John Doerr

Over breakfast at Doerr’s house, Pincus pitched his start-up, social-gaming company Zynga Game Network Inc., to the famed investor, who is known to intimidate more than a few entrepreneurs. But Pincus had good fortune. As it turned out, Doerr’s teenage daughter, Mary, was home at the time and happened to be playing one of Zynga’s games. When Pincus left, Mary’s assessment was to her father was, “He’s pretty cool.”

John Doerr, Bing Gordon and Mark Pincus talk about their joint effort to turn Zynga's into the biggest social gaming company.

John Doerr interviews Bing Gordon and Mark Pincus on stage about their joint efforts to make Zynga into the top social gaming company.

As a young venture capitalist, John Doerr (HBS MBA '76) became one of the first flag bearers for the Internet generation at a time when most entrepreneurs were in their teens and twenties — younger than Doerr himself. Doerr joined Kleiner Perkins in 1980, at the beginning of a decade in which, he says, "we witnessed (and benefited from) the largest legal creation of wealth on the planet."

Today’s the opening day our of TechCrunch Disrupt conference, and we’re starting it off with a bang. Rose asked Doerr for his thoughts about what’s coming next. Doerr says that’s we’re on the third great wave of innovation. The first was the microchip/PC in the 80s. The second was the Internet in the 90s. And now we’re entering a wave of social, mobile, and new commerce, Doerr says. And what’s leading that wave? The iPad.

He funded Netscape, Google, Amazon, and Bloom Energy. His success in venture capital has garnered national attention; he has been and is currently listed on Forbes magazine's exclusive "Midas List" and is widely regarded as one of the top technology venture capitalists in the world. Today, Doerr remains one of Silicon Valley's most influential figures. Forbes magazine estimates his net worth to be well over $1 billion. Doerr is a high profile supporter of the Democratic Party in Silicon Valley. Through the TechNet (lobbying organization) he helped found, he has devoted much time and money towards impacting legislation beneficial to the technology industry.

A Conversation with John Doerr

John joined KPCB in 1980 and soon started Silicon Compilers, a VLSI CAD software company, and @Home, the first broadband cable Internet service. Eric Schmidt calls John "one of Google's best board members." And Jeff Bezos says, "Doerr (and Kleiner) is the center of gravity in the Internet." John has also been part of several big failures, most famously GO Corporation, chronicled by Jerry Kaplan in the book "Startup".

At VentureBeat’s Downturn Roundtable event this morning, Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr came prepared with a list of the top things that start-up CEOs should do. He surveyed 18 of Kleiner’s companies, and here’s what they suggest.

May 30, 2007 — http://www.ted.com "I don't think we're going to make it," John Doerr proclaims, in an emotional talk about climate change and investment. Spurred on by his daughter, who demanded he fix the mess the world is heading for, he and his partners.

John Doerr — Doerr does not stand for reelection to Amazon's board. (3/17/10). VC John Doerr leads $10M investment in physician software co., Purkinje.

As a well-known champion of Google, Doerr describes some of his favorite services that Google offers.

Doerr is also known for his almost superhuman energy. The standard image of John Doerr is that of a rail-thin man in a rumpled blue blazer, with a lick of hair falling across his forehead, rushing to a conference, simultaneously holding a conversation with three people around him and talking on his cell-phone. Three years ago, Doerr was already a famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist. But the event that moved him to global business fame was the arrival of the Internet.

Where I grew up: St. Louis; Places I've lived: Houston, Boston, Chicago, Portland; Companies I've worked for: Intel; Schools I've attended: Rice, Harvard.