David Bradford has helped build some of Utah's most iconic technology companies.
He joined Novell when it had just a few hundred employees and helped scale it into one of the most important software companies in the world. Along the way, he worked alongside industry legends like Ray Noorda and Eric Schmidt, recruited Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to Fusion-io, and spent decades leading companies through every major technology wave from networking and the internet to cloud computing and AI.
Today, David serves as Chairman of the Board of QuikLearn, where he is using AI to make history's greatest teachers accessible to anyone with a smartphone.
In this Start School conversation, Chairman of the Board of QuikLearn David Bradford joins Silicon Slopes CEO Clint Betts to share lessons from nearly five decades of building technology companies, leading great teams, and navigating constant innovation.
They discuss:
• How Novell became one of the world's most important software companies
• Leadership lessons from Ray Noorda and Eric Schmidt
• Why great companies are built by great people, not just great technology
• How David recruited Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
• Why relationships create life's biggest opportunities
• Finding customer pain points before building products
• How AI is transforming education and entrepreneurship
• Why every entrepreneur should become a prompt engineer
• Building trust, raising capital, and creating lasting competitive advantages
• Why Utah continues to be one of the world's greatest places to build technology companies
Whether you're launching your first startup, leading a growing company, or trying to understand where AI is taking the next generation of innovation, David shares timeless lessons from one of Utah's most accomplished technology leaders.
00:00 Introduction
02:10 David Bradford's journey from law to technology
07:15 Building Novell into a global software leader
13:00 Leadership lessons from Ray Noorda and Eric Schmidt
18:40 Leaving Novell and joining Fusion-io
24:10 Recruiting Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
29:00 Why relationships create life's biggest opportunities
33:20 AI, QuikLearn, and the future of education
38:10 Finding customer pain points and building great companies
42:30 Utah's entrepreneurial advantage and the future of innovation
45:20 Self-leadership and advice for the next generation of founders
47:00 Closing remarks
Subscribe for more conversations with the founders, CEOs, and innovators shaping the future of business.