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Philip Rosedale

Founder, Second Life. Co-Founder, High Fidelity

Philip Rosedale is an American entrepreneur and the founder of Linden Lab, the company that developed and hosts the virtual world Second Life.4 He is also the co-founder of High Fidelity, a company that initially focused on building an open-source virtual world platform for VR headsets and later pivoted to spatial audio technology.456 Rosedale's LinkedIn username is philiprosedale.2

Background::

  • Birth: Born in San Diego, California, on September 29, 1968.4
  • Education: Earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and computer science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1992.45
  • Early Career: Started a software company in high school to help pay for college.45

Career Highlights::

  • FreeVue: In 1995, Rosedale created FreeVue, an Internet video conferencing product, which was acquired by RealNetworks.45
  • RealNetworks: Became the Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at RealNetworks in 1996.46
  • Linden Lab and Second Life: Founded Linden Lab in 1999 and created Second Life, an internet-scale virtual world.4 His goal was to demonstrate a viable model for a virtual economy or society.4
  • Awards and Recognition:
    • Received WIRED's Rave Award for Innovation in Business in 2006.4
    • Named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2007.4
  • LoveMachine Inc.: In October 2009, Rosedale announced he would be less involved in Second Life to focus on a new project, LoveMachine Inc.4
  • Return to Linden Lab: In June 2010, he returned to Linden Lab as CEO, but left the position in October 2010.4 In January 2022, Rosedale rejoined Second Life as a strategic advisor.346
  • Coffee and Power/High Fidelity Inc.: In November 2011, Rosedale released a new project named Coffee and Power, later starting High Fidelity Inc. in 2013.4 High Fidelity initially focused on an open-source virtual world platform for VR Headsets.5
  • Second Life Today: Rosedale returned to Linden Lab as CTO to help build the future of Second Life.1

Rosedale is considered a pioneer in the metaverse space, with Second Life being one of the first virtual worlds to gain mainstream attention.36 He has also been involved in projects related to distributed work and computing.6

Highlights

Mar 5 · linkedin

A project in our lab investigated the idea of immobilizing a person and measuring their intention (using strain gauges) to move their avatar in VR, rather than wearing an HMD and tripping over your cat. See what you think:

Apr 21 · linkedin

Software development friends,

Would you agree to be bound to the code of behavior below if it came with the benefit of access to a supportive IRL community of investors, entrepreneurs, engineers and designers? Which of these promises most resonate for you? Are there any that seem too restrictive or hard to measure?

Related Questions

What inspired Philip Rosedale to create Second Life?
How did High Fidelity differ from Second Life?
What are Philip Rosedale's views on the future of the metaverse?
How did Philip Rosedale's early career influence his later ventures?
What challenges did Philip Rosedale face when founding Linden Lab?
Philip Rosedale
Philip Rosedale, photo 1
Philip Rosedale, photo 2
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Location

San Francisco, California, United States