Tim Draper is the founding partner of leading venture capital firms Draper Associates and DFJ.

Tim's original suggestion to use viral marketing in web-based email to geometrically spread an Internet product to its market was instrumental to the successes of Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, and Gmail, and has been adopted as a standard marketing technique by thousands of businesses.

Venture successes include Skype, Overture, Baidu, Tesla, Parametric Technology, Hotmail, Digidesign, Twitch.tv, and hundreds of others.

As an advocate for entrepreneurs and free markets, Tim is regularly featured as a keynote speaker in entrepreneurial conferences throughout the world. He has been recognized as a leader in his field through numerous awards and honors, and has frequent TV, radio, and headline appearances.

He was ranked 52 on the list of the 100 most influential Harvard Alumni, and seven on the Forbes Midas List. He was named Always-On #1 top venture capital deal maker. He was awarded the Commonwealth Club's Distinguished Citizen Award for achievements in green and sustainable energy.

To further encourage entrepreneurship, Tim started BizWorld.org, a non-profit for children to learn entrepreneurship, and Draper University of Heroes, a school for entrepreneurs aged 18-28. He also leads InnovateYourState, an initiative to improve the governance of California.