| Tim Draper | |
|---|---|
| Born | California |
| Occupation | Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) |
| Spouse | Melissa Parker Draper (Melissa Lee Parker) |
| Children | Billy Draper, Adam Draper, Eleanor Draper, and Jesse Draper |
| Parents | William Henry Draper III and Phyllis Draper |
| Website | |
| Profile at Draper Fisher Jurvetson | |
Timothy Cook Draper[1] is the founder of the global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Draper is third in a line of venture capitalists. His father, William Henry Draper III (Bill Draper), founded Draper & Johnson Investment Company in 1962, Sutter Hill Ventures in 1968, Draper International India in 1996, and Draper Richards in 2001. His grandfather William Henry Draper Jr., the first Silicon Valley venture capitalist founded Draper, Gaither and Anderson in 1959.
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Tim Draper is arguably the creator of "viral marketing." His confirmation 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 Yahoo! Mail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique to hundreds of businesses. Although Draper coined the term, "viral marketing," various viral campaigns preceded this invention (see MCI's Friends & Family Plan launched in 1991, a full 5 years prior to Hotmail's launch [1]). Draper invested in and contributed to the development of Skype (acquired by eBay, now sold to Microsoft), Baidu, Overture (acquired by Yahoo!), Parametric Technology, Hotmail (acquired by Microsoft), Tumbleweed Communications, PLX Technologies, Digidesign (acquired by Avid), Preview Travel (acquired by Travelocity), Four11 (acquired by Yahoo!), Combinet (acquired by Cisco), and Redgate (acquired by AOL), among others.
Draper launched the DFJ Global Network, an international network of venture capital funds with offices in more than thirty cities around the globe. He founded or co-founded Wasatch Ventures (Salt Lake City), Zone Ventures (LA), Draper Atlantic (Reston), Draper Triangle (Pittsburgh), Timberline Ventures (Woodland, WA), DFJ EPlanet (global), Polaris Fund (Anchorage), Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham (NYC), DFJ Frontier (Sacramento and Santa Barbara), and DFJ Dragon (Shanghai). Draper is featured as a keynote speaker in entrepreneurial conferences worldwide.
Draper is Founder and Chair Emeritus for The BizWorld Foundation that develops programs that teach children about business, entrepreneurship and finance in the US and around the world.
He served on the California State Board of Education in 1998–99. He launched a statewide cyber-initiative on school choice for the November 2000 California General Election.
Draper has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Draper is a recurring star in The Naked Brothers Band TV series on Nickelodeon as Principal Schmoke. Draper is the uncle to the show's stars, Nat and Alex Wolff. Moreover, his sister actress/writer Polly Draper created and produced the show. His children—actress Jesse Draper, Adam Draper, Billy Draper, and Eleanor Draper—also have starring roles in the project.
Draper is also a global board member of Endeavor (non-profit) and member of the board of directors of Wigix, Inc.
Draper was named an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin.
Draper is the son of venture capitalist William Henry Draper III and Peace Corps Administrator Phyllis. Draper's sister is Becky Draper and actress/screenwriter Polly Draper (star of the 1980s TV show thirtysomething), who is the wife of jazz pianist/recording artist Michael Wolff and mother to actor/singer-songwriters Nat Wolff and Alex Wolff (stars of Nickelodeon's The Naked Brothers Band TV series).[2] Draper is married to Melissa Draper and their children are Jesse Draper, Eleanor Draper, Adam Draper, and Billy Draper.[3]
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