Tucked away on a quiet street in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Andrew Clark and his team at Hoonify Technologies are working on something big: rethinking who gets access to the world’s most powerful computers.
Founded in 2022 as a spinout from the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, Hoonify was born with a singular mission: to strip away the complexity of supercomputing and put it in the hands of anyone, anywhere. “Supercomputers are incredibly powerful,” Clark explained in a recent interview. “But they’re also incredibly complex. Our story started by automating all that complexity out so that anybody could use them.”
From National Labs to Startup Garages
The idea came from years of frustration that Clark and his co-founders saw inside the national labs. Researchers, interns, and even seasoned scientists were waiting weeks or months for access to supercomputing resources. Talented students eager to contribute to national security research or scientific discovery often sat idle.
Clark and four colleagues—veterans of Sandia National Laboratories—decided to change that. They traded stable government jobs for the uncertainty of startup life. Early days were spent in coffee shops and motorsport garages, drawing on a shared background in racing as well as computing. That spirit of risk, speed, and ingenuity even shaped the company’s name: Hoonify.
“In New Zealand, a ‘hoon’ is someone driving recklessly,” Clark said. “We turned it into a verb, signifying that we’re driving technology beyond its limits.”
Building the Team That Left the Lab
Hoonify’s founding group brought together decades of specialized expertise.
- Victor Kuhns, the core founder, had spent 30 years building the world’s fastest supercomputers for defense and industry.
- Blake Kinnan, a systems engineer, had worked in defense and lab environments.
- John Zivnuska, the finance lead, managed multimillion-dollar budgets at the labs.
- Connor Brown, VP of product, specializes in applying supercomputing across national security and commercial industries.
- And Clark himself, with a background in IT and cybersecurity leadership for national security programs, stepped into the CEO role.
It was a leap—but one softened by the fact that no founder was doing it alone. “Having a team of five gave us confidence,” Clark recalled. “You know where your strengths are, and where you can lean on someone else.”
The First Customers Were Already Waiting
Unlike many startups, Hoonify didn’t need to invent its first market. The team had spent years inside environments where supercomputing was mission-critical. When former colleagues left government or academic posts, they suddenly lost access to the tools they relied on.
Those scientists, engineers, and program leaders became Hoonify’s first paying customers. “One of the hardest things in business is building trust,” Clark said. “But we had that from years of collaboration. Those relationships carried forward.”
Listening Harder Than They Spoke
Clark admits the company’s first big misstep was a classic one: falling in love with their original ideas. Their original prototype, a desktop “supercomputer in a box,” worked well for certain customers in scientific research and commercial industries, but at first it was difficult to receive feedback about changing a product that had already proven effective.. What saved them was humility—and the discipline to listen.
“Customizing early wasn’t something we were advised to do,” Clark said. “But it taught us to stop talking and start listening. Customers will tell you what they need today, not just what you think they should want.” That insight pushed Hoonify toward software solutions that could run on any machine, not just specialized hardware.
Culture of Problem Solving and Friction, with the Spirit of Risk
At the heart of Hoonify’s culture is problem-solving, and Clark believes that embracing friction is good and beneficial for growth. Disagreements and missteps are part of the process to achieve greater results. “Debate isn’t inherently bad,” he explained. “It’s how people make their case. You just have to channel it.”
The same applies to risk. The team’s motorsport background taught them that pushing limits requires rigorous preparation. “Motorsports looks reckless from the outside,” Clark said. “But it’s built on engineering and testing. That’s how we treat risk in the company.”
Grounded in New Mexico, Aiming for Global Impact
Though Hoonify’s technology has global applications—from fusion energy research to pharmaceutical development—Clark is adamant about the company’s roots in New Mexico. With Los Alamos and Sandia Labs nearby, the state has long been a hub of national security innovation. Clark sees Hoonify as both a bridge and a catalyst: connecting elite computing resources to students, startups, and companies that would otherwise be locked out.
“My hope,” he said, “is that Hoonify helps build a stronger workforce and economy in New Mexico. We want to lower the barrier so that anyone—whether it’s a student or a company—can use these technologies to solve new problems.”
The Humility to Keep Learning
When asked what skill defines him as a founder, Clark doesn’t point to technical expertise or strategic vision. He points to humility. “The most important thing I do is shut up and listen,” he said. “Investors, co-founders, customers—whether they’re right or wrong, they deserve to be heard.”
That humility has carried Hoonify through difficult moments, product pivots, and long unfunded stretches. Today, with customers in defense, aerospace, energy, and pharmaceuticals, Clark says success isn’t just about revenue. It’s about watching his team incorporate feedback, build better products, and create opportunities for others to do more.
“Every day we’re pushing technology beyond what it was built for,” he said. “That’s what Hoonify means. And that’s what we’re here to do.”You can learn more about Hoonify here. If you have a founder who should be featured in our Founder’s journey series, please introduce us by emailing [email protected].
