John Doerr

Doerr joined Intel Corporation in 1974 just as the firm was developing the 8080 8-bit microprocessor. He eventually became one of Intel's most successful salespeople. He also holds several patents for memory devices. In 1980, Doerr was offered a job with Kleiner Perkins. Intel president Andrew Grove told him, "John, venture capital, that's not a real job. It's like being a real estate agent." He joined Kleiner Perkins that year, and since then has directed the distribution of venture capital funding to some of the most successful technology companies in the world including Compaq, Netscape, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, drugstore.com, Amazon.com, Intuit, Macromedia, and Google.

Doerr obtained a B.S. and M.E.E. degrees in electrical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1976.

In 1997, Doerr was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University for his accomplishments in business.

Doerr advocates innovation in clean energy technologies to combat climate change, and has written and testified on the topic. In a 2007 TED conference, he cited his daughter's remark, "your generation created this problem, you better fix it", as a call to fight global warming.

In 2008 he announced with Steve Jobs the Kleiner Perkins $100 million iFund, declaring the iPhone "more important than the personal computer" because "it knows who you are" and "where you are." In April 2010, he along with other iFund members announced an increase in iFund's value by another $100 million, making iFund the world's biggest investment pool in the cell phone application industry.

In February 2009, Doerr was appointed as a member of the USA Economic Recovery Advisory Board by President Barack Obama to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in fixing America's economic downturn.

In 2009, Doerr was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

In August 2010, they signed the Giving Pledge, a campaign set up by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Warren Buffett to get ultra-high-net-worth individuals to donate their fortunes to charitable causes within their lifetime.

In 2010, Doerr was inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

He currently serves on the boards of Google, Amyris Biotech, Tradesy and Zynga. Doerr led Kleiner Perkins's $150 million investment in Twitter in 2012.

Doerr mentored Ellen Pao when she first joined Kleiner Perkins. Before changing his mind in 2012, he was known for challenging those who gave her negative performance reviews.

In 2013 he invested in DreamBox which has been acquired by Charter School Growth Fund. He had also funded the initial investments in Bloom Energy Inc. Doerr is a major backer of the education company, Remind.

In April 2013, a lobbying group called FWD.us (aimed at lobbying for immigration reform and improvements to education) was launched, with John Doerr listed as one of the founders. Doerr is a supporter of the Democratic Party and has hosted fundraisers for them on several occasions.

In 2019, Doerr received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.