Steve Jurvetson
Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
While the future is becoming more difficult to predict with each passing year, we should expect an accelerating pace of technological change. At Draper Fisher Jurvetson, we conclude that nanotechnology is the next great technology wave and the next phase of Moore's Law. Nanotech innovations enable myriad disruptive businesses that were not possible before, driven by entrepreneurship. Much of our future context will be defined by the accelerating proliferation of information technology – as it innervates society and begins to subsume matter into code. It is a period of exponential growth in the impact of the learning-doing cycle where the power of biology, IT and nanotech compounds the advances in each formerly discrete domain. So, at DFJ, we conclude that it is a great time to invest in startups. As in evolution and the Cambrian explosion, many will become extinct. But some will change the world. So we pursue the strategy of a diversified portfolio, or in other words, we try to make a broad bet on mammals.
Biography
Steve Jurvetson was the founding VC investor in Hotmail (MSFT), Interwoven (IWOV), and Kana (KANA). He also led the firm's investments in Tradex and Cyras (acquired by Ariba and Ciena for $8B), and most recently, in pioneering companies in nanotechnology and molecular electronics. Previously, Jurvetson was an R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, where seven of his communications chip designs were fabricated. His prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research (TEM atomic imaging of GaAs), and computer design at HP's PC Division, the Center for Materials Research, and Mostek. He has also worked in product marketing at Apple and NeXT Software.
Jurvetson serves on the Merrill Lynch and STVP Advisory Boards and is Co-Chair of the NanoBusiness Alliance. Jurvetson completed the B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 2.5 years and first in his class, and went on to receive a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.B.A., all from Stanford Univeristy.” He was profiled in the New York Times Magazine and featured on the cover of Worth and Fortune Magazines. Jurvetson was chosen by Forbes as one of “Tech's Best Venture Investors”, by the VC Journal as one of the “Ten Most Influential VCs”, and by Fortune as part of their “Brain Trust of Top Ten Minds." He was also honored with the "Advocate of the Year Award" by Small Times and chosen as one of "Nanotech's Power Elite” by the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report. In 2005, Jurvetson was honored as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and a Distinguished Alumnus by St. Mark's. He has written several columns on nanotech and other developing technologies.