For Release: February 8, 2000
Contact: Jay Chrepta
(617) 495-6155
BOSTON -- John Doerr didn't start out to be a venture capitalist. “I just wanted to start a company with a few of my friends,” he told an audience of nearly 1,000 Harvard MBA students on Feb. 8 as part of the Social Enterprise Speaker Series. With the help of venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkings Caufield & Byers, he did just that as founding CEO of Silicon Compilers and cofounder of @Home Networks.
Since joining Kleiner Perkins in 1980, however, Doerr has played a major role in planting the seeds of the New Economy, providing funding for startups such as Amazon.com, drugstore.com, Netscape, Excite, and Sun Microsystems. Through the years, Doerr and his partners have invested more than $1.3 billion in 250 technology ventures in the United States -- companies that have created more than 192,000 new jobs and whose annual sales exceed $73 billion.
But Doerr’s message at HBS focused primarily on ending childhood illiteracy in this country and kick-starting the struggling U.S. public school system. Indeed, in an era marked by the longest sustained economic boom in American history, where two of every five dollars is the product of e-commerce-related goods and services, Doerr pointed to troubling data that cast a shadow on the ability of many Americans to fulfill the dream of a better life for the next generation. "Forty percent of eight-year-olds can't read at their grade level," he noted, while "half of the students entering community colleges in California require remedial reading and math classes." These people are lost to the New Economy, whether they want to just surf the Internet or apply for the most basic of jobs at a high-tech firm. Education is the essential ingredient, Doerr asserted.
“The answer is not just more PCs in the classroom,” Doerr continued, advocating the development of more charter schools, the establishment of school accountability, and the importance of private-sector organizations to help publlic schools restructure their curricula and improve their methods of working with disadvantaged children.
Doerr himself is involved in a California program called New Schools, which lobbies state lawmakers to rewrite and repeal existing legislation that prohibits the expansion of California's charter schools. “That's big, scalable social change; and that’s just one story,” he said. "It's the kind of work that should go on throughout the rest of the country."
Doerr also stated that the Internet is the key not only to social change, but economic growth and income redistribution on a scale not seen since the first Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, the wiring of the planet with fiber-optic cable, combined with the launching of a new generation of satellites, presents the potential for revolutions in communications and health care, as well as education.
To illustrate the measure of change within the past generation, Doerr referred to a now classic scene from the 1968 motion picture, The Graduate, in which Benjamin, played by Dustin Hoffman, is offered a one-word solution for a successful future -- plastics. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Doerr suggested, the word is genomics -- the science of genetic engineering -- which, he predicted, will lead to vaccines and treatments for a Pandora’s box of human afflictions.
Doerr also offered some career advice to his audience of Harvard MBA students, as they prepare themselves for leadership roles in the New Economy. “Embrace technology,” he exclaimed. “Write a program, design a chip, sequence a gene. Remember to take risks, because to ask permission is to seek denial.” In addition, he urged, look for assignments that offer the opportunity to grow, build a strong foundation of experiences, and "find yourself a great boss and mentor."
Stressing the importance of setting priorities, Doer concluded his remarks by listing his own: family first, followed by clients, new opportunities, and community service. And parents would do well to read to their children every day. “When you read to your children, they will learn to read, no matter what.”
Doerr's appearance at HBS was co-sponsored by a number of student organizations, including the Social Enterprise Club, the Entrepreneurship Club, the High Tech & New Media Club, and the Venture Capital & Principal Investment Club.
Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School is widely regarded around the world as the leader in business education. Located on a 60-acre campus in Boston, Massachusetts, it offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as a portfolio of more than 35 executive education programs. Through its Initiative on Social Enterprise, HBS combines a practical approach, both inside and outside the classroom, to the development of leadership and general management skills with an application in the nonprofit sector. These efforts are present in the MBA Program, Executive Education, faculty research and publications, and alumni involvement. With a faculty of more than 200 distinguished scholars, the School has shaped the practice of business by educating leaders, building enduring knowledge, and effectively communicating important ideas to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.
Contact: Jay Chrepta
(617) 495-6155
John Doerr (MBA '76), Legendary Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist, Sees Education as Key to New Economy
BOSTON -- John Doerr didn't start out to be a venture capitalist. “I just wanted to start a company with a few of my friends,” he told an audience of nearly 1,000 Harvard MBA students on Feb. 8 as part of the Social Enterprise Speaker Series. With the help of venture capital powerhouse Kleiner Perkings Caufield & Byers, he did just that as founding CEO of Silicon Compilers and cofounder of @Home Networks.
Since joining Kleiner Perkins in 1980, however, Doerr has played a major role in planting the seeds of the New Economy, providing funding for startups such as Amazon.com, drugstore.com, Netscape, Excite, and Sun Microsystems. Through the years, Doerr and his partners have invested more than $1.3 billion in 250 technology ventures in the United States -- companies that have created more than 192,000 new jobs and whose annual sales exceed $73 billion.
But Doerr’s message at HBS focused primarily on ending childhood illiteracy in this country and kick-starting the struggling U.S. public school system. Indeed, in an era marked by the longest sustained economic boom in American history, where two of every five dollars is the product of e-commerce-related goods and services, Doerr pointed to troubling data that cast a shadow on the ability of many Americans to fulfill the dream of a better life for the next generation. "Forty percent of eight-year-olds can't read at their grade level," he noted, while "half of the students entering community colleges in California require remedial reading and math classes." These people are lost to the New Economy, whether they want to just surf the Internet or apply for the most basic of jobs at a high-tech firm. Education is the essential ingredient, Doerr asserted.
“The answer is not just more PCs in the classroom,” Doerr continued, advocating the development of more charter schools, the establishment of school accountability, and the importance of private-sector organizations to help publlic schools restructure their curricula and improve their methods of working with disadvantaged children.
Doerr himself is involved in a California program called New Schools, which lobbies state lawmakers to rewrite and repeal existing legislation that prohibits the expansion of California's charter schools. “That's big, scalable social change; and that’s just one story,” he said. "It's the kind of work that should go on throughout the rest of the country."
Doerr also stated that the Internet is the key not only to social change, but economic growth and income redistribution on a scale not seen since the first Industrial Revolution. Furthermore, the wiring of the planet with fiber-optic cable, combined with the launching of a new generation of satellites, presents the potential for revolutions in communications and health care, as well as education.
To illustrate the measure of change within the past generation, Doerr referred to a now classic scene from the 1968 motion picture, The Graduate, in which Benjamin, played by Dustin Hoffman, is offered a one-word solution for a successful future -- plastics. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Doerr suggested, the word is genomics -- the science of genetic engineering -- which, he predicted, will lead to vaccines and treatments for a Pandora’s box of human afflictions.
Doerr also offered some career advice to his audience of Harvard MBA students, as they prepare themselves for leadership roles in the New Economy. “Embrace technology,” he exclaimed. “Write a program, design a chip, sequence a gene. Remember to take risks, because to ask permission is to seek denial.” In addition, he urged, look for assignments that offer the opportunity to grow, build a strong foundation of experiences, and "find yourself a great boss and mentor."
Stressing the importance of setting priorities, Doer concluded his remarks by listing his own: family first, followed by clients, new opportunities, and community service. And parents would do well to read to their children every day. “When you read to your children, they will learn to read, no matter what.”
Doerr's appearance at HBS was co-sponsored by a number of student organizations, including the Social Enterprise Club, the Entrepreneurship Club, the High Tech & New Media Club, and the Venture Capital & Principal Investment Club.
Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School is widely regarded around the world as the leader in business education. Located on a 60-acre campus in Boston, Massachusetts, it offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as a portfolio of more than 35 executive education programs. Through its Initiative on Social Enterprise, HBS combines a practical approach, both inside and outside the classroom, to the development of leadership and general management skills with an application in the nonprofit sector. These efforts are present in the MBA Program, Executive Education, faculty research and publications, and alumni involvement. With a faculty of more than 200 distinguished scholars, the School has shaped the practice of business by educating leaders, building enduring knowledge, and effectively communicating important ideas to meet the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.