The Riskmaster

IMPACT 2011 Venture Summit, Philadelphia

2012-01-09T15:08:00.000-08:00

Interview with ISPBC TV's Johanna Juntunen

Jamis McNiven of Bucks gave me a terrific birthday serenade... only about 6 months off

2011-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Publish Post

Going virtual and real at the same time

2011-12-02T10:19:00.001-08:00

Rocking out with Pipeline in NYC at the DFJ Gotham Club Dinner

2011-11-30T12:21:00.000-08:00

Great WSJ Piece: To Increase Jobs, Increase Economic Freedom

2011-11-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

This is a fantastic article of where we are and what needs to be done. More Freedom = Richer Nation.

BizWorld Foundation Education Riskmaster Luncheon w/ Jennifer Johnson

2011-11-01T14:59:00.000-07:00

Please join us on December 13th as we celebrate another year of inspiring kids to think big! Our "Riskmaster" this year is Jennifer Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of Franklin Resources (AKA Franklin Templeton Investments).

Great ideas from Warren Buffett regarding Congress aligning with the public

2011-10-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

In a recent interview with CNBC, Warren Buffett offered the following quote about the debt ceiling:

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3 months and 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971, before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.” Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land, all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn, ask each of those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1) No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when out of office.
2) Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security. All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3) Congressmen can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4) Congress will no longer vote itself a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5) Congress loses its current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6) Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7) All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.

Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

I would add that any increase in Congressman’s pay be tied to GDP growth instead of CPI.

At YeePay's Headquarters

2011-10-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

Fast travel in China

2011-10-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Entering the bullet train from Changzhou to Shanghai. Fast!

Singapore and the TechVenture Conference

2011-10-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

View over the infinity pool at the Sands Hotel in Singapore. The TechVenture Conference was a resounding success. Forty novel start ups presented to about 700 people.

Half a Mile Up

2011-10-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

View from the top of the tallest building in the world.

Future Entrepreneurs of the MENA region

2011-10-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Muslim women getting educated at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Future entrepreneurs of the MENA region.

Doha Skyline

2011-10-16T10:07:00.001-07:00

This country shows promise.

In Dubai:

2011-10-15T09:18:00.001-07:00

Mob looking to catch a glimpse of Kim Kardashian at the Dubai Mall.

Sharing hairy crab with Vincent Tao of PPLive

2011-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

Palo Alto International Film Festival

2011-10-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

I spoke at the Palo Alto International Film Festival about the future of media. My apologies to the group. I was late.

Fun at Silicon Dragon Event

2011-10-09T09:20:00.001-07:00

The Future of Media

2011-10-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Speech at the Palo Alto International Film Festival 2011

Talking Sex with Dr. Ruth

2011-09-28T09:56:00.001-07:00

Palo Alto Film Festival

2011-09-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

Come see what's playing:

Billy's short Take Your Child to Work Day

Jesse's No One Will Know

Dad's Something Ventured

Buy tickets here!

http://www.paiff.net/index.php/festival/film

Palo Alto Film Festival

2011-09-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

Jesse’s movie is doing a preview screening at the Palo Alto Film Festival!!! She recently produced and starred in a movie called "No One Will know". She worked incredibly hard on the film and is very excited because we are having our first premiere sneak preview screening at the Palo Alto International Film Festival on Friday, September 30 at 10:00 PM at the Aquarius Theater in Palo Alto.

Jesse produced a terrific thriller of a movie

2011-09-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

Buy tix and see the sneak preview at the Palo Alto Film Festival

http://www.paiff.net/index.php/festival/film

S.S. Riskmaster with DFJ logo...Champion Flying Scot in Tomales Bay

2011-09-12T19:33:00.001-07:00

APL basketball shoes

2011-08-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

“Wow! My sons and I tried the APL basketball shoes and they are awesome.”

New BizWorld Program Video - Check it out!

2011-08-25T09:34:00.001-07:00

http://www.vimeo.com/27794893

Ending the Deficit

2011-08-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Warren Buffett presented his quick and easy solution to Americas debt problem today on CNBC:

“I could end the deficit in 5 minutes. You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of congress are ineligible for reelection.”

Portfolio.com asks Five Questions on the VC Market

2011-08-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Five Questions For Tim Draper On the Venture Capitalist Market

My recent address to the Commonwealth Club

2011-07-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

Scheduled to air locally this evening at 7 p.m. on KLIV, AM (1590). Audio link here.

Interview with Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News

2011-07-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Interview with Tom Brokaw

Interview w/ Emily Chang and Cory Johnson on Bloomberg TV

2011-07-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Bloomberg Interview

Storytelling at Anderson School

2011-07-18T13:59:00.001-07:00

http://www.dfj.com/tim/TimDraper_AndersonSchool.mp4

Dealmaker Spotlight Interview

2011-07-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

"By my watch we are three years into the next VC wave, led
by social networking, wireless communications and apps."

TIMOTHY C. DRAPER
Founder and Managing Director
Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Tim Draper shared his passionate views with Global M&A Network about the globalization of the VC community, the DFJ Network for sourcing deals and recent investments, the downside of IPO exit and adverse effects of Sarbanes Oxley, the need for American government to change and drive entrepreneurship, along with his personal experiences with leaders from Singapore, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, Chile to grow the VC ecosystem.

Q: As an insider, how has the Silicon Valley venture capital community evolved in the last decade?

Mr. Draper: Most significantly, the Silicon Valley has gone global. There are Silicon Valley model ecosystems everywhere from Hyderabad to Shanghai, Boston to Singapore. DFJ, through the DFJ Network has set up relationships and offices all over the world to try to support entrepreneurs wherever they may be. We knew that with the information and communications revolution, entrepreneurs could start up businesses anywhere. For us, one turning point was when Sabeer Bhatia sent an email to India, and within three weeks we had 100,000 Hotmail subscribers in India. We knew then that the world would have near perfect information, and the opportunities to start businesses in new regions would explode.

Q: Do you believe that there a tech bubble presently and how is it different from previous cycles?

Mr. Draper: I actually designed something I call the “Draper Wave.” It is more an emotional curve than an actual data driven one. But it shows that since the late ‘50s, when my grandfather was a pioneer VC, it seems that every 8 years there is a VC wave, followed by a PE (or leveraged wave). It is as though each generation starts by creating jobs by starting businesses, builds up a frenzy of activity, reaches full employment in a crescendo, and then loses confidence, and the bubble pops, at which time the leveraged buyout industry goes in and restructures and remakes those companies until the leverage outpaces the growth, and then there is a recession, and people lose their jobs and the cycle starts again. For example in 1983, Apple, Arthur Rock were each on the cover of Time Magazine before the VC crash in 1984, and then the LBO world brought us RJR Nabisco in 1990, and Michael Milken being thrown in jail in 1991. Then the VC business came through with the Internet revolution, which peaked in 2000, and popped in 2001. Then the PE business rose until the crash of 2008. By my watch we are three years into the next VC wave, led by social networking and wireless communications and apps.

Q: So, presently, there is no need to fear a "tech bubble"?

Mr. Draper: I expect to have 3 more years before there is another “bubble of any kind,” and as long as people fear a bubble, there will not be one.

Q: In your observation, what pressures are faced by mature tech companies to buy assets, example Microsoft deal with Skype?

Mr. Draper: In the specific case of Microsoft, buying Skype was brilliant. They spent 4% of their market value to become the world leader in long distance telecommunications. They acquired half a billion customers overnight. They might even be able to build some synergies. That all from a company whose growth has been flat for a decade.In general, technology is fluid and changing. Moore’s law is accelerating. New platforms and change is accelerating. Incumbents must adapt, acquire or innovate, or they will be left behind.

Q: Which of your recent investments excites your imagination today?

Mr. Draper: We are very excited about a couple of recent investments we have made. One is Tango (it takes two to Tango). Tango is Skype for wireless devices, where you can do video calls without having to schedule them ahead of time. The other is Do@. Do@ is a wireless search tool that allows more relevant and efficient search from a wireless device. You really have to try it. It is great fun.

Q: What global markets are you focused on and why?

Mr. Draper: I think it is important for a venture capitalist to roam around a bit to seek out new countries for VC ecosystem acceleration. I like countries that have new leadership and understand that they are in competition for the great minds and capital of the world. I think the US may be resting on its laurels here. Since Sarbox (Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002), all I have seen is animosity toward business in the US, where as many of the other countries have shown real plans to encourage the VC ecosystem. Singapore, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, Chile all have leaders that have appealed to me personally to help them grow their entrepreneurship and venture capital environment.

Q: In reference to Sarbox—what creates the “animosity”? Also, why is US “resting on its laurels?”

Mr. Draper: Sarbox was set up by big government to watch over big business. It is expensive, and assumes that by overwhelming CEOs with paperwork and setting up independent groups to hear complaints by workers that that will keep bad apples from doing bad things, they will make our corporate world safe from those bad apples. It is ludicrous, and unnecessary, and painfully expensive for the smaller public companies. When was the last time you saw our government thanking the leaders of business for the great work they do to create wealth and pay taxes so that government can spend their money so people can be safer, better educated and better cared for? When was the last time an article stated that a CEO should be better paid for the great work they have done to build value for customers, employees and shareholders? This sort of thing is happening in other countries.We pay billions to educate the best and the brightest from all over the world in technology in our universities, and then we don’t let them work here, so they go back to countries that will have them. Our government spending is right up there with the most socialist countries. We allow unions to decide how our children are educated, to run our government, and to enforce our regulations.

Q: Can you provide examples of how the leaders in the countries mentioned -- Singapore, Korea, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, Chile are planning to grow their VC communities?

Mr. Draper: I can tell you what I learned in my travels. President Yuschenko of Ukraine allowed me to be the first American to come to Ukraine without a visa. He then explained that although in the past it has taken 6 months and 23 bureaucrats to start a business, now it will be one bureaucrat and 5 days. In Singapore, I came up with a new idea for a stock market at breakfast, and at lunch I was sitting between the head of the Singapore SEC and the head of the Singapore stock market. In Vietnam, I met with the DPM and Finance Minister who told me that they were learning how to outdo China in attracting business. In Korea, President Lee told me that he hoped to attract more entrepreneurs and venture capital since they had laid out the best wireless infrastructure in the world in Seoul. Russian President
Medvedev and his team have offered DFJ a free office and free travel to Russia for our partners if we will help them set up a venture capital/entrepreneurial environment in Russia. I met with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera, who discussed the privatization of Social Security in his country and the effect it had had on the entrepreneurial climate there. In Malaysia, I saw ads for medical tourism, and in my discussions I learned that the government there is hoping to take advantage of a slow bureaucratic FDA in the US, where people will come to Malaysia to get the most modern treatments. Even President Sarcozy of socialist France just put together an eG8 conference to get a handle on the Internet and bring entrepreneurs to his own country.

Q: In your experience, what are the nuances of investing in global markets?

Mr. Draper: I have found that entrepreneurs are the key here. The governments can make it harder to do business somewhere, but the best entrepreneurs are those who have a vision of the future and they cannot help themselves from pursuing it against strong odds. These are the people I look for. Where they are is secondary.

Q: What are the challenges facing America today and is there a role to be played by the VC community?

Mr. Draper: If America wants to keep its edge, it must do away with public employee unions. Why the taxpayer has to pay a premium for a government worker is beyond me! These unions are an ongoing drag on the education system, on worker motivation, and on our country’s economic value and growth. The VC community’s goal is to make money for their investors while supporting entrepreneurs in their visions. They will go to the countries that are the most attractive.

Q: So, would you agree that America is not a top destination for VC today in the global context?

Mr. Draper: No. I like America. I think there is hope. But we need to wake up and smell the competition. Our government is in competition with the other countries of the world for the businesses of the world, and if we don’t respond to that competition, we will lose industry after industry. We do have the best free speech in the world. We do have freedom of religion. We do have a right to bear arms and protect us from government overstepping. But we also have an inefficient and hungry government that is soaking up valuable resources that the private sector can do so much more with.

Q: In an increasingly competitive environment, how do you source your deals? Is your due diligence process detailed?

Mr. Draper: At DFJ, we have a real edge in deal sourcing. It is our DFJ Network. Our network allows all the members to see opportunities that are not available to provincial VCs. We see every trend happening, and we see them in multiple locales. So it is up to us to make sure we back the right people, and help guide them in the right directions.We do thorough due diligence on all our companies, but as the market for entrepreneurs heats up, sometimes we have to just do our best and with incomplete information, go with our gut.

Q: How do you define market share and what is the relationship style between DFJ and its portfolio companies?

Mr. Draper: Ever since I stumbled upon the concept of viral marketing, we at DFJ have made it our business to make sure we take full use of virality. I think this is one of the areas where we stand out. I think all VCs do most of the other things we do, business modeling, monitoring progress, managing entrepreneurs (if that is possible), etc. Each partner has his own style, and all partners help to improve the portfolio in any way they can, whether on the board or not. I like to help the companies with their viral marketing approaches and help the entrepreneurs with how to put to work the resources they have.

Q: In your experience, what are the top action steps for an effective "viral marketing"?

Mr. Draper: Every company is different. It isn’t action steps, it is a way of thinking. How do you get your customer to help you spread your service? It falls under the category of business modeling. Marketing costs can be lowered if there is some leveraged way of reaching a lot of customers.

Q: What is DFJ preferred exit strategy presently?

Mr. Draper: We tend to invest for the long haul. Interestingly, we tend not to want to exit our companies if they are doing well. We like the compounding effect of riding our winners.

Q: How do you define “long haul”; and if you were to exit, what is your preferred strategy?

Mr. Draper: Well, our partnerships are 10 years with 4 one year extensions, I guess we are talking about a 14 year time horizon for each fund. Current exits have real downsides. Mergers usually mean that the original visionary loses his ability to pursue his vision, and many people lose their jobs as companies get more efficient.IPO’s have the downside of higher regulation, and more scrutiny by small, unsophisticated shareholders. Companies that do IPO’s usually lose their best board members because of the liability attached to them, and they also get shareholder lawsuits since any shareholder of one share can call for a class action lawsuit for any reason. Sarbox and other regulations have added the problem of being so expensive to the company that companies have to be very large to justify going public, so there is little liquidity available if a company pursues this path. We saw these problems and helped create a new alternative. An XPO. Xpert Financial has gotten SEC approval to do XPOs, private IPOs for companies who want to raise money from the same institutions that the public companies use, and have some outlet for shareholders who want liquidity at better prices than they can get in the secondary markets.

Q: How do you cope through the ups of the markets?

Mr. Draper: When the going gets tough…the tough get going. When the business gets too easy, we sell.

Q: Finally, what book are you currently reading?

Mr. Draper: The Start Up Game, by Bill Draper, my father. I reread it regularly. It is the tone and voice of the book that helps people understand a better way to live their own lives. My father has a very positive outlook that can be contagious to anyone who reads the book. He is awesome.

deal make r SPOT•L IGHT©. Published weekly on-line by Global M&A Network, LLC
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Speaking from Paris at ChinICT in Beijing via Skype

2011-06-01T09:34:00.001-07:00

Living it up at the Ritz in Paris -- Why socialism doesn’t work

2011-05-29T09:42:00.000-07:00

I was invited by President of France and current President of the G-8, Nicolas Sarkozy to come to Paris to advise him on the Internet before he went on to lead the G-8 session in Deauville. It turned out that he had invited 1500 other people to this “eG8,” but I felt very special at the time. When my wife heard the word “Paris,” I soon realized that this was going to be a romantic splurge and we blocked out a week at the Ritz before I put the letter down.

We flew AirFrance Business Class (incidentally, there is no First Class on AirFrance), and our bags marked “Priority” in the USA came out on to the carousel in France after about 45 minutes, which was after most of the bags with no “Priority” marking. The driver said that was typical.

When we arrived at the Ritz, jet-lagged and ready for showers, two porters aggressively took our bags, saying, “Ah, monsieur and mademoiselle, we will take care of these for you.” “Thank you,” we answered leaving them to check in. We were handed a sort of an odd shaped electronic key (which worked some of the time), and a very nice woman showed us to our room. The room was beautiful, although a little worse for wear. Before she left, I asked where our bags were, and she replied, “They will be up here soon, monsieur.” After about a half hour, we started getting concerned. We didn’t want to take showers, because we had nothing to change into. So I called down to the lobby, and asked politely about our bags. “Of course, they will be right up monsieur,” was the response I got. A fter another 15 minutes, I called down again with a little more edge to my voice. The same person responded, “Yes, they are on their way up now, monsieur.” Another 5 minutes, and I called again, now enraged. “I will check on them, monsieur.” Two minutes later a young bag carrier, different from the two men that took our bags originally, came up winded with big apologies and with our bags. Apparently, the bag receivers were different from the bag deliverers and the two had had a communications issue. But each had a specific job, which they had done according to the job description.

With great relief, we took our showers, and got ready for a delightful walk to a nearby brasserie. At the brasserie, we ordered a couple of delicious looking macaroons and some hot chocolate from the nice girl at the counter. She asked, “Would you like to sit down?” I said, “That would be great.” So she said, “Well, in that case, you will have to order from the waiter off the menu.” She then handed us a piece of paper with some writing on it. We went in, sat down, and had some delicious cut vegetables and bread, and also, once we figured out that we needed to give the waiter the paper, got some hot chocolate and some macaroons. Apparently, the girl at the counter could not sell hot chocolate and macaroons to us if we were going to be sitting down. That was the waiter’s job.

At the “eG-8,” I entered a large tent (a structure made specifically for this event). There were 1500 people gathered under the tent, and it was very hot and very stuffy in there even though outside the day was cool and comfortable. But we all suffered through it since we were all so honored, and now more curious as to why we were invited to this event. President Sarkozy, with sweat dripping from his very red face gave us a long speech that started out telling us that he understood that we all wanted the Internet to be free and that a free internet was good for the global economy, but then he went a little sour with me saying that he needed to know from us how he best could regulate the internet for privacy, cyber terrorism, intellectual property protection and the like. (I notice that under the cover of words like “national security” and “protection from terrorism” a lot of government entities find ways to control and regulate us.) Then it got worse. He said that after he figured out how we would recommend that he control the internet in France, he would bring his plans to the G-8 and discuss how they would all work together to control the internet. And after that, rising to a crescendo, he said, “We hope to take this to the G-20 and ultimately to the UN General Assembly!” I hope the other leaders are smart enough to dodge this bullet.

Well, maybe it was the heat, but I was starting to chafe. I was stuck in the third row, middle (a place of honor with “priority” written on the seat), and I couldn’t get out. And it was getting really hot and stuffy in there. It felt like the tent was short on oxygen. I thought of the prisoners that were put in those heat boxes in World War I. I took off my jacket to reveal my drenched and darkened shirt, and the very nice person to the left of me who ran marketing for Chanel (and would never take off his jacket in this setting) looked at me with great tolerance, knowing that his own heat experience just got a little smellier. Eventually, I found an opportunity to get to the aisle, where I reached a woman who worked for the conference, and asked her if there was anything she could do about the heat. “I don’t know,” she responded looking around as if there was nothing she could do. “Can you let someone know?” I asked. She shrugged as if to say, “I am only here to guide you to your chairs. Someone else is in charge of temperature control, and I don’t want to tread on their turf.” So, I went over and opened a few doors to the outside, and the room, at least the micro climate near the door, cooled off a little.

Then there was a break, and the group escaped to the outside where the day was gorgeous and pleasant, and I was thrilled to get a chance to meet some of the rest of the group. If this was not going to be a one-on-one with President Sarkozy, it would be a great networking event (and by the way, it was! But that is a different story.)I went to get a glass of water from a bartender standing behind a spectacular spread of delicious French food. He was busy pouring coffee, so I reached for the water to do it myself. “Ah NO Monsieur, that is MY job,” he shouted and gave me a look as though I had put a greasy hand on the Mona Lisa. So I dutifully waited until he finished pouring the coffee and then he poured me a half glass of water.

After the event, my wife and I were outside the Ritz asking about a taxi to take us to the restaurant that we loved so much when we were in Paris 15 years ago, Taillevent. The valet explained that it would be another 15 minutes because the taxi would need to be called, even though we could see that there were taxis with no passengers flying by all the time. The taxi caller would of course be upset if the taxi would be hailed by anyone but him. I actually tried to flag down a taxi, to no avail, as drivers seemed to accelerate by me as I tried.
Our dinner at this very expensive restaurant was again delicious. But there was something different about the waiters. 15 years ago, we sat at a table in the middle of the room, and the waiters seemed to come out of nowhere. When I had spilled my soup, I remembered that within 90 seconds, we had an entirely new meal in front of us on a new white tablecloth. It was like magic. This time, the waiters wandered around in the middle of the room while all the tables faced in toward them. It was clearly an easier job for them, but a little distracting for us as we tried to make goo goo eyes at each other. There was the wine waiter, and the dinner waiter and the dessert waiter and one waiter who didn’t seem to do anything but shuffle back and forth. We had a delicious dinner and dessert that went down like butter, and then we asked for the bill. Well it turned out that one waiter delivered us the bill, and I offered him my credit card. He walked away embarrassedly, and eventually the waiter whose job it was to accept the credit card came out to take back my credit card. Then the waiter that called taxis came out and asked us if we needed a taxi.
Don’t get me wrong. We loved Paris. We met some wonderful people. We ate like kings. We saw Versailles. I even came to a conclusion on why France would rather have preservation than progress. It actually makes sense that France is a Socialist country. France is a work of art, not to be disturbed by progress.

Here is my theory. City planner, Baron Georges-Eugene, in the mid 1850s built a masterpiece. An “entrepreneur” (a French word, by the way) would look at Paris and decide that all he could do is screw it up. It must be disheartening for some. But if you are French, you might look at it this way:
Your great grandfathers built the most beautiful city in the world. Enjoy it. It cannot be made more beautiful, so enjoy it. Yes, it could be more convenient, it could be more efficient, it could be more of a lot of things, but it could not be made more beautiful. And it is done. The artists’ signatures are on it. You could not build it or anything like it today. Adding to it would destroy it. So live well, revel in the past when your great grandfather was the king of the world. C’est la vie.

The French say a lot about “culture.” What they really mean is, “We live in this work of art. Don’t touch it.” The unionism is strong and it makes them feel better about living in a work of art, where no one makes any significant change, where people just do their job as a part of that work of art, and no one is allowed to be treated any differently from anyone else.
So now, I am heading back home on AirFrance, and there is a fairly large shard of glass in my shrimp cocktail. The nice stewardess says, “I am so sorry Monsieur. So awful.” She seemed really confounded. I think she wondered why no one had the job of watching-out-for-glass-in-the-shrimp-cocktail.

I have had the most delicious meals of my life (maybe all the entrepreneurial spirit has been channeled into that awesome crepe Suzette), and taken in the most gorgeous sites that all seem to be staged as part of a living painting, but I know I have to wake up soon.

It is with mixed feelings that I head back to the rest of the world, where no city is so beautiful that it can’t be improved upon.

Viva la entrepreneur!
And for those of you who still don’t get why socialism doesn’t work, it is because under socialism (or unionism), everyone does their job and no more, they have no incentive to do more (in fact there is a disincentive in most unions), and even if everyone does their job well, not all jobs will cover every eventuality, and you might eat some glass with your shrimp cocktail.

GOP takes stock of Silicon Valley

2011-05-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Article from Politico written by - MICHELLE QUINN

Cambridge Fashion Start-Up UsTrendy Gets $1 Million In Funding

2011-05-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

Fashion site UsTrendy sews up ~$1M from Draper Read more: Fashion site UsTrendy sews up ~$1M from Draper | Boston Business Journal
It's safe to say the fashion industry does not see Sam Sisakhti coming. But the 28-year-old Brandeis graduate has about $1 million from a Sand Hill VC, and a plan to get egg all over someone’s Dolce & Gabbana glasses.

Interview video with The Deal (Ukraine & Vietnam)

2011-04-29T10:10:00.000-07:00

Emerging Markets: http://bit.ly/fxojAu

Interview Video with The Deal (Egypt and Japan)

2011-04-29T09:44:00.001-07:00

http://bit.ly/hv0GgU

SRII Global Conference

2011-04-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Tim Draper Keynote
Tim Draper Q&A

Italian Innovation Day at Stanford

2011-04-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Pictures of me and Scott Sandell as we spoke at and Judged Italian Innovation Day at Stanford. Some great companies from a prosthetic hand to kite energy.

Lupita Island in Africa

2011-03-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

San Francisco Chronicle's SFiS magazine did a nice article on my investment in Lupita Island in Africa. The place is gorgeous! The service is top notch; a very comfortable experience.

Ski Race

2011-03-28T12:51:00.000-07:00

Ski race in Deer Valley where Frank Creer enjoyed his finest moment on the slopes and edged me out. (Sportscasting/Cinematography by Steve Jurvetson.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfGFXeylGYw

GenConnect at SXSW

2011-03-21T10:54:00.002-07:00

My daughter @JesseDraper and I give a live performance at #SXSW for @genConnected http://bit.ly/gCMFG1

GenConnect at SXSW

2011-03-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

See my 2.5 minute video from #SXSW @genConnected http://bit.ly/eqX0e1

Best entrepreneur pitch yet

2011-03-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

See Parking in Motion sing “The Riskmaster.” Lovely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUhD7PU2Hok

SXSW

2011-03-17T14:02:00.001-07:00

First time to SXSW, and I discovered the Woodstock for Entrepreneurs. There are many wilder, but here is a post from my talk that ended at 1:30 in the morning. http://min.us/mvnI7hk#1.

Xconomy's VC65

2011-03-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

Check out Xconomy's #VC65 at MIT during NVCA on April 6th: Celebrating 65th Anniversary of Venture Capital in America - http://bit.ly/dGpNlo

Dad and I on CNBC's Power Lunch

2011-02-24T09:21:00.000-08:00

Click here for video.

Overthrow the Status Quo

2011-02-23T16:11:00.000-08:00

Amazing! In speaking to a group of Stanford entrepreneurs, I blurted out “overthrow the status quo,” and then mentioned that it might make a good song. About 18 hours later, I got this great song from singer, songwriter Paul Bohan. He gives credit to the Jam-O-Matic from Connected Studios for the quick turnaround. Great tune.

Daytona 24 - Coulter Mulligan

2011-02-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

My nephew, Coulter Mulligan is a talented race car driver. New to the sport, but drove impressively in the Daytona 24, a marathon team event.

Coulter didn’t do this. His race partner did.

Egypt

2011-02-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

I am so excited by Egypt’s peaceful revolution. It is amazing to see what people can accomplish with great communications technologies. My taxi driver told me that he had escaped from Burma, and today he was jumping out of his seat on the hope that Burma might follow suit. Twitter, Hotmail, Skype, Facebook, Meebo…you are heroes!!! The world is a more peaceful, open, free and happy place because of you. Keep innovating. We still have a few totalitarian regimes to overthrow.

All this communication will make countries realize that they are in competition for the entrepreneurs and the capital of the world. Governments used to rule and control, now they have to sell and encourage people to work and live in their country. The USA needs to heed this call too.

Viva la revolution.

Tim Draper

Speaking to the Stanford Business School with Dad and Peter Wendell about venture capital, past, present and future

2011-02-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

Great event where my father and I laugh and spar about the venture capital industry.

Great Xpert Video on MarketWatch

2011-02-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Xpert video

My son made a great rap over "Popular" from Wicked.

2011-02-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

Dreezy: Popular

Bloomberg TV's "Street Smart" Interview re Startups

2011-02-02T18:08:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2011 - with Matt Miller and Carol Massar

Some lessons from the VC Titan Panel at Venture Summit

2011-01-18T18:43:00.001-08:00

See FastCompany article.

Jesse Draper is on the front page of Virgin.com.

2011-01-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

Check it out!

My Teacher, My Hero: Mrs. Payne

2011-01-12T14:05:00.000-08:00

A tribute to my 6th grade teacher at Hillview Elementary School in Menlo Park.

Bringing An End To Regulatory Arbitrage In The Private Markets

2011-01-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

Opinion piece from Thomas Foley in the WSJ.

Interview re Disruption and Female Start-ups (Parts I & II)

2010-12-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

From EZebis: Making Business Easy
Part I
Part II

Inc. Magazine article with Bill Draper - "Inside the Mind of an Investor"

2010-12-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Click here.

Navy Seals Training

2010-11-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

Admiral Ray Smith spoke at our CEO Summit last week re "Leadership and Teamwork in High Stress Environments". Navy Seals training is inspirational.

Read "The IPO and the American Dream" by Duncan L. Niederauer

2010-09-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the WSJ article.

Hanging out with Heidi Klum of Project Runway during Fashion Week in NYC

2010-09-20T11:57:00.001-07:00

TrackVia's New Application Platform

2010-09-10T11:03:00.001-07:00

TrackVia's New Application Platform has officially launched! Sign up now for a FREE two week trial http://bit.ly/9x31i4.

"The Start Up Game" by William H. Draper III

2010-08-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

Dad wrote an awesome book about venture capital called “The Start Up Game”. You can preorder it on Amazon by clicking here.

Meg Whitman Will Bring Silicon Valley Sensibilities To The State Capitol

2010-08-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Check out my guest post re Meg Whitman on TechCrunch

Best and Worst of Silicon Valley

2010-08-17T15:53:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a Frenchman who was interested in replicating the Silicon Valley in Paris what made Silicon Valley work. Here was my response: the first list is what is good here, the second list is what is bad here.

Please feel free to add to either column.

Here are the things that are good in the Silicon Valley:
-Great local technology universities
-Great local business schools
-America has a free market for college education, so it is the best in the world
-We are 3000 miles away from the rulemakers in Washington DC, and more than 100 miles from the rulemakers in Sacramento, California
-We encourage the entrepreneur (a French term) through making them heroes in the press, on stage, in conferences, etc.
-We have many venture capitalists, so the entrepreneurs have choices, and some wild ideas might be more likely to be funded
-Our labor market is non-union on the whole, and very mobile
-We have the Valley Girl

Here is what doesn’t work in the Silicon Valley:
-Our K-12 education system is the worst in the world, it is commanded and controlled by the government
-We don’t let our brilliant immigrants stay in the country after we have educated them in our stellar universities
-For some reason (schadenfreude?), our press and our government doesn’t like our rich people, or our senior management, so they are starting to leave and taking their money and their expertise with them. The irony is that it is those people who employ our citizens, and pay the taxes that support our government
-California, the state is bankrupt and over regulated, so it is not the best place to do business anymore

"The Lottery" (Film)

2010-08-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

“The Lottery” is a compelling film that focuses on the families that need school choice the most.

Check out the lottery website for a screening near you. Next week, it will be playing in Sacramento:

Wednesday, August 18th

light reception begins 7pm, film begins 7:45pm, panel discussion following
1013 K Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
RSVP to betterschools@edvoice.org for a free ticket!

DVD is also available at www.thelotteryfilm.com/buy.

Draper Reinvigorating Theorem

2010-07-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

There is not enough enthusiasm for math in the US schools. Without enthusiasm for math, science and entrepreneurship are at risk. So, In the spirit of reinvigorating the math world, and proving there is always something new out there, I have invented a new theorem.

Please show it to all the math teachers you know.

Draper Reinvigorating Theorem:

The sum of the cubes of a sequence of integers, 1 to n, equals the square of the sum of those integers. Totally freaky. 1+8+27=(1+2+3)^2 or 1+8+27+64=(1+2+3+4)^2. Try it with 5,6,7...It works.

Feel free to comment, add your own theorems, etc.

Big Problems, Big Opportunities & Big Vision

2010-07-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

An interview with Andrew Bellay, the VC & Money editor of AlwaysOn

Terry Kawaja's Latest Music Video

2010-07-08T17:50:00.001-07:00

Check out TechStar

Palm Beach Illustrated article on Lupita Island

2010-07-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Check out "Private Africa" by Daphne Nikolopoulos:
Palm Beach Illustrated's Worldview blog (on PalmBeachIllustrated.com)

Scott Hanson from Ambiq Micro - Winner of the 2nd Annual DFJ-CISCO Global Business Plan Competition

2010-07-08T12:55:00.000-07:00

Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Silicon Valley

2010-07-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Check out Irina Aervitz' article, "High Tech and Vekselburgers".

Baseball fans:

2010-06-08T17:21:00.001-07:00

For those of you who missed this, here is the link of the woman pitching for my team, the Chico Outlaws of the Golden Baseball League.

Want Tim Draper to take YOU to lunch?

2010-05-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

In support of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, I am auctioning off a lunch for you and your business partner at Tamarine. Bring questions or ideas about your business venture!

Click here to access the eBay auction.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education, and patient services. For more information go to http://www.lls.org/.

**All proceeds from this auction donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society**

Like Father, Like Son

2010-05-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

Like the bull and the bear

The rhino and the burro.

Mastering the VC Game

2010-04-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

You have to read Jeff Bussgang’s “Mastering the VC Game.” I don’t know how I have done without it all these years. www.jeffbussgang.com

Picture of my grandfather as part of his efforts in the Berlin Airlift

2010-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

He's the one behind Harry Truman.

From "Daring Young Men", by Richard Reeves

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703436504574641112265642106.html

Electronics Design, Strategy, News: Flowing venture capital where it’s needed

2009-12-03T13:41:00.000-08:00

Check out Paul Rako's article.

TechCrunch Dealmaker Rankings: DFJ The Top 25 Most Active VCs In The Third Quarter

2009-11-01T18:41:00.000-08:00

Draper Fisher Jurvetson tops both lists, with 17 deals in the third quarter, and 34 year to date.

How to Solve the Net Neutrality Issue - Sonia Arrison (TechNews World)

2009-11-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

Check out How to Solve the Net Neutrality Issue

PS: I Love You. Get Your Free Email at Hotmail

2009-10-24T16:39:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from Adam L. Penenberg’s new book, Viral Loop: From Facebook To Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves

Good Times Start Now - Sheppard Mullin VC Outlook

2009-10-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

David Hornik of August Capital, Mitch Lasky of Benchmark Capital, Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners, Riaz Karamali of Sheppard Mullin, and I gathered to talk about the state of funding and where money is going in digital media.

10 VCs Look to the Future - Kent Bernhard, Jr.

2009-10-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

Check out Kent Bernhard's article in Portfolio.com (10/01/09).

I experience the delicacies of Hong Kong with my new friend Danny Lui, founder of Lenovo

2009-09-24T10:25:00.001-07:00

Some thoughts on liquidity

2009-09-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

Liquidity is a critical factor in our economy. It allows people flexibility to move in and out of investments without penalty. It keeps people from having to buy or sell in a panic. Liquidity builds confidence in the financial markets, allowing more financial risktaking, thus generating more innovation.

The IPO market is broken. Sarbanes Oxley and other regulations and accounting complexities have made it untenable for growth companies to go public. It is also uneconomic for investment bankers to take anything public with a market cap under $1 billion.

Xchange is changing the game. Xchange allows companies liquidity and allows them to stay private and unencumbered by burdensome regulations.

Jesse Draper's "The Valley Girl Show" featuring Elon Musk

2009-09-03T11:03:00.000-07:00

Check out “The Valley Girl Show” a new take on the business interview! I magine if Reese Witherspoon’s character in Legally Blonde had taken Silicon Valley instead of Harvard Law-and been brunette-and you have the Valley Girl. Like a pink Ellen Degeneres, she illustrates the simplicity of business while including the fun tidbits that you don’t get to see on Charlie Rose. She launches with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and Spacex among her other guests are former NFL Superstar/banker Ronnie Lott and Vinod Khosla! Tune in every Monday!

And if you are a REALLY good friend Jesse would love for you to....
1. Post the link on your facebook/twitter/myspace status...or any other social networking tool...
2. Post it on your blog!
3. Send it to everyone you know!
4. Wear pink!
5. Make everyone you know send it to everyone they know!
6. Follow Valleygirlshow on Twitter!
7. Play “The Valley Girl Show” at dinner parties.
8. Talk about “The Valley Girl Show” at your dinner parties.
9. Don’t forget to eat at your dinner parties!
10. Tune in every Monday!

Some thoughts on VC Regulation....

2009-08-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

Venture capital helps everything this administration wants to accomplish. We encourage innovation, create jobs, help people from all walks of life pursue the American Dream, and improve competitiveness worldwide—we don’t even use debt. So, why is the administration trying to:

(1) Add to our regulatory burden by having us register with the SEC; and

(2) Increase taxes on carried interest?

Getting on Stage at Hair (NYC)

2009-08-12T18:13:00.001-07:00

New blog post: Now it's our time baby! an interview with Chris Arsenault

2009-08-10T14:50:00.001-07:00

For the CVCA Private Capital Privé magazine – Summer 2009:

The theme of this year’s CVCA Annual Conference was “Embrace our Energy.” Well, keynote speaker Tim Draper did just that. He had more energy than any other venture capitalist in the room that evening – his eyes were sparkling and he saw opportunity everywhere. Read more....

Catch a Rising Star

2009-08-10T14:38:00.000-07:00

Interviews w/ Pascale Diaine re Women in Tech

2009-07-28T16:13:00.000-07:00

Interviews with Pascale Diaine from Orange Labs, San Francisco

Tim at SD Forum

Her Code: Engendering Change in Silicon Valley

Interview on Roger Green's BizTech Review

2009-06-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

DFJ and Cisco Global Business Plan Competition and insights about the state of entrepreneurship in the world today

Milton Friedman Interview on Greed

2009-06-28T13:14:00.000-07:00

Interview with one of my heroes, Milton Friedman.

U.S. immigration rules blamed for tech brain drain

2009-06-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Check out David Lawsky's article on Immigration:
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN237877620090623

Meeting with the New Mayor of Shenzhen

2009-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Very brief meeting with the new mayor of Shenzhen, Wang Rong.

Prototype: Location, Location, It Still Pays to Be Near (NY Times article by Leslie Berlin)

2009-06-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Great article regarding the dynamics of going global featuring the DFJ Global Network

Prototype: Location, Location: It Still Pays to Be Near By LESLIE BERLIN

Business may be global, but geographic proximity is still important in many industries.