Editing Nat Friedman

{{short description|American technology executive and investor}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Nat Friedman
| image              = 20060424 Nat Friedman.jpg
| alt                = 
| caption            = Friedman in April 2006
| birth_name         = Nathaniel Dourif Friedman
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1977|08|06}}
| education          = [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])
| occupation         = 
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = CEO of [[GitHub]] (2018–2021)
| notable_works      = 
| spouse             = {{marriage|Stephanie Schatz|2009}}
| children           = 1
| website            = {{URL|https://nat.org}}
}}
'''Nathaniel Dourif Friedman''' (born 6 August 1977<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nat Friedman {{!}} Golden |url=https://golden.com/wiki/Nat_Friedman-BRAG9 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130045658/https://golden.com/wiki/Nat_Friedman-BRAG9 |archive-date=2023-11-30 |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=Golden}}</ref>) is an American technology executive and investor. He was the [[chief executive officer]] (CEO) of [[GitHub]] and former chairman of the [[GNOME Foundation]]. Friedman is currently a board member at the [[Arc Institute]] and an advisor of [[Midjourney]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Team {{!}} Arc Institute |url=https://arcinstitute.org/team |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=arcinstitute.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Kate |date=September 5, 2023 |title='He Doesn't Need VC in His Life': How Midjourney's Founder Built an AI Winner While Rejecting Venture Capital |url=https://www.theinformation.com/articles/he-doesnt-need-vc-in-his-life-how-midjourneys-founder-built-an-ai-winner-while-rejecting-venture-capital |website=[[The Information (website)|The Information]] |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Friedman attended and graduated from [[St. Anne's-Belfield School]] in 1996.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stab.org/communities/alumni/in-the-news#fs-panel-6785 |title = In the News|publisher=[[St. Anne's-Belfield School]]}}</ref>

In 1996, while a freshman at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Friedman befriended [[Miguel de Icaza]] on LinuxNet, the [[IRC network]] that Friedman had created to discuss [[Linux]]. As an intern at [[Microsoft]], Friedman worked on the [[Internet Information Services|IIS]] [[web server]]. At MIT, he studied [[Computer science|Computer Science]] and [[Mathematics]] and graduated with a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in 1999.<ref name="helix-history">{{cite web|url=http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/helix-history.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127002030/http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/helix-history.html|archive-date=November 27, 2013|url-status=dead|title=The pre-history of Helix Code}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1999, Friedman co-founded [[Ximian]] (originally called International Gnome Support,<ref name="helix-history"/> then Helix Code<ref name="own-right">{{cite web|url=https://www.itworld.com/article/2799001/operating-systems/nat-friedman--in-his-own-right.html|title=Nat Friedman, in his own right|author=Amy Bennett|date=20 March 2001|publisher=ITworld|access-date=5 June 2018|archive-date=5 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605064059/https://www.itworld.com/article/2799001/operating-systems/nat-friedman--in-his-own-right.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>) with de Icaza to develop applications and infrastructure for [[GNOME]], the project de Icaza had started with the aim of producing a [[free software]] [[desktop environment]]. The company was later bought by [[Novell]] in 2003.<ref name="linux">{{cite news |url=http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Online/News/Ximian-Founder-Nat-Friedman-Leaves-Novell |title=Ximian Founder Nat Friedman Leaves Novell |newspaper=Linux Magazine Online |date= January 8, 2010|access-date=2010-03-07 }}</ref><ref name="isbn1-59140-999-3">{{cite book |author1=Kirk St.Amant|author2=Brian Still |title=Handbook of Research on Open Source Software: Technological, Economic, and Social Perspectives |publisher=IGI Global |year=2007 |page= 595|isbn=978-1-59140-999-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=75KT6GdcWbYC&pg=PA595}}</ref>

At Novell, Friedman was the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer for [[Open Source]] until January 2010.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nat.org/blog/2010/01/hitting-the-road/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120529141845/http://nat.org/blog/2010/01/hitting-the-road/|archive-date=May 29, 2012|date=January 8, 2010|url-status=dead|title=Hitting the road|author=Nat Friedman|access-date=February 5, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="linux"/><ref name="xamarin">{{cite news|url=http://nat.org/blog/2011/05/xamarin/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711171811/http://nat.org/blog/2011/05/xamarin/|archive-date=July 11, 2012|url-status=dead|title=Xamarin|access-date=May 25, 2011|df=mdy-all}}</ref> There he launched the [[Hula (software)|Hula Project]] which began with the release of components of [[Novell NetMail]] as [[open-source software|open source]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nat.org/blog/2005/02|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130415095407/http://nat.org/blog/2005/02/|archive-date=April 15, 2013|url-status=dead|title=The Hula Project|date=February 15, 2002|author=Nat Friedman|access-date=June 5, 2018|df=mdy-all}}</ref> During his tenure, Novell began an effort to migrate 6,000 employees away from [[Microsoft Windows]] to [[SUSE Linux]] and from [[Microsoft Office]] to [[OpenOffice.org]].<ref>{{cite podcast|url=http://tllts.org/rsspage.php?showNumber=71&submit=submit|title=TLLTS Episode 71|website=The Linux Link Tech Show|date=February 16, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tip/11689.html|title=Ximian's co-creator Nat Friedman entertains the future|date=February 23, 2005|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=June 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141017/http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tip/11689.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://slashdot.org/story/05/02/24/2327221/nat-friedman-on-the-future-of-collaboration|title=Nat Friedman on the Future of Collaboration|website=Slashdot|date=February 24, 2005}}</ref> Friedman's final project before his departure was work on [[SUSE Studio]].<ref name="linux"/>

During his sabbatical, Friedman created and hosted a [[podcast]] called ''Hacker Medley'' with friend and former Ximian employee Alex Graveley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hackermedley.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928063816/http://hackermedley.org/|archive-date=September 28, 2017|url-status=dead|title=Hacker Medley}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgraveley|title=Alex Graveley - Principal Engineer - GitHub | work=LinkedIn|access-date=2022-10-04}}</ref>

In May 2011, Friedman and de Icaza founded [[Xamarin]], with Friedman as CEO.<ref name="xamarin"/> The company was created to offer commercial support for [[Mono (software)|Mono]], a project that de Icaza had initiated at Ximian to provide a free software implementation of Microsoft's [[.NET Framework|.NET]] software [[solution stack|stack]]. At Xamarin they focused on continuing to develop Mono and [[MonoDevelop]] and marketing the [[cross-platform]] Xamarin [[software development kit|SDK]] to developers targeting [[mobile computing]] devices and [[video game console]]s. In 2016, Xamarin was acquired by Microsoft.<ref name="blogs.microsoft.com">{{Cite web |title = Microsoft to acquire Xamarin and empower more developers to build apps on any device|url = http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/02/24/microsoft-to-acquire-xamarin-and-empower-more-developers-to-build-apps-on-any-device/|website = Official [[Microsoft]] Blog|date = 24 February 2016|access-date = February 24, 2016 |url-status = live|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160224232629/http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/02/24/microsoft-to-acquire-xamarin-and-empower-more-developers-to-build-apps-on-any-device/|archive-date = February 24, 2016 }}</ref>

With the June 2018 announcement of Microsoft's $7.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=7500000000|start_year=2018}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) acquisition of [[GitHub]], the companies simultaneously announced that Friedman, then a Microsoft corporate vice president, would become GitHub's new CEO.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.microsoft.com/2018/06/04/microsoft-to-acquire-github-for-7-5-billion/|title=Microsoft to acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion|date=June 4, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.github.com/2018-06-04-github-microsoft/|first=Chris|last=Wanstrath|author-link=Chris Wanstrath|title=A bright future for GitHub|date=June 4, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2018|website=The GitHub Blog}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-04/microsoft-agrees-to-buy-coding-site-github-for-7-5-billion|title=Microsoft Agrees to Buy Coding Site GitHub for $7.5 billion|first1=Dina|last1=Bass|first2=Eric|last2=Newcomer|newspaper=Bloomberg.com|date=June 4, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2018|publisher=Bloomberg}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/04/technology/microsoft-github-acquisition-deal/index.html|title=Microsoft buys coding platform GitHub for $7.5 billion|date=June 4, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2018|publisher=CNN|first=Rishi|last=Iyengar|website=CNN Money}}</ref> GitHub's co-founder and then-current CEO [[Chris Wanstrath]] had been leading a search for his replacement since August 2017.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/github-ceo-chris-wanstrath-to-step-down-become-executive-chairman-2017-8?r=US&IR=T|title=GitHub's CEO to step down for the second time|date=August 18, 2017|work=Business Insider|access-date=2018-06-28|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2017/08/17/github-ceo-chris-wanstrath-to-step-down/#7ff960c99ead|title=GitHub CEO Chris Wanstrath Plans To Step Down After Finding His Own Replacement|date=August 17, 2017|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-06-28|language=en}}</ref> Friedman assumed the role of CEO on October 29, 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://blog.github.com/2018-10-26-github-and-microsoft/|title=Pull request successfully merged. Starting build…|last=natfriedman|date=2018-10-26|work=The GitHub Blog|access-date=2018-10-27 }}</ref> During his tenure as CEO, Friedman introduced a number of new products rapidly, including GitHub Copilot, GitHub Codespaces, a native GitHub mobile app for iOS and Android, the GitHub Advanced Security product, GitHub Sponsors to support open source developers financially, and a new GitHub CLI. Friedman also acquired six companies including NPM, Semmle, Dependabot, and PullPanda. He helped grow GitHub to an estimated value of $16.5 billion (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=16500000000|start_year=2018}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}),<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levy |first=Ari |title=GitLab grew up in GitHub's shadow — now it's worth twice what Microsoft paid for its chief rival |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/17/gitlab-now-worth-twice-what-microsoft-paid-for-github.html |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=CNBC |date=17 October 2021 |language=en}}</ref> more than double what Microsoft paid for GitHub in 2018. In November 2021, Friedman announced that he was stepping down as CEO.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://github.blog/2021-11-03-thank-you-github/|title=Thank you, GitHub|last=natfriedman|date=2021-11-03|work=The GitHub Blog|access-date=2021-11-03}}</ref>

Friedman co-founded [[YIMBY movement#California|California YIMBY]] in 2017 to address California's housing shortage.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-09-28 |title=California YIMBY Statement on Governor Signing Major Housing Legislation |url=https://cayimby.org/california-yimby-statement-on-governor-signing-major-housing-legislation/ |access-date=2022-10-06 |website=California YIMBY |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2023, Friedman created nat.dev, a web interface for popular [[large language model]]s.<ref>{{cite web |date=March 24, 2023 |title=Nat Friedman via Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1639283002290106369 }}</ref>

Alongside [[Daniel Gross (entrepreneur)|Daniel Gross]], Friedman also has made significant investments in the AI space through a fund called C2 Investments, as well as running an AI grant program that gives funding and Microsoft Azure credits.<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://www.theinformation.com/articles/former-github-ceos-novel-investment-offer-to-ai-founders-rare-server-chips|title=Billion-Dollar AI Venture Fund Offers Elusive Nvidia Chips to Win Deals|date=June 20, 2023|website=[[The Information (website)|The Information]]|last=Clark|first=Kate|url-access=subscription}}</ref> During the [[Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank|depositor run on Silicon Valley Bank]] in mid-March 2023, Friedman provided capital to multiple startups.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Konrad |first=Alex |date=March 17, 2023 |title=Startups Asked For Help Making Payroll After SVB. VC Responses Were Mixed |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2023/03/17/startups-payroll-svb-vc-response/ |work=Forbes}}</ref>

==Personal life==
He has been married to Stephanie Friedman (née Schatz) since 2009.<ref>{{Cite Twitter profile|she_travels}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Ximian-Founder-Nat-Friedman-Leaves-Novell|title=Ximian Founder Nat Friedman Leaves Novell » Linux Magazine}}</ref> They have a daughter,<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Vance |first1=Ashlee |author-link=Ashlee Vance |last2=Huet |first2=Ellen |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Can AI Unlock the Secrets of the Ancient World? |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-ai-unlock-ancient-world-secrets/ |magazine=[[Bloomberg Businessweek]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205140446/https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-ai-unlock-ancient-world-secrets/ |archive-date=February 5, 2024 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription}}</ref> and live in [[Menlo Park, California|Menlo Park]] since 2022, having moved there from San Francisco after a home-invasion.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Council |first1=Stephen |last2=Bote |first2=Joshua |date=August 30, 2023 |title=Shadowy Bay Area land buyers have strong anti-San Francisco feelings |url=https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/bay-area-land-buyers-feelings-on-sf-18339130.php |website=[[SFGate]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1644736970139267072|title=@natfriedman on Twitter: We moved out of San Francisco to Menlo Park a year ago after two meth addicts broke into our house while we were home and robbed us...}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|http://nat.org/}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Nat}}
[[Category:American male bloggers]]
[[Category:American bloggers]]
[[Category:American computer programmers]]
[[Category:21st-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:GNOME developers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:GitHub people]]
[[Category:1977 births]]
[[Category:YIMBY activists]]
[[Category:American housing rights activists]]