John Doerr | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Doerr at Techcrunch Disrupt 2013, in San Francisco | |
| Born | Louis John Doerr (1951-06-29)June 29, 1951 (age 73) |
| Education | Rice University (BS,MEng) Harvard University (MBA) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Ann Howland |
| Children | 2 |
L. John Doerr (born June 29, 1951) is an Americaninvestor andventure capitalist atKleiner Perkins inMenlo Park, California. In February 2009, Doerr was appointed a member of thePresident's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn.[1]Forbes ranked Doerr as the 40th richest person in tech in 2017,[2] and as of August 1, 2023, as the 146th richest person in the world, with a net worth ofUS$11.9 billion.[3] Doerr is the author ofMeasure What Matters, a book about goal-setting, andSpeed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now.[4][5]
In 2022, John and his wife Ann collaborated withStanford University to launch its first new school in about 70 years:Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.[6]
Doerr was born inSt. Louis, Missouri. One of five siblings, Doerr graduated fromChaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis. Doerr obtained aB.S. and anM.E.E. degree inelectrical engineering fromRice University and anMBA fromHarvard Business School in 1976.[7]
Doerr joinedIntel Corporation in 1974 just as the firm was developing the80808-bitmicroprocessor. He eventually became one of Intel's most successful salespeople. He also holds several patents for memory devices.[8][9] In 1980, Doerr was offered a job with Kleiner Perkins. Intel presidentAndrew Grove told him, "John, venture capital, that's not a real job. It's like being a real estate agent."[10]
He joinedKleiner Perkins that year, and since then has directed the distribution of venture capital funding to technology companies includingCompaq,Netscape,Symantec,Sun Microsystems,drugstore.com,Amazon.com,Intuit,Macromedia, andGoogle.[11]
Doerr has backed entrepreneurs, includingLarry Page,Sergey Brin, andEric Schmidt ofGoogle;Jeff Bezos ofAmazon.com; andScott Cook andBill Campbell ofIntuit.[citation needed]
Doerr co-founded and serves on the board of the New Schools Venture Fund, aneducation reform andcharter public schools fund, and TechNet, a policy network of high-tech CEOs advocating education and litigation reform, and policies for theinnovation economy. Doerr co-chaired California'sProposition 39 which lowered the threshold to approved school bonds, andProposition 71 which created $3 billion in funding for California research intostem cell therapies. He serves on the board ofBono'sONE campaign to fight global poverty, particularly disease in Africa. His success in venture capital has garnered national attention; he has been listed onForbes magazine's exclusive "Midas List" and is widely regarded as one of the top technology venture capitalists in the world.[12]
Doerr advocates innovation inclean energy technologies tocombat climate change and has written and testified on the topic. In a 2007TED conference, he cited his daughter's remark, "your generation created this problem, you better fix it", as a call to fightglobal warming.[13]
In 2008, he announced withSteve Jobs the Kleiner Perkins $100 millioniFund, declaring theiPhone "more important than the personal computer" because "it knows who you are" and "where you are." In April 2010, he along with otheriFund members announced an increase iniFund's value by another $100 million, makingiFund the world's biggest investment pool in the cell phone application industry.[14]
He currently serves on the boards ofGoogle, Watershed,Amyris Biotech,Tradesy, ASAPP, andZynga. Doerr led Kleiner Perkins's $150 million investment in Twitter in 2012.[15][16][17]
In 2013, he invested inDreamBox,[18][19] which has been acquired byCharter School Growth Fund. He had also funded the initial investments inBloom Energy Inc. Doerr is a major backer of the education companyRemind.[20]
In 2016, Doerr stepped down from his role leading Kleiner Perkins, ceding leadership toTed Schlein.[3]
Doerr mentoredEllen Pao when she first joined Kleiner Perkins.[21] Before changing his mind in 2012, he was known for challenging those who gave her negative performance reviews.[22]
Doerr serves on the board of the Obama Foundation and ONE.org.[23][24]
In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the USA Economic Recovery Advisory Board by President Barack Obama to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.[25]
Doerr is married to Ann Howland Doerr. They live inWoodside, California, with their two children.[26]
In August 2010, they signed theGiving Pledge, a campaign set up by theBill & Melinda Gates Foundation andWarren Buffett to get ultra-high-net-worth individuals to donate their fortunes to charitable causes within their lifetime.[27][28]
In 1997, Doerr was named a Distinguished Alumnus ofRice University for his accomplishments in business.[29] In 2009, Doerr was named a Fellow of theAmerican Academy of Arts & Sciences.[30][31][32] In 2010, Doerr was inducted into theCalifornia Hall of Fame. In 2019, Doerr received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[33][34]
He is also member of the Global Advisory Board ofKhan Academy.[35]
On May 4, 2022,Stanford University announced Ann and John Doerr's donation of $1.1 billion to establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.[36][37] The gift is the second largest to an academic institution—the first beingMichael Bloomberg's $1.8 billion gift toJohns Hopkins University. It is the largest gift to Stanford in the university's history.[38]
Doerr is a supporter of theDemocratic Party and has hosted fundraisers for the party on several occasions.[39] Along withMark Zuckerberg andReid Hoffman, John Doerr was a co-founder ofFWD.us, a lobbying group focused onimmigration reform, improvements in education, and scientific research.[40]
The careful reader will notice that I was not present for several scenes in the latter part of the book. To reconstruct these episodes, I relied on the taped recollections of as many of the participants as possible. I am deeply indebted to several people – especially Robert Carr, Bill Campbell, Randy Komisar, and John Doerr – who gave freely of their time to describe these scenes.
Mr. Schlein and all the other digital partners felt that way, except me. I saw it differently.
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