Timothy C. Draper is the Founder and a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. His original suggestion to use "
viral marketing" in web-based e-mail to geometrically spread an Internet product to its market was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail and YahooMail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique by hundreds of businesses. On behalf of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Tim serves on the boards of
Glam,
Tagworld,
SocialText,
Kyte.tv,
Chroma Graphics,
Meebo, Increo, and
Wigix. Previous successes include: Skype (EBAY), Overture.com (YHOO), Baidu (BIDU), Parametric Technology (PMTC), Hotmail (MSFT), PLX Technologies (PLXT), Preview Travel (TVLY), Digidesign (AVID), and others.
Tim launched the DFJ Global Network, an international network of early-stage venture capital funds with offices in over 30 cities around the globe. He founded or co-founded
DFJ ePlanet (global),
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham (NYC),
Zone Ventures (LA),
Epic Ventures (Salt Lake City), Draper Atlantic (Reston),
Draper Triangle (Pittsburg), Timberline Ventures (Portland), Polaris Fund (Anchorage),
DFJ Frontier (Sacramento and Santa Barbara), and
DFJ DragonFund (Shanghai).
As an advocate for entrepreneurs and free markets, Tim is regularly featured as a keynote speaker in entrepreneurial conferences throughout the world, has been recognized as a leader in his field through numerous awards and honors, and has frequent TV, radio, and headline appearances. He was #7 on Forbes Midas List and #52 on the list of the most influential Harvard Alumni.
Tim is also the course creator and Chairman of
BizWorld, a 501c3 organization built around simulated teaching of entrepreneurship and business to children. He served on the California State Board of Education. In November of 2000, Tim launched a statewide cyber-initiative on school choice for the California General Election. He is a member of Singapore's Economic Advisory Council and Ukraine's Orange Circle. He is on the Board of U.C. Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He has a BS in Electrical Engineering from
Stanford University, and an MBA from
Harvard Business School.