Charles Ferguson earned a BA in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley and a Ph.D. in political science from MIT; held postdoctoral, visiting scholar, and senior fellow positions at MIT, U.C. Berkeley, and Brookings; founded Vermeer Technologies with Randy Forgaard, sold to Microsoft; directed and produced multiple award-winning documentary films; has written and published five books; is an angel investor with a portfolio of approximately 30 early stage startups, an LP in six venture capital funds, and a GP with Davidovs Venture Collective; is an AI contributor to Project Syndicate; and is now a Venture Partner with EWOR.

Ferguson was born and raised in San Francisco, attended Lowell High School and then U.C. Berkeley, where he majored in mathematics, minoring in tennis, jazz, and film, and working part time as administrative assistant to the LBL Astrophysics Group under Nobel Laureates Luis Alvarez and George Smoot. Ferguson then entered the Ph.D. program in political science at MIT, focusing on defense and arms control policy, international political economy, European politics, and political philosophy. His Ph.D. thesis under Carl Kaysen focused on the policy implications of international competition in high technology, particularly semiconductors. After his Ph.D., Ferguson was a postdoc at MIT, at which time Ferguson began consulting for U.S. high technology firms including Motorola, Texas Instruments, Xerox PARC, Apple, and IBM.

In 1994, after leaving MIT, Ferguson founded Vermeer Technologies with Randy Forgaard. In 1995 Vermeer released FrontPage, the first software tool that enabled non-programmers to develop and manage websites. After selling Vermeer to Microsoft in 1996, Ferguson returned to academic and policy research for several years, holding positions at U.C. Berkeley, MIT, and Brookings, and informally consulting to the Department of Justice on antitrust policy. By this time Ferguson had written his first three books, all related to technology policy.

In 2004, Ferguson turned to documentary filmmaking. Ferguson’s first documentary, No End In Sight, was a comprehensive survey of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, including filming in Iraq in the spring of 2006. No End In Sight premiered at Sundance, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It also won numerous best documentary awards including the New York and Los Angeles film critics circles, and was an Oscar nominee. Ferguson’s second documentary, Inside Job, analyzed the 2008 financial crisis. Inside Job premiered at Cannes and was shown at the Telluride, Toronto, New York, and London film festivals. Inside Job won numerous best documentary awards including those of the Directors Guild, Writers Guild, and the 2011 Academy Award for best documentary. Ferguson’s third documentary, Time to Choose, premiered at Telluride and was devoted to addressing climate change. Ferguson’s final documentary, WATERGATE, was a four hour long survey of the Watergate scandal of 1972-74. WATERGATE premiered at Telluride and was also selected for screening at the New York and Berlin film festivals. Ferguson also wrote two more books during this period: No End In Sight, derived from his interviews for the film, and Predator Nation, devoted to issues related to the 2008 financial crisis.

In 2022, as the generative AI revolution reached commercial takeoff, Ferguson returned to technology as a full time investor in early stage startups, initially as an angel and advisor, then as an LP in six venture capital funds. His angel investments include Perplexity, CopilotKit, Etched, Paradigm, Browser Use, Animation Inc., and Mozart. In 2024 Ferguson joined Davidovs Venture Collective as a (non-exclusive) General Partner. Most recently, in 2026 Ferguson joined EWOR as a Venture Partner.

Ferguson is also a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of directors of the French American Foundation. Ferguson is a contributing writer for Project Syndicate, focusing on economic and defense policy issues related to AI. His recent articles include The AI Takeover of All Media is Coming and The Strategic Logic of the AI Arms Race.