Timothy C. Draper

Infobox Celebrity


image_size = 150px [http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/techchron/2007/01/26/tim_elephant220x238.jpg]
name = Tim Draper
caption =
birth_date =
birth_place = California
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Founder and Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ)
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spouse = Melissa Parker Draper (Melissa Lee Parker)
website = [http://www.dfj.com/team/tim_bio.shtml Profile at Draper Fisher Jurvetson]
footnotes =
children = Billy Draper, Adam Draper, Eleanor Draper, and Jesse Draper
parents= William Henry Draper III and Phyllis Draper
siblings= Polly Draper and Rebecca Draper

Timothy Cook Draper [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05E7DD1E39F936A2575BC0A964948260 Melissa Lee Parker Becomes the Bride Of Timothy Cook Draper in California - New York Times ] ] is the founder of the global venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He is third in a line of venture capitalists. His father, William Henry Draper III, founded the Draper & Johnson Investment Company in 1962, Sutter Hill in 1968, Draper International India in 1996, and Draper Richards in 2001, and his grandfather William Henry Draper Jr., the first Silicon Valley venture capitalist founded Draper, Gaither and Anderson in 1959.

Career

Tim Draper is the self-proclaimed creator of "viral marketing." 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 Yahoo! Mail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique to hundreds of businesses. Although claiming to have "invented" 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 [http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing/direct-marketing/342093-1.html] ) although Tim Draper may have coined the term "viral marketing". He invested in and contributed to the development of Skype (acquired by eBay), 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 Draper Affiliate Network, an international network of early-stage venture capital funds with offices in 34 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 the Chairman of BizWorld, a 501(c)3 organization that simulates teaching of entrepreneurship and business to children. He served on the California State Board of Education in 1998–9. 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 also in and TV series on Nick as the Amigos Elementary School's principal Joe Schmoke. Polly Draper who created, wrote, directed, and executive produced the film and TV series starring her two sons Nat and Alex Wolff. His children also have starring roles in the project: Eleanor Draper as Tessy (Jesse's show-and-real-life sister); Adam Draper as Donnie Timmerman, Billy Draper as Billy Timmerman, and Jesse Draper as Jesse Cook.

Personal life

Draper is the son of venture capitalist William Henry Draper III and Peace Corps Administrator Phyllis. Draper's sister is Becky Draper. His other sister isactress/screenwriter Polly Draper (from the 1980s TV show "thirtysomething"). [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=12989 The Technology Chronicles : Six degrees of Tim Draper ] ] Draper is married to Melissa Draper and their children are: Jesse Draper, Eleanor Draper, Adam Draper, Billy Draper and Owen Draper. [http://uclabruins.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/draper_adam00.html Player Bio: Adam Draper - Men's Tennis ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.dfj.com/team/tim_bio.shtml Tim Draper's biography] at the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Official Site
* [http://www.dfj.com/cgi-images/artman/uploads/tim_vcj.pdf Tim Draper profiled in The Venture Capital Journal]
* [http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?author=173 Tim Draper speaks at Stanford]