“William H. Draper, III started his career in venture capital with Draper Gaither & Anderson, the first venture capital firm west of the Mississippi, working there with his father from its creation in 1958 until he left to cofound Draper & Johnson Investment Co. in 1962. Three years later, Draper & Johnson merged with Sutter Hill Ventures to great success. From 1981-1986, Draper served as President and Chairman of the […]
“Andrew S. Grove was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1936. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1960 with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree and received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. Upon graduation, he joined the Research and Development Laboratory of Fairchild Semiconductor and became Assistant Director of Research and Development in 1967. In July 1968, Grove participated in the […]
I’ve decided to write this blog post about one of the more interesting business stories that has never really been told accurately. The story started for me when I was hired in 1994 to join a company that would become known as Teledesic as the fourth employee. This startup’s mission was to provide communications to the world regardless of location. Early in the process of designing the system […]
“I’m always selling. Always.” “Learn to sell. In business you’re always selling – to your prospects, investors, and employees. To be the best salesperson, put yourself in the shoes of the person to whom you’re selling. Don’t sell your product. Solve their problems.” “No sales, no company.” “Make your product easier to buy than your competition, or you will find your customers buying from them, not you.” “Treat your […]
“Jenny Lee joined GGV Capital in 2005 as a managing partner and was instrumental in setting up the GGV presence in China. Her previous operation and finance work experience with Singapore Technologies Aerospace, Morgan Stanley and JAFCO Asia enhanced her role as a preferred board mentor and investor to many entrepreneurs in China. She graduated from Cornell University with a Masters and B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from […]
Eugene Kleiner was an Austrian-born American engineer and venture capitalist. He worked for William Shockley at Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory starting in 1956. The next year he and seven colleagues (the so-called the “traitorous eight“) famously left Shockley to found Fairchild Semiconductor. They left because did not like Shockley’s management practices or his plans to use germanium to make semiconductors. “Using just $3,500 of their own money to get started, these […]
The Devil’s Dictionary is a satirical dictionary written by the American journalist and author Ambrose Bierce. This humorous book was originally published in 1906 as The Cynic’s Word Book. One of my favorite writers, Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal, is the author of the newly published and wonderful book: The Devil’s Financial Dictionary. What follows are a dozen terms used in the venture capital industry, defined in Devil’s Dictionary fashion. […]
It would be difficult to overemphasize how important Mike Maples was to the success of Microsoft. Even more difficult would be trying to explain his personality which someone who knew him very well said to me “is several standard deviations away from what you would expect from a tech executive who started his career at IBM.” His personal impact on the lives, beliefs and skills of many people I know […]
You can learn as much from anti-role models as role models. Knowing what not to do is valuable. While Homer and other characters in the Simpsons are often among the more classic anti-role models, they are sometimes role models on issues like family loyalty. 1. HOMR- Broker: “Okay, now before I execute this order, are you sure you understand the risks of stock ownership?” Homer: “Absolutely!” [picture […]
Elon Musk is a classic missionary founder who is more interested in changing the world and creating enduring businesses than just the financial rewards that may flow to him from the product or service. Mercenaries may sometimes succeed financially, but they do not bring as much lasting value to their communities. What a city and nation wants in terms of economic development are businesses that produce jobs, innovative products […]