busy"John Doerr reflected back on the many successful investments in his career and noted a pattern that is perhaps not politically correct, but a pattern none the less. The most successful investments were in founders that were white, male, under 30, nerdy geeks, with no social life. He rattled off a list of founders that included; Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Sergy Brin, Jerry Yang, David Filo, Jeff Bezos, Steve Case, Marc Andreessen, Scott Cook, and Mitch Kapor. He could have gone on...but he made his point. So, he said when Larry Page and Sergy Brin came along the decision was simple. Hmm...I'm sure there was more to it than that, but there is no doubt it worked out well for Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia."
My own ruminations aside, there are some implications of this statement for would-be tech entrepreneurs. In this day of people looking for "formulas" that are likely to yield high ROI, it's pretty obvious that there is a pattern of success here. It's not too much of a leap to conclude to whom tech startup investment money is likely to go.
I'm curious to know at the time that the Google founders decided that they wanted it to be a company, instead of trying to sell their technology, to what extent their now-spouses bought into the concept of the company and supported them. From some others' past experiences I have learned that some people were totally behind their partners' ambitions. In some cases it worked out well. In others, there were some acrimonious breakups and court battles.
