Tim Draper

Founding Partner, Draper Associates · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

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.

8statements → 5claims → 2claims resolved → 4/5average certainty → 2.12/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 58said about them ↓

2 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 2 not checkable as stated how the 5 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

5 assertions · 2 opinions · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 5 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 2 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 2 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Tim argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

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 Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 12:43 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Tim Draper on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

What they said8 What others said58 Episodes1

Everything Tim Draper said on Top Founders that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion

Tim Draper Defended Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes as 'Terrific' in 2016

“Oh yeah, she's terrific.”

Tim Draper Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 21:26 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Opinion

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”

Tim Draper Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 9:06 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Assertion Supported

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 Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 12:43 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Assertion Not publicly verifiable

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 Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 17:51 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Disclosure

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 Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 18:23 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

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.”

Tim Draper Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 2:31 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Draper: Skype Never Tapped Firm's Invested Capital

“They actually never had to tap into our money.”

Tim Draper Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 3:52 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

Assertion Supported

Draper: Elon Musk was not CEO when DFJ funded Tesla

“Actually, I met Elon long before Tesla and Elon was not the CEO when we funded it. A guy named Martin Everhard was.”

Tim Draper Feb 9, 2016 ▶ 12:22 This is The Worlds Most Influential, Powerful Investor with Tim Draper of DFJ Venture (Timothy Draper)

The other half of the tape: Tim Draper's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 57 times in 28 episodes on Top Founders. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Nathan Latka 51 Kenny Hawk 3 Sati Hillyer 1 Ketan Anjaria 1 James Marks 1

Statements about Tim Draper, by other people (1)

Disclosure

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, …”

James Marks Jul 3, 2020 ▶ 17:27 Why Whiplash Exited With $1.3m Raised, 16% Margin Profile in Order Fullfillment SPace