4 AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL COVER STORY

WHURLEY’S ‘STRANGEST’ STARTUP YET WILLIAM HURLEY’S NEW ew people have the cojones to found a compa based VC rm. e round closed on Jan. 31. ny o ering services that don’t yet exist based on While quantum computers for the masses might nev VENTURE AIMS TO RIDE technology that might never exist. er materialize, many are wagering they will. Companies THE WAVE OF THE MUCH- But, as Texas A&M University’s Helmut Katzgra such as Google, IBM, Intel and have teams of ber put it, “At the end of the day, it’s Whurley” researchers toiling to improve their existing machines or BALLEYHOOED QUANTUM as though it’s self evident that the nickname for build their rst one. And investors have poured hundreds COMPUTING REVOLUTION Austin serial entrepreneur William Hurley is synony of m illions of dollars into startups springing up around mous with preposterous. the nascent technology, which relies on the phenomena THAT COULD DISRUPT Whurley concedes as much when describing his lat of quantum mechanics to operate. MULTIPLE INDUSTRIES Fest venture, Strangeworks Inc., which will build quan Quantum mechanics describes the behavior and tum computing software consisting of developer tools properties of atomic and subatomic particles and waves. AROUND THE GLOBE. and a systems management platform. e expected value of the worldwide quantum com SURE, THERE ARE “Not crazy, clearly,” said Whurley, 46, both of his index puting market last year was $2.7 billion, according to ngers pointed at himself. a July report by New York based Persistence Market PLENTY OF DOUBTERS e venture capitalists at Lightspeed Venture Partners Research Pvt. Ltd. By the close of 2025, global revenue — BUT HE ALREADY HAS in Menlo Park, California, are betting Whurley is wily generated by the quantum computing sector will exceed rather than wacky. $23 billion, the report said. $4 MILLION IN SEED ey led an oversubscribed $4 m illion seed round in Yet some physicists, like Katzgraber, are skeptical of FUNDING IN THE BANK. Strangeworks that also included BoxGroup, a New York such projections. e tenured professor doubts quan MARCH 9, 20 18 5

“Here’s the bet: By creating a quantum-computing ecosystem around new development tools, we’ll be able to eliminate some of the complexity for developers and data scientists at large,” he said. “ ey’ll be able to do things on GEEK ALERT: QUANTUM quantum computers that will change the world.” Whurley plans to formally launch Strangeworks COMPUTERS EXPLAINED during his SXSW keynote speech set for 2 p.m., March Pretend you have a cat, a container o poison, a 13, in Ballroom D at the Austin Convention Center. radioactive substance, a Geiger counter and a “We’re humanizing the quantum computer; we’re hammer. removing the barriers from quantum computing,” he You put all those things in a steel box. Be ore you close it, you arrange them so the Geiger counter said. detects the decay o the radioactive substance He and his four colleagues intend and tells the hammer to break open the poison to move Strangeworks on June 1 container, killing the cat. from the downtown Austin WeWork Why are you doing this to your cat? “Instead of the co-working space on Congress Ave- Because physics Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger said just that in 1935 to describe company trying nue to new digs at 2922 E. Cesar quantum mechanics. Chavez St. — the current home of Radioactive decay is impossible to predict. So to directly cha nge FloSports Inc. At 7,750 square feet, you don’t know when the cat will die. The only way the world, we’re what’s special about that location “is to know i the cat is alive or dead is to open the box. that we will be able to host quantum Schrödinger explained that, be ore you open going to make the box, “the cat is in a state that physicists call a meetups right in the space,” Whur- superposition, with both an ‘alive’ component and tools for world- ley said. “ is is cool because people a ‘dead’ component,” said Scott Aaronson, David J. can host a meetup, and then host a Bruton Centennial Pro essor o Computer Science at changers like happy hour after at Lustre Pearl East The University o Texas at Austin and director o its [next door].” Quantum In ormation Center. developers, “In just the same way, an electron orbiting an data scientists, Whurley said he plans to hire atom’s nucleus is in a superposition over all possible for “multiple positions” during the locations, until some interaction with the outside university next 12 months to expand the phys- world — such as a scientist making a measurement ics, data-science and development — orces it into a definite state,” Aaronson said. students, team s. OK. But why did you have to kill your cat? Know that the eline willingly aced her own geneticists, demise, proclaiming, “Give me quantum mechanics Disrupting industries or give me death!” be ore she went into the box. mathematicians, During a lengthy conversation And know that she got both, at the same time, pharmaceutical one recent February morning at because that’s how the world o atomic and WeWork, Whurley didn’t sit down. subatomic particles and waves — aka, quantum researchers — mechanics — works. He paced back and forth, detailing In theory, a unctional and power ul quantum you name it.” his vision while repeatedly lament- computer would “exploit quantum mechanics to ing that he reserved a conference solve certain problems aster” than even today’s WILLIAM HURLEY, supercomputers — such as the Stampede2 ounder, Strangeworks room without a whiteboard. Others possessing a 6-foot-2- supercomputer at UT, Aaronson said. Those building a quantum computer propose inch, 200-pound frame might be “to harness nature to do computations in a intimidating. But Whurley is quint- undamentally di erent way,” Aaronson said. essentially Austin: approachable, What hampers typical computers like the a able, eccentric, humble. With a beard that connects Stampede2 is that their binary digits, or bits, may to his sideburns and no mustache, Whurley resembles have only two values: zero or one. Quantum bits, or qubits, are a superposition o zero and one values, what an Amish farmer might look like if he embraced Aaronson said. technology. Scientists use “amplitudes” to determine which “I want Strangeworks to be a catalyst for world-chang- is more likely: The qubit being a zero or the qubit ers,” he said. “Instead of the company trying to direct- being a one. ly change the world, we’re going to make tools for “While they’re closely related to probabilities, amplitudes are not themselves probabilities — or world-changers like developers, data scientist, univer- one thing, because they’re complex numbers,” sity students, geneticists, mathematicians, pharmaceu- which can be negative, Aaronson said. tical researchers — you name it.” “More amplitude on the zero state, or example, Whurley said the approach is a departure from what means a higher likelihood o finding the result zero. he did at his previous startup, Honest Dollar Inc. The way amplitudes behave di erently rom ordinary ARNOLD WELLS / STAFF probabilities is the whole secret sauce that makes “I founded Honest Dollar to address the savings crisis quantum mechanics interesting.” in America — it was, and remains, a big societal problem,” A quantum computer’s qubits remain in tum computers ever will become a com modity. “I don’t he said. “We used technology to address that problem in superposition as long as they are isolated rom the think that will happen in my lifetime,” Katzgraber said. a new creative way.” outside world. But any interaction with the external Mathematician Gil Kalai goes further, while acknowl- e company helped the self-employed and small environment that identifies the location o an electron orbiting an atom’s nucleus, or example, edging he is in the minority: Genuine quantum comput- business owners save for retirement. New York-based would collapse that superposition. ers are impossible. Full stop. acquired Honest Dollar in 2016, a year Quantum computer researchers describe that to the day after its launch, for an undisclosed amount. phenomenon as “decoherence.” To prevent qubit Mitigating risk “After that experience, I realized there might be a bet- exposure to the external environment, researchers Whurley, who is a keynote speaker at this year’s South by ter way” [to help change the world], Whurley said. have built room-sized reezers to house the qubits at temperatures close to absolute zero, or minus Southwest conference, knows the obstacles he faces. He SXSW Chief Programming O cer Hugh Forrest called 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit. remains unfazed, stating that being a successful entre- Whurley “a huge part of” the startup and tech scene in Wrong answers occur when quantum computers preneur is all about mitigating risk. the Texas Capital. lose their coherence. Decoherence is the most “In the early days of computing, you’d have to be an “Honest Dollar was another big feather in his cap — challenging practical obstacle con ronting those electrical engineer to program a computer because you and it was so cool that Honest Dollar gained so much building quantum computers, Aaronson said. “The goal is to use quantum error correction to had to understand the voltage at the gate level,” Whur- traction at SXSW 2016,” Forrest said. Whurley’s “keynote build qubits that maintain their coherence or a long ley said. “Now, most developers can’t name the gates. will align with one of the best traditions of SXSW, which time.” Today, you have to be a physicist, or have a strong phys- is focusing on the next big thing long before it becomes - Mike Cronin ics background, to program a quantum computer. No the next big thing.” one even knows what the most signi cant applications will be yet. CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 6 AUSTIN BUSINESS JOURNAL COVER STORY

it would pay for itself.”

Software the key e relationship among the quantum bits, or qubits, WILLIAM HURLEY, which compose a quantum computer is notoriously unstable. Another headache is the di culty of know- AKA WHURLEY ing whether a quantum computer has provided the right AGE: 46 answer to a problem. FAMILY: Wife, Pamela; sons, Brooks, Scientists and engineers at companies and universities 21, founder of Chilligence Inc., Julian, are trying to construct machines with error-correction 2, and Lincoln Tiberius, 6 months. algorithms and higher “fault tolerance.” RESIDENCE: West Lake Hills “Experimentalists are working to achieve better con- trol over their systems, so that they can ultimately imple- EDUCATION: Temple High School, Texas ment the fault-tolerant protocols we already know and improved ones that we may come up with,” said Andrew KEY CAREER MILESTONES Childs, co-director of the Joint Center for Quantum 20 18 Information and Computer Science at the University of R Will publish book, “Endless Impossibilities,” Maryland. on quantum computing this summer But “quantum computing won’t take o ” until soft- R Launching Strangeworks Inc. during South ware exists for it, said Bo Ewald, president of U.S. oper- by Southwest. He is a keynote speaker. ations for Canada-based D-Wave Systems Inc., which R Published book, “Quantum claims to be the rst commercial quantum computing Computing for Babies” company. Customers include Google Inc., Lockheed Mar- Named a 2018 Eisenhower Fellow R tin Corp. and NASA. 20 17 Ewald served as president of then Minnesota-based R Launched the blog, Superposition: supercomputing company, Cray Research Inc., and led Herding Schrödinger’s Cats the computing and communications division at Los Ala- R Chair, IEEE Quantum Computing mos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Working Group Whurley’s e orts to develop applications and software 20 16 tools aimed at subject-matter experts and computational R Hosted President at SXSW. scientists is precisely what the burgeoning sector needs, R Whurley’s startup, Honest Dollar, acquired Ewald said. by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Yet, all this work could be for naught if mathemati- 20 15 cian Kalai is correct and true quantum computers are a R Founded Honest Dollar Inc. fantasy. R Chaotic Moon acquired by PLC “Quantum computers are based on building blocks,” said Kalai from Jerusalem, where he is a mathematics 20 10 professor at Hebrew University. He also teaches math and R Co-founded Chaotic Moon LLC computer science at Yale University. 2006 “Unfortunately, it is not possible to build strong R “Reluctantly” started using his Unix enough building blocks,” Kalai said. “It is like building username, “Whurley,” professionally a house from liquid blocks that cannot be controlled.” Still, Kalai is open to the possibility that he might be wrong. “IBM and other companies are testing now technolo- ARNOLD WELLS / STAFF gy for building strong enough building blocks,” he said. “Conclusions are expected in the very near future. My CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 analysis indicates that these attempts will fail.” ing,” Beauchamp said. “My experience is when this many Kalai also said that “D-wave architecture does not rely smart people focus on something, it’s going to material- on solid building blocks at all.” Whurley met Adam Goldberg, a partner at Lightspeed ize in dramatically changing the way we live and work.” Even if he is mistaken, Kalai doubts that the age of Venture Partners, in June at a quantum-computing con- e activity around quantum computing reminds quantum computing is near. He called constructing ference in Munich, Germany. ey sat together on a panel Beauchamp of the research into arti cial intelligence genuine, functional quantum computers in ve years that addressed what it would take for a traditional ven- between 15 and 20 years ago. “optimistic.” ture rm to invest in the quantum-computing arena. “ ere was a big marketing crazy; everyone was Maryland’s Childs agreed that practical quantum “Part of the beauty of Strangeworks is that its prod- talking about it,” he said. “But game-changing AI didn’t computing is unlikely to occur in that timeframe, but ucts will help the world cut through what’s going on in exist at the time, so the marketing went away. But the believes “we might see reasonable evidence within the this space,” Goldberg said. research was still done and now it’s paying o .” next ve years that a quantum device is performing some Physicists continue to wrestle with the hardware chal- Discovering a better way to make fertilizer, learning computation that we don’t know how to do classically.” lenges preventing quantum computers from becoming how to operate superconductors at higher temperatures But “there’s a lot of basic research still to be done,” mainstream. But “developers are far removed from” and more e ectively scheduling airline ights are som e Childs said. “I think it’s great that industry is excited those struggles, he said. e applications Whurley and of the potential bene ts powerful quantum computers about the prospects of quantum computing, but I hope his colleagues eventually help create would be “the ulti- could deliver, said Scott Aaronson, the David J. Bruton they’ll take the long view.” mate prize,” he said. Centennial Professor of Computer Science at e Uni- Regardless, Whurley plans to continue “zigging when Companies are “pouring millions of dollars into using versity of Texas at Austin and director of its Quantum others are zagging,” he said. Technology transitions “that quantum computers because they want to harness them Information Center. used to take 10 years now take two,” he added. He also is the moment they’re available. If they’re not in lockstep “Two percent of the world’s energy goes into the among those who expects “signi cant announcements” with the competition, they’re behind,” Goldberg said. Haber process,” said Aaronson, referring to the proce- this year regarding quantum computing from Microsoft, at’s why “it makes sense to be close” to those working dure that produces ammonia by combining nitrogen in Google “and possibly IBM.” on quantum computers, said Bob Beauchamp, a Strange- the air with hydrogen. In turn, that ammonia is the foun- “I believe the quantum-computing ecosystem race works investor and board chairman of Houston-based dation for the multibillion-dollar global nitrogen fertil- really starts in 2018. I want to make sure Strangeworks BMC Software Inc. Beauchamp served as the company’s izer industry. has already left the starting line. We want to build a large CEO for 16 years before stepping down in 2015. “No one understands the quantum mechanics of the scale enterprise software company. We’re f***ing here “If the reality develops like many people think, it’ll Haber process; it just works,” Aaronson said. “If we to stay.” be the biggest game changer in the lifetime of comput- could understand that and found an improved m ethod,