Chad Hurley: 20 FUN FACTS

1) Chad Meredith Hurley (Chad Hurley) is the founder of AVOS systems, and is also co-founder and previous CEO of the famous video sharing website, YouTube. In 2006, he was number 28 on the list of “50 People Who Matter Now”.

2) Chad has a background in design and fine arts. Since he was a child, he had a strong interest in the arts. In high school, he became interested in computers and programming, and his interests developed into computer design.

3) He attended Twin Valley High School, and was part of the school’s cross-country program. He was also part of the Technology Student Association. After he graduated from high school, he attended the Indiana University in Pennsylvania and graduated with a B.A. in Fine Art.

4) Chad Hurley is happily married to Kathy Clark, daughter of another Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Jim Clark. The low-key couple has two children. He is very private about his family life, and very little information is available regarding his family.

5) Hurley found success when he founded YouTube in 2005. The website went viral very quickly, and became one of the most famous online websites. In 2006, just a year after it was introduced, it was rated as the 10th most visited website with over 34 million visits each month.

6) Hurley and Steve Chen founded YouTube. YouTube was so popular and was considered such an amazing invention, it attracted a lot of interested from companies such as Google. In 2006, just a year after its launch, YouTube was sold to Google for a jaw-dropping price of US$ 1.65 billion.

7) YouTube attracted users almost immediately. After a year of being active, YouTube had 100 million videos uploaded and available to the public. Videos were being uploaded at a rate of 65,000 per day. YouTube now boasts over one billion views per day.

This is the first video on YouTube

8) During YouTube’s initial days, critics scoffed at its worthiness, waving the website off as a site for amateurs who wanted to upload videos of their pets. Fortunately for Hurley, YouTube proved to be much more than that, and now holds a diverse video archive including how to videos and a venue for people from all over the world to voice their opinions and share news.

9) Hurley’s secret passion is race car driving. In 2009, Hurley heavily invested in a new Formula 1 team, Team US F1. Though the team did prepare for the 2010 season, they unofficially shut down and were unable to race.

10) Chad Hurley has been all over the World Wide Web. He was on the founding team of eBay, and worked in the PayPal section. He worked on the team that was responsible for creating the original PayPal logo.

11) Hurley took an unusual step for those involved in the technology business, and started his own clothing brand, Hlaska. He co-founded the company with Anthony Mazzei in 1994. Hurley has recently begun to devote more attention to the clothing company, after formally resigning from YouTube. Hlaska comes from the combination of the two states, Hawaii and Alaska.

12) During the initial stages of YouTube, Hurley and Chen had around 10 people working for them. This team was quite devoted, as they were working without getting any pay. Hurley motivated his team with inspirational talks and a positive attitude. He told his team, “that we’d work it out.”

13) When it was officially announced that Google would be buying YouTube, the company moved from their old office to a new one in San Bruno. This move was not announced, and when the press came inquiring about the Google buyout, they showed up at the old office which was empty. Hurley and his team were lucky enough to evade reporters unintentionally.

14) The idea of YouTube was formed when founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen were going through an honest dilemma. They had wanted to share some videos with friends, but were unable to send it via email, as the files were too large. The two were inspired to find a simpler solution for this, and began to work their magic.

15) Chad is married to Kathy Clark. Kathy is the daughter of Jim Clark, a notable entrepreneur and computer scientist. Clark has been married four times. His fourth and current wife is Kristy Hinze, an Australian actress 36 years his junior. In 2011, the couple welcomed Chad Hurley’s half baby sister in law.

16) Hurley has sound advice for budding entrepreneurs. He advises that one should not think that they know everything about their product and what is needed. He says that one should keep the needs of the targeted community in mind, and be ready to make any changes to the design. Hurley himself had many new ideas for YouTube, but because he did not think people would use those ideas, he did not add them to his design.

17) Hurley recently bought the bookmarking website, Delicious, from Yahoo through his new company, AVOS. Hurley and partner Steve Chen, say this new company will be an experiment for them. They want to see how they can create new ideas within an already existing program.

18) Another project that Hurley is working on is the website called Zeen. This website enables people to make their own magazines. He has workers all over the world, such as China, New Zealand, and San Mateo. Hurley likes to think about his international users as well, and has recently added a Mandarin version of Delicious.

19) Regarding his fashion line of clothing, Hlaska, Hurley says there is not much of difference between Hlaska and his website projects. Hurley says that he and co-founder Anthony Mazzei create clothing items that they would want to wear themselves. The bags and wallets they create are ones that they would want to buy. As was with YouTube, Hurley has created something that he wanted that wasn’t available elsewhere.

20) When asked what Hurley will do differently with managing Hlaska so he does not make any of the same mistakes he made with YouTube, Hurley says the situations were quite different. YouTube grew very quickly and decisions and compromises had to be made without too much thought. With Hlaska, the clothing line has had time to evolve and grow, and Hurley plans to make it a success.

Chad Hurley

Wonder Years

1. Attends Twin Valley High School

He attends Twin Valley High School, and is part of the school’s cross-country program.

He is also part of the Technology Student Association.

After he graduates from high school, he attends the Indiana University in Pennsylvania and graduates with a B.A. in Fine Art.

2. Hurley Acquires a B.A. Degree in Fine Arts-1999

After graduating from Twin Valley High School in Elverson in 1995, he goes on to get an undergraduate degree.

In 1999, Chad Hurley acquires a B.A. Degree in Fine Arts from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

3. Hurley Designs the PayPal Logo

Back in 1996, when Hurley applies for a job at PayPal after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he is flown to California by the company and is asked to design the PayPal logo as a test for his job interview.

Chad Hurley does so well that the logo remains a trademark of PayPal to date.

YouTube

4. What Leads to The Foundation of YouTube

The idea of YouTube is formed when founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen are going through an honest dilemma.

They want to share some videos with friends, but are unable to send it via email, as the files are too large.

The two are inspired to find a simpler solution for this and begin to work their magic.

5. One of the Youngest Entrepreneurs in America

Chad Hurley is only 28 years when he starts a YouTube with his co-founders making him one of the youngest entrepreneurs in America.

By 2007, at the age of 30 and while he is still the CEO of YouTube, Chad Hurley receives over 700,000 shares at Google worth over $350 million.

6. No Power Point Presentation to Show the Work

When Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim go knocking doors on Sand Hill Road, looking for a place to start their company office, they have no Power Point presentation to show their work.

Instead, they use the website itself and its statistics to win over a deal.

7. Jawed Karim leaves YouTube

From the trio of co-founders of YouTube, Jawed Karim leaves the company early on but Chad Hurley and Steven Chen keep on working on their invention.

They go on with their investor, Roelof Botha, to the Nike headquarters to talk about commercial solutions after Nike’s first video goes up.

8. YouTube’s Sudden Popularity

When Chad Hurley and his co-founders start YouTube, no one has anticipated its sudden popularity, which hit ServerBeach like a hurricane when they offer unlimited data for just $129 per month.

YouTube takes up one and half of their data lines.

9. YouTube’s First Video Titles ‘Me at The Zoo’

The YouTube first video does not feature Chad Hurley or his co-founder Steven Chen; instead, it features their third partner in the creation of the company, Jawed Karim.

The video is titled ‘Me at The Zoo’ and receives two billion viewers every day.

10. Hurley Designs the YouTube Logo

Many people and reporters of the world are not aware of the fact that the YouTube’s logo reflects Chad Hurley’s artistic abilities.

He designs the logo for the website as soon as the company gains success and the co-founder trio has moved into their first office.

11. YouTube is Registered on Valentine’s Day

Chad Hurley and his friends register YouTube on Valentine’s Day in 2005 initially intending it as a dating site for publicity but go on to use is at as a video sharing site, eventually.

12. Becomes Successful as Founder of YouTube

Hurley becomes successful when he founds YouTube in 2005.

The website goes viral very quickly and becomes one of the most famous online websites.

In 2006, just a year after it is introduced, it is rated as the 10th most visited website with over 34 million visits each month.

13. YouTube Surpasses 30 Million Views Per Day

As soon as the website hit 1 million views a day, Chad Hurley is still working at Sequoia and has to build the strength of the site up to 30 million views per day.

By the time they advance the website to handle 30 million views per day; it has long surpassed that number.

Chad Hurley says they receive 13 hours of video very minute.

14. Critics Initial Views on YouTube

During YouTube’s initial days, critics scoff at its worthiness, waving the website as a site for amateurs who want to upload videos of their pets.

Fortunately for Hurley, YouTube proves to be much more than that, and now holds a diverse video archive including how to videos and a venue for people from all over the world to voice their opinions and share news.

15. YouTube is Sold to Google-2006

Hurley and Steve Chen found YouTube.

YouTube is so popular and is considered such an amazing invention; it has attracted a lot of interest from companies such as Google.

In 2006, just a year after its launch, YouTube sells to Google for a jaw-dropping price of US$ 1.65 billion.

16. Hurley Evades Reporters Unintentionally

When it is officially announced that Google is buying YouTube, the company moves from their old office to a new one in San Bruno.

This move is not announced and when the press comes inquiring about the Google buyout, they show up at the old office which is empty.

Hurley and his team are lucky enough to evade reporters unintentionally.

17. YouTube is Now Worth $45.7 Billion Dollars

Hurley’s first entrepreneurial adventure, YouTube, is now worth $45.7 billion dollars.

It is Google’s largest and most valuable brand with one billion unique users every month.

Chad Hurley still serves as the advisor to the company.

18. YouTube Boasts Over One Billion Views Per Day

YouTube attracts users almost immediately.

After a year of being active, YouTube has 100 million videos uploaded and available to the public.

Videos are being uploaded at a rate of 65,000 per day.

YouTube now boasts over one billion views per day.

Present

19. Hurley Buys the Bookmarking Website- “Delicious”

Hurley buys the bookmarking website, Delicious, from Yahoo through his new company, AVOS.

Hurley and partner Steve Chen, say this new company will be an experiment for them.

They want to see how they can create new ideas within an already existing program.

20. Hurley is working on is the website, “Zeen”

Another project that Hurley is working on is the website called Zeen.

This website enables people to make their own magazines.

He has workers all over the world, such as China, New Zealand, and San Mateo.

Hurley likes to think about his international users as well and has recently added a Mandarin version of Delicious.

21. Hurley’s Announcement to Start a New Video Service called Mix Bit

Chad Hurley has announced via Twitter, in 2013, to start a new video service called Mix Bit.

He describes it as the place where you ‘not only watch cat videos, but create them  . . . together!’ The website now boasts with YouTube’s April Fool’s Day joke when they announce they are closing down soon, and has this tag line written on the page: ‘The future of video launching soon!’

22. MixBit is Close to Launch

According to thenextweb.com, in another interview, Chad Hurley has been quoted describing MixBit as primarily the video-based product where people collaborate to create videos.

He also says that MixBit is close to launch and it will ‘not be long before users can try the collaborative video-based service’.

Family

23. Chad Marries Kathy Clark

Chad is married to Kathy Clark. Kathy is the daughter of Jim Clark, a notable entrepreneur and computer scientist. Clark has been married four times.

His fourth and current wife is Kristy Hinze, an Australian actress 36 years his junior.

In 2011, the couple welcomes Chad Hurley’s half baby sister in law.

24. Happily Married

Chad Hurley is happily married to Kathy Clark, daughter of another Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Jim Clark.

The low-key couple has two children.

He is very private about his family life, and very little information is available regarding his family.

Personal Interests

25. Interest in Design and Fine Arts

Chad has a background in design and fine arts.

Since he is a child, he has a strong interest in the arts.

In high school, he becomes interested in computers and programming, and his interests develop into computer design.

26. Hurley’s Interests in Arts and Design is Reflected in YouTube

Chad Hurley’s interests in arts and design can be seen reflected in YouTube’s user-friendly interfaces and features.

Even though he quit as the CEO in 2010 for the company, he still has creative influence with YouTube as an advisor.

27. Hurley’s Secret Passion

Hurley’s secret passion is race car driving.

In 2009, Hurley heavily invests in a new Formula 1 team, Team US F1.

Though the team does prepare for the 2010 season, they unofficially shut down and are unable to race.

Accolades

28. Highlighting Year for Chad Hurley

The year of 2007 is the highlighting year for Chad Hurley with many awards and acknowledgment from the world’s biggest critics.

He is named in the 50 Most Influential People in Business 2.0.

He is also on Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful People in Business and GQ’s Men of the Year.

29. Is Named Time Magazine’s Most Influential People-2007

Chad Hurley along with Steven Chen are named Time Magazine’s Most Influential People in 2007 for their creation of YouTube and because they influence millions of users from around the world.

Their website also receives the Entertainer of the Year award by Entertainment Weekly the same year.

Inspirational

30. Hurley’s Inspirational Talks To Motivate His Employees

During the initial stages of YouTube, Hurley and Chen have around 10 people working for them.

This team is quite devoted, as they are working without getting any pay.

Hurley motivates his team with inspirational talks and a positive attitude.

He tells his team, “that we’d work it out.”

31. Hurley Advice For Entrepreneurs

Hurley has sound advice for budding entrepreneurs.

He advises that one should not think that they know everything about their product and what is needed.

He says that one should keep the needs of the targeted community in mind, and be ready to make any changes to the design.

Hurley himself has many new ideas for YouTube, but because he does not think people are going to use those ideas, he does not add them to his design.

32. Hurley’s Advice for Young Entrepreneurs at Business 2.0

Chad Hurley regrets not anticipating YouTube success for they have added more features to the website.

When advising a group of young entrepreneurs at Business 2.0, he asks them to look for the questions that will arise when they put up their company.

He asks them to not assume that they ‘know all the answers’ when they start building a product.

Other Facts

33. Hurley has created YouTube,Something that isn’t Available Elsewhere

Regarding his fashion line of clothing, Hlaska, Hurley says there is not much of difference between Hlaska and his website projects.

Hurley says that he and co-founder Anthony Mazzei create clothing items that they want to wear themselves.

The bags and wallets they create are ones that they want to buy.

As is with YouTube, Hurley has created something that he wants that isn’t available elsewhere.

34. ‘A True Company Around Videos’

Chad Hurley says in one of his YouTube videos that his company is the one of the first companies to make the Digital Millennium Copyright Act automatic.

He says that they built ‘a true company around videos’.

This is a smart move from Hurley and his friends as it is largely responsible of their growth over their competition.

35. Hurley and His co-founders Unlock the Video Potential on the World Wide Web

Chad Hurley believes there would have been no HULU by Fox, if he and his friends have not created YouTube.

Hurley and his co-founders can be attributed to the fact since they are the ones to truly unlock the video potential on the World Wide Web.

It is now a great medium to introduce new talent, express a point of view or to simply run a political campaign.

36. Chad Hurley’s Net Worth is Over 350 Million Dollars

Chad Hurley’s net worth is over 350 million dollars in market shares and in trust.

His net worth is mainly attributed to his success with YouTube but also to his latest projects like AVOS systems, Hlaska clothing and Delicious.

37. Chad Hurley’s Views about his YouTube Ventures

Chad Hurley famously quotes about his YouTube ventures saying that the company is providing ‘a stage where everyone can participate and everyone can be seen.’

He says that YouTube is an internet-based mashup of Entertainment Tonight and America’s Funniest Home videos.

38. YouTube has Created the Concept of Web TV

Chad Hurley’s YouTube has created the concept of Web TV.

Its influence is not limited to breakout stars that eventually move to television, music and movies but many of worlds stars solely exist on the internet.

They vary from performers, educators and writers to fashion artists.

39. Yahoo Wants to Purchase YouTube

Do you know that Yahoo also wants to purchase YouTube back in 2006? Chad Hurley tells PC Magazine that YouTube is given to Google because their rival Yahoo ‘doesn’t necessarily step up the way’ Google does.

Google has since transformed the website to make it a cultural phenomenon.

Personality

40. Never Goes Back To School After YouTube Success

Chad Hurley and Steven Chen never go back to school after their YouTube success.

However, their third co-founder Jawed Karim hits a jackpot and goes on to enroll at a Grad School.

He now has a Computer Science degree from Stanford University.

41. Chad Hurley Like Creating Wonders One After The Other

Chad Hurley is one of those unique entrepreneurs who do not stop creating wonders with their products once they hit jackpot.

Every time Hurley achieves success with one creation, he quickly moves on to another to give the world his best potential.

His many entrepreneurial successes are good examples of his unique approach.

42. Finds Inspiration to Create YouTube Sitting in Garage

Most young entrepreneurs seem to find inspiration sitting in their garage.

Just as Steve Jobs has created Apple back in the 1970s in his garage listening to The Beatles, Chad Hurley, Steven Chen and Jawed Karim have also created YouTube sitting in their garage back in 2005.

43. Time to Give The Company a Friendly Look

Initially as young entrepreneurs, Hurley, Chen and Karim do not understand the full potential of their business, but after its quick acceptance by the World Wide Web, they realize it is time to give it a friendly look.

From there on, the trio focuses their attention to the web design and video uploading capability of the company.

44. Hiring the Right People

Chad has told Brian Solis in an interview that one of the greatest challenges of starting a new company from your garage is hiring the right people.

Most of his initial employees are enthusiastic people that work from their homes.

He says that their success can be attributed to the trust and friendship their initial employees hold.

45. Hurley’s Hardworking and Committed Team of Employees

From the garage to the Sequoia’s office, the transition is smooth and is built on teamwork with employees that believe in the company’s goals.

Chad Hurley says they eat and work on YouTube at Sequoia’s office.

This is the same time that the company hits one million viewers.

46. Hurley’s Clothing Brand

Hurley takes an unusual step for those involved in the technology business, and starts his own clothing brand, Hlaska.

He co-founds the company with Anthony Mazzei in 1994.

Hurley has recently begins to devote more attention to the clothing company, after formally resigning from YouTube.

Hlaska comes from the combination of the two states, Hawaii and Alaska.

47. Success of Many Young Artists Can be Attributed to Hurley’s YouTube

The success of many young artists can be attributed to Chad Hurley and his company.

For example, Justin Bieber’s manager discovers the young singer whose brand name and image is worth millions of dollars around the globe, on YouTube, when his mother uploads videos of him singing around the house.

48. Manages YouTube and Hlaska with Different Approaches

When asked what Hurley will do differently with managing Hlaska so he does not make any of the same mistakes he has made with YouTube, Hurley says the situations are quite different.

YouTube grows very quickly and decisions and compromises have to be made without too much thought.

With Hlaska, the clothing line has had time to evolve and grow, and Hurley plans to make it a success.

49. Founder of AVOS Systems and Cofounder of YouTube

Chad Meredith Hurley is the founder of AVOS systems, and is co-founder and previous CEO of the famous video sharing website, YouTube.

In 2006, he is number 28 on the list of “50 People Who Matter now”.

50. Chad is All Over the World Wide Web

Chad Hurley has been all over the World Wide Web.

He is on the founding team of eBay, and worksin the PayPal section.

He works on the team that is responsible for creating the original PayPal logo.