Brett A. Hurt

Summary

Brett Hurt was most recently the CEO and co-founder of data.world, which was proudly acquired by ServiceNow on July 7th, 2025. data.world is the data catalog platform built for your AI future. Its cloud-native SaaS platform combines a consumer-grade user experience with a powerful knowledge graph to deliver enhanced data discovery, agile data governance, and actionable insights. Get fast, trusted access to your company’s knowledge when you create AI-powered data experiences with the AI Context Engine™. data.world is a Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation and home to the world’s largest collaborative open data community with more than three million members, including ninety percent of the Fortune 500. Our company has 82 patents and was named one of Austin’s Best Places to Work nine years in a row. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 146 startups, 46 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. 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. Brett has two beautiful children and is married to Debra, his much better half, since 1996.