (2013), directed by Erin Galey.[46] The film, which explores the sex trafficking industry through the story of a 13-year-old girl from a small village inNepal who is taken by a con artist toMumbai’s red light district,[47] was selected for the 2013South By Southwest ShortCase program[48] and the 2013Sarasota Film Festival,[49] among others.