Tim Draper
Founding Partner, Draper Associates. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounderauthor@TimDraper ↗LinkedIn ↗timothydraper.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
Tim Draper is a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who founded Draper Associates, co-founded DFJ, and established Draper University. He is known for early-stage investments in companies including Tesla, Skype, Baidu, SpaceX, and Hotmail, alongside early backing of Bitcoin.
2shows
2appearances
19statements
5resolved
2supported
2contradicted
40%fully supported
105said about them ↓ Everything Tim Draper said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Tim Draper Defended Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes as 'Terrific' in 2016
“Oh yeah, she's terrific.”
Tim Draper: Bitcoin is more secure than money at Goldman Sachs
“And Bitcoin now is, you know, my Bitcoin is more secure than money at Wells Fargo or Goldman Sachs.”
Tim Draper: Bitcoin and blockchain will disrupt venture capital like Uber
“All of these things, Bitcoin, the blockchain, there are going to be new technologies applied to venture capital just the way file sharing was applied to the music industry, or Uber was applied to the taxi industry. I think venture capital is going to be change…”
Tim Draper predicts widespread Bitcoin adoption will occur by 2018
“Yeah, I think the adoption, I thought it would be three years and that was two years ago. It might be another two years because all of these entrepreneurs who have worked very hard to create uses for Bitcoin, those uses are starting to be adopted.”
Tim Draper: I created viral marketing by putting messages in Hotmail
“I created the idea to put a message at the bottom of everybody's email at Hotmail.”
Tim Draper: Aspiring VCs do not need prior entrepreneurial experience
“Some people are become very good venture capitalists just coming straight. I think if you want to be an entrepreneur, you should just go be an entrepreneur. If you want to be a venture capitalist, you should just go be a venture capitalist.”
Tim Draper: We funded Tesla before Elon Musk took over
“And it was actually true of Martin Eberhard when we funded Tesla before Elon Musk came in and refund, refinanced it and took it over.”
Tim Draper: Elon Musk is very thoughtful, unassuming, and nice
“And he's very thoughtful. Unassuming, and one of the nicest guys out there.”
Draper: Traditional schools have become too rigid and stifle experimentation
“Schools have gotten pretty rigid out there. They're telling you what to say, what to do, what to think and they're not letting you explore and experiment and try things”
Elon Musk Funded Struggling Tesla on Condition He Could Run It
“Elon was an investor with us, and on board, and then when the company was in a dire straits, Elon said that he put money in if he could run it.”
Tim Draper: Enormously successful founders share enthusiastic but quiet confidence
“In all the cases of the greatest entrepreneurs, I think it's been enthusiastic, but quiet confidence that I see in the ones that became enormously successful.”
Tim Draper: Bitcoin makes cross-border transfers almost free compared to fiat
“People, people spend 10 to 20% of their money just Moving it across. And if you use Bitcoin, it's almost free.”
Tim Draper: Plug and Play founder Saeed Amidi created the first incubator
“Saeed Amidi, who has, who really put the first incubator together.”
Tim Draper Pushed Hotmail Founders to Add Viral Email Signature
“The idea was to say, PS, I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail. And they thought I was out of my mind. And then they said, okay, okay. After we pounded the table for a long time, they finally said, okay, okay, we'll do it. But no PS, I love you. Just get …”
Tim Draper Refused to Patent the Viral Email Signature to Spur Adoption
“I decided not to patent the idea or anything because I thought, you know, this is such a cool thing. I kind of want the whole world to do it because then communications will spread faster. New products will spread faster. Everything will be better.”
Tim Draper prefers investing in early two-to-three person teams
“I like investing when there are two or three people in the company and they have a really good mission. And that can be before they've gotten any revenue or just after.”
Draper: Skype Cut 100k Audio Users for First Video Call
“The first Skype video call, they cut off a 100,000 simultaneous audio users in order to get the bandwidth for our video to work.”
The other half of the tape: Tim Draper's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 103 times in 38 episodes across the shows. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 51Harry Stebbings 26Emily Melton 6Beezer Clarkson 4Adam Draper 4Kenny Hawk 3Jason Calacanis 3Vlad Magdalin 1
Statements about Tim Draper, by other people (2)
Whiplash bootstrapped for seven years before raising from 500 Startups
“We had done both, so we bootstrapped for about seven years, and then we went through 500 startups, and then we raised a small seed round from Tim Draper, and you know, there's a few folks involved in that point, and it felt like we had, we owed them a return, …”
Tim Draper hired Emily Melton at DFJ after a 10-minute interview
“I actually emailed a number of VCs. There were investors in a couple of the companies that I was thinking about joining, and one of those was Tim Draper, and he agreed to meet me, and I walked into a meeting. He was late, too, and I was extremely nervous. I ha…”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
Top Founders 57
20VC 46
2023 4 mentions in 1 episode
2020 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
- HireClub: How 32k Member FB Group Fueled $25k MRR SaaS Business
- 20VC: Steve Jurvetson on 20 Years of Friendship with Elon Musk, How To Analyse Market Timing, Why Venture Does Not Scale & Why He Has Never Sold A Share in Any Company He Holds
- Why Whiplash Exited With $1.3m Raised, 16% Margin Profile in Order Fullfillment SPace
- every mention in 2020, scene by scene →
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: Investing Lessons From Observing Doug Leone and Bill Gurley, Why It Is Easier To Be Contrarian As A VC Than As An Angel & What It Takes To Run Tinder's Product and Revenue Alongside A Seed Fund with Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One
- 1088 How Ex-Salesforce Leader Launched Video for Salespeople Growing 100% YoY
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
2017 26 mentions in 8 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Why You Should Not Invest From Patterns, Why No Good Business Was Built As An Analogy Of Another & Why The Rise Of The 'Celebrity Investor' Is Concerning with Emily Melton, Partner @ DFJ
- 714: You Won't Believe What This Divorced Mom Raised $7 Million For
- 20VC: The Radical Changes In Public Market Expectations, The Right Way To Assess Valuation & What It Means To Be A Disciplined & Diligent Investor with Randy Glein, Partner @ DFJ Growth
- 20VC: Jason Calacanis on The 4 Questions Investors Must Ask Founders, Whether YC Have Scaled Their Process Successfully & Why Early Founder Liquidity Is Good Not Bad
- 697: How $1m in Personal Guaruntees Led to $500M IPO 15 Years Later
- 674: Sumo Logic Passes 1300 Customers, $140M+ Raised, Flirting W/ $100M ARR with CEO Ramin Sayar
- EP 531: $5m Note Cap Pre-Revenue? How? With ZeroApp CEO Alex Babin
- 20VC: eShares' Henry Ward on Why Portfolio Theory Is Wrong? Why Investors Will Never Take Market Risk & Why You have To Have A Line of Sight To A $Bn Outcome
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 67 mentions in 23 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: Investing In The Next Frontiers Of Tech & Harry Potter with Adam Draper, Founder & CEO @ Boost VC
- How Experts Do $1m On Their InfoProduct Launches with Amy Porterfield of AmyPorterfield.com Episode 133
- 20VC: Sam Lessin on Why Bots Will Change Business & The Internet Has Mostly Failed
- He Sits on Spotify Board
- How to Make a Fortune Selling on Amazon with Scott Voelker of The Amazing Seller Podcast
- EP 323: He took his company public for $1b
- Amy Tells Nathan he's Wrong on Membership Sites with Amy Schmittauer of SavvySexySocial.com
- $70m Loaned in One Click Mortgage Lending Business with Jason van den Brand of Lenda.com EP 220
- 15 more episodes that year, every mention in 2016 →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Tim's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Founding Partner, Draper Associates | 1 | 11 | 0% 0/3 | full record on 20VC → |
| TOP FOUNDERSLEDGER | Founding Partner, Draper Associates | 1 | 8 | 100% 2/2 | full record on Top Founders → |