Andy McMillan (designer)

Andy McMillan is a co-founder of XOXO festival.

Career
McMillan attended university at Queen's University Belfast for Music Technology, hoping to make his way into a career in radio production.

Build
McMillan launched Build in 2009, a web design conference held annually in Belfast, Northern Ireland from 2009 to 2013. Starting as a single day of talks, it grew into a week-long festival, including music, film screenings, workshops, evening lectures, and a beer festival.

The first Build was held in 2009 at Waterfront Hall, with positive coverage from the BBC and Wired. The Belfast Telegraph said it was a "must-attend" that "provides nourishment for the design geek's soul."

XOXO
In 2012, McMillan and co-organizer Andy Baio launched XOXO Festival, a four-day conference and festival about independently produced art and technology held in Portland, Oregon. The project raised $175,000 via Kickstarter, selling all 400 tickets in 50 hours.

PayPal controversy
In May 2012, PayPal froze two of McMillan's accounts, withholding over $64,000 of funds collected from Build's ticket sales as collateral against pre-orders of The Manual. The resulting social media backlash led to a public response and personal apology to McMillan from former PayPal president David A. Marcus, who released the funds and asked McMillan to work with him personally on improving the service.