Born in Manchester, England, Anthony Wood is a self-made American entrepreneur who has fundamentally shaped the way the world consumes television. His early life was characterized by mobility, living in England, Georgia, the Netherlands, and eventually settling in Texas. His passion for electronics and technology began early; as a teenager, he published his first computer program, “Lunar Lander,” in Ahoy! magazine.

Wood pursued a technical education, earning a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University. While still in college, he founded his first company, AW Software, to sell computer programs, and later, SunRize Industries, which developed software and hardware for the Amiga. This formative period of continuous inventing and bootstrapping—often working without investors—instilled the discipline and product-first philosophy that would define his entire career as a serial founder.

Anthony Wood is a legendary figure in digital media, having invented two cornerstone technologies. His frustration at missing episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation inspired his second major venture: ReplayTV, founded in 1997. ReplayTV was the first digital video recorder (DVR) company, pioneering features like ad-skipping, pausing, and rewinding live TV. He sold ReplayTV in 2001 for $42 million, validating his vision.

In 2002, Wood founded his sixth startup, Roku, Inc. (The name means 'six' in Japanese). The next pivotal moment came in 2007 when Netflix employed Wood as Vice President of 'Internet TV.' At Netflix, Wood built the team that developed the first Netflix-streaming player. Netflix eventually spun Wood's entire engineering team and the product back out to Roku, allowing Roku to become the leading streaming platform in the U.S. and Mexico. This history of invention, from the DVR to the streaming box, cemented Wood's status as a billionaire pioneer of the digital viewing revolution.

Anthony Wood's social impact is inherent in his lifelong mission to give consumers control over their television viewing. Roku's platform provides free and accessible streaming content to millions, democratizing digital entertainment. His early work on the DVR established a consumer right to time-shift and control their own media.

His personal philanthropy often supports educational and engineering initiatives, reflecting his academic background at Texas A&M University. By maintaining a focus on building a robust, high-uptime, and reliable product, Wood has provided an essential, reliable public utility for the modern streaming era, creating a vast number of high-value engineering jobs in the process.

Anthony Wood maintains the distinctly Californian, engineer-CEO style of a successful product founder. His attire is consistently practical, favoring clean, simple, high-quality casual wear, such as dark jackets, simple shirts, and functional trousers. His look is one of focus and accessibility, reflecting his primary role as a hands-on inventor and product leader in Palo Alto.

Residing in Palo Alto, California, his lifestyle is defined by the high-tech, innovation-driven culture of the Bay Area. His luxury is the strategic control he maintains over Roku, allowing him to continuously invest in the platform and the user experience. His wealth affords him private travel and a life of comfort, but his true indulgence is his lifelong passion for inventing and solving complex technological problems, a pursuit that began in his youth.