Revolutionaries Episode 4: Bill Draper: The Startup Game

Revolutionaries Episode 4: Bill Draper: The Startup Game

This is an episode of REVOLUTIONARIES, a co-production of the Computer History Museum and KQED television, with major sponsorship by Intel.

When we think of Silicon Valley today, innovative companies such as Google, Facebook, Open Table, and others will come to mind. It's difficult to imagine these powerhouses as small, struggling start-ups, but at some point, each one was just a good idea that needed support. For these and countless other startups, that support came through venture capitalists. Venture capital is much more than the caricature many may think of when they hear the term; these businessmen and women do not invest millions with the sole hope of "cashing out" in the future. In fact, they provide creative thinkers with both the capital necessary to turn their vision into a reality and the business know-how and networking skills necessary to keep the company afloat.

"The Startup Game" covers Bill Draper's forty years of experience and describes how vital the relationship between venture capitalist and entrepreneur is to the future of business, and offers lessons culled from decades of working in the technology center of the world. Draper extracts lessons and advice that only a lifetime in the field can provide—from the necessary qualities any successful entrepreneur must possess to the importance of friendship and family in the business world. He provides candid descriptions of his own successes and failures in venture capital and public service, and writes passionately about the important role government can—and in his view should—play in encouraging new businesses in the United States.