About
Anthony Hughes is the co-founder and CEO of VITALS, a science-based self-awareness platform built on the Watterson Personality Inventory. He launched VITALS in 2025 with a team drawn largely from Tech Elevator, the coding bootcamp he founded and scaled before its acquisition by Stride (NYSE: LRN) in 2020.
Tech Elevator was named to the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies and placed thousands of career changers into software engineering roles across multiple cities. Earlier, Anthony served as President of Software Craftsmanship Guild, which was acquired by Wiley in 2015. Across both companies, he focused on the same problem: building infrastructure that helps motivated people break into careers they could not access on their own.
Before becoming an operator, Anthony founded JumpStart's Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program in partnership with MIT's Venture Mentoring Service, recruiting 50+ accomplished entrepreneurs to advise early-stage companies. The program helped over 100 startups raise $45M in investment capital. Beyond his operating roles, Anthony continues to invest in and mentor early-stage founders.
He has been recognized as a two-time Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist and named to Crain's Forty Under 40 and Notable Entrepreneurs lists. He is a former member of the Forbes Technology Council.
Anthony holds an MA with Honors from the University of Edinburgh and has lived and worked in Australia, Japan, the UK, and the United States.
Latest articles

Why Smart People Stay in the Wrong Job
Being smart doesn't get you out of the wrong job faster. It makes you better at building the case for staying. Here's the mechanism, and how to tell a rough patch from a real mismatch.


When a Promotion Feels Wrong: Nerves or Misalignment?
A promotion can feel wrong for two different reasons, and they call for opposite responses. Nerves attach to whether you can do the job and ease as the unknowns resolve. Misalignment attaches to what the job will require and doesn't ease at all.


Values Misalignment at Work: What It Is, What Causes It, and What to Do About It
Values misalignment at work doesn't usually show up as a single bad day. It builds through role drift, mismatched promotions, and incentive gaps that outlast any one bad quarter. Here's what causes it and what to do once you've named it.

