Tim Draper founded Draper Associates, DFJ, Draper University--a global human accelerator, and the globally popular entrepreneur pitch show, "Meet the Drapers." He funded Baidu, Tesla, Skype, SpaceX, Twitch, Hotmail, Focus Media, Robinhood, Athenahealth, Oklo, Coinbase, Cruise, Carta, PTC, and other unicorns, a total of over 50 funded from the seed stage.
He is a supporter and global thought leader for entrepreneurs everywhere, and is a leading spokesperson for Bitcoin, blockchain, ICOs, and cryptocurrencies. He won the Bitcoin US Marshals' auction in 2014.
He created viral marketing, a method that spreads an electronic service from customer to customer exponentially, instrumental to the successes of Hotmail, Skype, and other applications, especially those focused on mail and communications. Social media, crowdsourcing, and growth hacking all grew out of viral marketing.
He is regularly featured on major networks as a proponent of entrepreneurship, innovative governance, free markets, and Bitcoin. Honors include the World Entrepreneurship Forum “Entrepreneur of the World.” Worth Magazine listed him among the one hundred most powerful people in finance. CryptoWeekly ranked him in the top twenty most influential people in crypto. AlwaysOn named him the most networked venture capitalist. He placed seventh on the Forbes Midas List and forty-eighth among the most influential Harvard alumni. Global Guru counts him among the top thirty startup gurus worldwide.
To promote entrepreneurship he created Draper University of Heroes, a residential and online global accelerator in San Mateo, California, that helps extraordinary people accomplish their life missions. The school has trained more than six thousand founders from 104 countries who have founded more than 2000 companies, including: 1063 Games, Lemon, NVision and crypto leader QTUM.
He founded BizWorld, a nonprofit that teaches children how business and entrepreneurship work. He served on the California State Board of Education and led a movement for local choice in schools, culminating in a statewide initiative for school vouchers. He also backed initiatives to create competitive governance with Six Californias and later Three Californias.
Tim Draper earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He holds honorary doctorates from The International University and Trinity College Dublin.
He is a judge on the globally popular TV show "Meet the Drapers" where he has discovered hundreds of successful startups including the unicorn Boxabl, and he is the author of “How to Be the Startup Hero.
