Hugh & Marcus
Who we are
Hugh Taylor
I grew up on a farm in Australia — the middle of four boys. Summers meant calf-marking, fixing fences, and developing world-class expertise in moving cows from one paddock to another.
I studied Mechanical Engineering and Economics at Sydney University, then joined a brain-mapping startup as the first employee. Over four years, we built AI tools to decode the brain, scaled from $40M to $400M+, and secured FDA approval. I wore a lot of hats — from writing code and filing patents to leading teams across data science, product, and engineering.
What I loved most was building something meaningful with people I trusted. That’s what brought me to Harvard Business School — to explore how I could do that again in a new way, and eventually build something of my own.
Outside of work, I still play the odd game of rugby, love skiing, and recently got my skydiving license in Utah. I also enjoy hooking far bigger fish than Marcus while fly-fishing — as you’ll see below.
Marcus Ringer
I grew up in England, one of three kids, around my dad’s small real estate business. I wasn’t exactly on the payroll, but I did get dragged along to the odd site visit — usually to hold the tape measure or make small talk with grumpy tenants. It was a window into what it meant to build something real and be responsible for it.
My first actual business was a little less official. In my childhood, a friend and I collected lost golf balls, cleaned them up, and sold them back to the same golfers who’d sliced them into the trees. When the clubhouse shut us down, we pivoted to selling sandwiches on the local running trail. We had plenty of foot traffic — turns out runners will eat anything after mile three.
I studied Humanities at Durham University, captained the hockey team, boxed competitively, and spent a healthy amount of time in the pub with friends. After graduating, I joined the UK’s Diplomatic Service, where I led counterterrorism operations in Bangladesh and West Africa. It was fast-paced, operational work — weirdly, not a million miles from small business.
Later on, I went to Harvard Business School, where Hugh and I started thinking seriously about what we could build together.
Outside of work, I’m into trail running, film photography, and being a long-suffering Arsenal fan.
