Fred Bradley Hunstable (born 1978) is an American businessman and the co-founder and CEO of the electric motor company Linear Labs.

Brad Hunstable
Linear Labs and former Ustream CEO, Co-Founder Brad Hunstable 2012
BornSeptember 26, 1978 (1978-09-26) (age 46)
Occupation(s)Co-Founder, CEO, Ustream, Inc.
Spouse
April Hunstable
(m. 2003)
Children3 (1 deceased)
Websitewww.ustream.tv

Linear Labs was founded by Hunstable in 2014 with his father, Fred Hunstable. Brad is also the co-founder and former CEO of UStream which was sold to IBM in 2016 for $150 million.[1][2]

Hunstable was formerly the founder and CEO of San Francisco, California-based live streaming website Ustream.tv, one of the largest consumer live video sites on the Internet.[3] In 2014, he was honored as one of the SF Business Times "40 Under 40" for the most influential young leaders across the spectrum of Bay Area businesses.[4] In 2016, Ustream was acquired by IBM for a reported $150 million.[5][6][7]

Ranked among 50 "Digital Power Players" by The Hollywood Reporter in 2010, Hunstable was announced on Variety Producers Guild of America's 2010 Digital 25: Visionaries, Innovators and Producers list for his work at Ustream.[8]

Ustream was selected as a PC Magazine Editor's Choice.[9] Notable investors include Softbank,[10] DCM,[10] Frank J. Caufield,[11] and the Band Of Angels.[12] General Wesley Clark[12] serves Ustream.TV's board of advisors.

Hunstable is the father of three children. One of them, Hayden, died on April 17, 2020, after committing suicide. The Hunstable family set up the charity Hayden’s Corner, in his honour.

Biography

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Early life

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Fred Bradley Hunstable was born on September 26, 1978, in Tarrant County, Texas, and grew up in Granbury, Texas, with a younger sister (Ashlee) and a younger brother (Nathan). His parents are Fred Eugene Hunstable, an electrical engineer, and Candace "Candy" Lee Cotter, a school teacher. Since childhood, he has shown an interest in technology. At age 11, he started a small bulletin board system called the Dark Realms with cosysop James Gollehon.[13]

Education

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Hunstable graduated from Granbury High School in Granbury, Texas, in 1997. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering management from the United States Military Academy in 2001.[14] Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, working primarily as an operations officer. Later, through the Army, Hunstable attended the Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business, where he received his Master of Business Administration degree in finance and real estate in 2005.[15]

After West Point

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Hunstable was required to serve five years in the U.S. Army. He served in various capacities around the world working jobs both for the Army and the Department of Defense directly.

In 2005, he left the military to work for Hillwood Development, a real estate company owned by Ross Perot developing master planned communities in Dallas/Fort Worth.[6]

Ustream

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Ustream was born when the founders (John Ham, Brad Hunstable, and Dr. Gyula Feher) wanted a way for their friends in the Army, who were deployed overseas in Iraq during the war, to be able to communicate with their families back home. A product like Ustream would provide them with a way to talk to all of their relatives at once when free time in the war zone was limited.[16]

Previously, these three had worked together on an internet based event photo sharing website using technology created by Dr. Feher. In 2003, both Brad and John Ham were deployed to active duty, putting an end to this venture. After returning to civilian life, Brad and John discussed the idea of the general public using the Internet to share live video. Seeing this as a viable product, they contacted their former partner, Dr. Feher, to develop the technology required. Ustream.tv was founded in 2006, as experiments in broadcasting Brad's brother Nathan's band (Venture) proved successful.[citation needed] Early testing involved Brad in the audience with a camera wired to a laptop (with a cellular card) in his backpack, sending the stream back to their test server.[17]

Launching their public beta in March 2007, Ustream.tv was the first of a series of live video sites include Justin.tv and Operator11.com. The company has seen "growth" in the political, entertainment, and technology fields.[18]

Ustream.tv have hosted streamings from politicians Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards[19] and artists Tori Amos and the Plain White T's.[20] The technology community has also adopted Ustream to include Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte, Chris Pirillo, Scott Liberto and Cali Lewis.

Ustream.tv has raised over $60 million in funding, most recently from Softbank.[10]

Personal life

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Hunstable is married to April Hunstable and they have three children together.

He has two siblings, Nathan Hunstable and Ashlee Smith.

Hunstable's son, Hayden, died from suicide on April 17, 2020.[21] The Hunstables started the non-profit, Hayden's Corner,[22] to promote parents starting conversations with their children to help prevent childhood suicide, the #3 cause of death in 10-14 year olds.

References

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  1. ^ Tabaka, Marla (May 13, 2019). "This U.S. Vet Sold His Company to IBM for $150 Million. Now He and His Dad Are Revolutionizing the Energy Industry". Inc.com. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  2. ^ Konrad, Alex. "IBM Confirms Ustream Acquisition As Part Of Cloud Video Unit Targeting "$105 Billion Opportunity"". Forbes. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  3. ^ "Ustream Network". Quantcast. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  4. ^ Peak, Krystal (February 28, 2014). "Brad Hunstable: CEO and founder, Ustream Inc". bizjournals.com. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Spangler, Todd (January 21, 2016). "IBM Acquires Ustream for Up to $150 Million, Powering Into Live-Streaming Video". variety.com. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Repko, Melissa (August 12, 2016). "After Silicon Valley success with Ustream, Dallas' Brad Hunstable revving up next project in Texas". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  7. ^ Repko, Melissa (March 26, 2019). "Linear Labs raises $4.5 million to roll out next-gen electric motor for cars, robotics". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  8. ^ McNary, Dave (23 September 2010). "PGA announces Digital 25". Variety. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  9. ^ Broida, Rick. "Ustream.tv". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2009-03-04. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  10. ^ a b c Levy, Ari (2 February 2010). "Softbank Leads $75 Million Investment in Ustream (Update1)". Businessweek.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  11. ^ "Merry Christmas, Mom: Ustream links soldiers with home | Crave : The gadget blog". Archived from the original on 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  12. ^ a b UStream.TV Gets Some Cash And General Wesley Clark
  13. ^ "817 Area Code BBSes Through History". Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  14. ^ "Fred Bradley Hunstable; Class of: 2001". westpointaog.org. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  15. ^ "THR's 2010 Digital Power 50". The Hollywood Reporter. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on June 29, 2013. Retrieved May 4, 2013.
  16. ^ Sandoval, Greg. "Merry Christmas, Mom: Ustream links soldiers with home". CNET.
  17. ^ "Ustream Executive Bios" (PDF). Retrieved May 4, 2013.[permanent dead link]
  18. ^ Ustream.TV Experiences Significant Business Growth; Company Adds New CEO, Industry Partners and Thousands of Users
  19. ^ YouTube and UStream Go Political
  20. ^ "The Ustream.TV Blog » Blog Archive » Plain White T's Event Serves 130,000". Archived from the original on 2010-04-10. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  21. ^ Somerville, Bryant (May 1, 2020). "Ohio State alum shares story of child's suicide, tells parents COVID-19 isolation is real". WBNS CBS 10 News. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  22. ^ "Home". haydenscorner.org.