David Bradford, The ‘Human Internet’ & Private Jets

David Bradford graduated from law school back in 1977, joining a small law firm in Hollywood. Not long afterwards, he took a step into the computer industry – a decision with hindsight he believes to be one of the greatest he’s made.

Becoming a Regional Legal Counsel for a company called Prime Computer, he later became Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Novell who he helped take from $70m in revenue to over $2bn as the company expanded to 7,000 employees.

Next, he joined Mark Newman at HireVue, helping him take the company from $1m annually to $40m, first as its CEO then as Executive Chairman.

Growing up in a little town in Montana at 7,000ft altitude and with a population of just 2,000, though, David (pictured below) was one of the least connected people in the universe. But very early in his career he allowed the advice of his mother – that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” – to direct his actions.

The reality was that although David had amassed plenty of knowledge from law school, he was not well enough connected. Others on the course who had not done so well had found jobs because they had the right connections. Thus, early on in his career, he decided that he would start to connect with key people, forming deep, lasting relationships.

Nowadays, David goes by the nickname ‘The Human Internet’ for his connectivity prowess, and has written a book on the subject of making connections, called ”Up Your Game” in which he explains the core principles of networking.

Using a Corporate Boeing BBJ to Scale a Business

While working at Novell, David was based in Provo, Utah and shuttled to San Jose, California twice weekly aboard the company’s Boeing Business Jet. Equipped with 40 seats, the jet allowed the company great flexibility, and would also shuttle to other US cities.

Flying direct aboard the BBJ saved David time that would have otherwise been spent driving to Salt Lake City airport, while landing at San Jose airport allowed him a quick car ride into the office.

But there was far more to it that just the time-savings. The cabin environment of the BBJ enabled David and other team members to brainstorm uninterrupted en-route. With research suggesting that productivity aboard private jets is 30% greater than it is in the office, David confirmed that to have been the case with his team at Novell.

Following his experience in the corporate world with Novell, Fusion-io and HireVue, David has recently ventured into AI 3D-based learning, launching a new learning platform called QuikLearn.ai.

With a growing number of people turning to online learning following the Covid lockdowns, and the number of children who are now being home-schooled skyrocketing worldwide, the time for such a venture to succeed seems ripe.

Blending immersive 3D e-learning with AI, linking learners to historical and modern expertise in tailored virtual worlds, QuickLearn is designed to allow users to engage with lifelike AI versions of historical legends like Albert Einstein and William Shakespeare, and dive deep into history, STEM, and beyond with adaptive learning.

David expects that he will be using private jets again soon to help him build Quiklearn. Indeed, with the AI market in the education sector estimated to reach $20bn by 2027, it would be no surprise to see David Bradford turn his new venture QuikLearn.ai into a billion-dollar company and purchase his own private jet.

“We will be moving more away from commercial Real Estate and having so many in-person meetings,” David predicts of the future. “When there is a key in person meeting, however, the private jet will [continue to] play a key role in getting people there and back,” he adds.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), he argues, will be driving all businesses and it’s here to stay, adding that we all need to learn to work with it. In fact, AI is already being implemented in private jets, and will become increasingly more so in the future, he notes.

Private Jets Help Achieve a Healthy Balance in Life

For those who work hard, as David undoubtedly does, finding the time for a healthy work-life balance is vitally important to remaining productive and healthy, and David finds trips aboard his friends’ jets offer a great opportunity for doing exactly that.

A golf player in his spare time, he relays how a recent winter flight from snowy Provo (a ten-minute drive from his home) to an airport at Monterrey, California just a few minutes away from the links golf course helped achieve something that would otherwise have been impossible.

Such a trip would take a day and a half with the airlines, whereas aboard the private jet he and friends enjoyed golf in the sun, jetting back home that evening in time for dinner with their families, leaving an additional half day for a recharged David to be productive in his business endeavors.