Brett Hurt Keynote Speech at Startup Meetup at UT
Brett Hurt, CEO of BazaarVoice (my girlfriend’s employer), gave an incredibly motivating speech at the first annual McCombs Startup Meetup. Brett got some laughs by saying that his precocious programming ability was both a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because he found his passion early but a curse because he was always getting beat up.
Bazaarvoice connects customers to one another in ways that drive measurable results – what they call “social commerce”. Brett says their biggest sales hurdle is retailers’ fear of negative reviews. I imagine the response is that if they use Bazaarvoice they can figure out which products need to be fixed or pulled. User generated content is king and the “voice of the market” should be heard, aggregated and analyzed.
Bazaarvoice raised $25 million in venture capital including from Austin Ventures and only needed $8.5 million of it to get to profitability. They aspire to go public in the next 18 months and are well on their way to 400 employees. This is an Austin success story and I am proud that Elizabeth is a part of it. Brett inspired the crowd to want to be a part of it too because of their unwavering focus on culture. It’s a rocket ship and every team member is on board. They have a winner culture and Brett allowed that “there is nothing more de-motivating than having B players on an A team.” I couldn’t agree more.
