# David Holz David Holz is an American entrepreneur, best known as the founder and CEO of [[Midjourney]], the popular AI image generation platform. Previously co-founded Leap Motion, a company pioneering gesture-based human-computer interfaces. ## Background Grew up in Fort Lauderdale, south Florida. His father was a dentist who operated a dental practice on a sailboat, sailing around the Caribbean to reach patients. Started coding in Scheme as a kid, later got motivated by hacking Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II to shoot rockets from his character's hands. ## Education - **University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill**: Dual degree in Math and Physics - Pursued PhD in Applied Math (did not complete) - Worked at NASA Langley Research Center during studies - Conducted neuroscience research at Max Planck Institute ## Career ### Leap Motion (2010-2019) - Co-founded with Michael Buckwald - Created gesture-tracking technology for human-computer interaction - The idea came from frustrations with 3D modeling interfaces in middle school - Received investment from Andreessen Horowitz and Founders Fund - Served as CTO - Sold to Ultrahaptics (now Ultraleap) in 2019 - Holz later reflected it was "the right product at the wrong time"—should have launched after the touchscreen revolution ### Midjourney (2021-present) - Founded in 2021 in San Francisco - Created the AI text-to-image generation platform - Launched Discord-based interface in 2022 - Philosophy: Thinks of Midjourney not as a chatbot but as "a vessel, a vehicle for the mind" - No traditional marketing—grew through word of mouth and social virality - The boat logo represents being "midway through a journey" - All announcements made through Discord server, not press releases ## Philosophy - Focused on discovering the true nature of products rather than imposing opinions - Views AI as "like water—potentially dangerous but essential for progress" - Humanist approach: rejected robot branding, chose boat imagery instead - Three pillars for the future: reflection, imagination, and coordination ## Recognition - Forbes 30 Under 30 - Consumer Technology (2014) ## Related - [[Midjourney]] - [[AI Agents]] ## Quotes <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/quote AND [[David Holz]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## Books <!-- QueryToSerialize: LIST FROM #type/book AND [[David Holz]] WHERE public_note = true SORT file.name ASC --> ## References - X (Twitter): https://x.com/DavidHolz - Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/david-holz - Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/profile/david-holz/