John Doerr
Born 1951 · Age 74
American engineer, venture capitalist, chair at Kleiner Perkins, author and philanthropist known for early investments in Google, Amazon, and cleantech; major donor to Stanford for the Doerr School of Sustainability.
Compare Your Trajectory
See how your career milestones stack up against John Doerr and other industry leaders.
Life & Career Timeline
Born in St. Louis, Missouri
Louis John Doerr born in St. Louis, Missouri; one of five siblings.
Graduated Chaminade College Preparatory School
Completed secondary education at Chaminade College Preparatory School in St. Louis (year estimated based on birth year)
Received B.S. and M.E.E. degrees from Rice University
Obtained Bachelor of Science and Master of Electrical Engineering degrees from Rice University (graduation year estimated prior to Intel employment).
Joined Intel Corporation
Joined Intel as an engineer/marketing manager just as the company developed the 8080 8-bit microprocessor; later became a top-ranked salesperson.
Patent issued for magnetic bubble propagation circuits
Issued US Patent (US 3879716 A) for 'Mutually exclusive magnetic bubble propagation circuits with discrete elements'.
Earned MBA from Harvard Business School
Completed MBA at Harvard Business School (MBA class of 1976).
Founding CEO of Silicon Compilers (founder role)
Served as founding CEO of Silicon Compilers (VLSI CAD software company); early entrepreneurial leadership role after Intel (year approximate).
Patent issued for magnetic bubble mutually exclusive circuits
Issued US Patent (US 4096582 A) for 'Field-accessed magnetic bubble mutually exclusive circuits with common elements'.
Joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB)
Left Intel and joined VC firm Kleiner Perkins, beginning a decades-long career in venture capital and board leadership.
Began directing venture investments in major tech companies
At Kleiner Perkins, sponsored investments in companies including Compaq, Netscape, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, Intel-era startups and later Amazon, Intuit, Macromedia and Google.
Named Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University
Recognized by Rice University as a Distinguished Alumnus for accomplishments in business.
Co-founded TechNet (approx.)
Co-founded TechNet, a policy network of high-tech CEOs advocating education and innovation-friendly public policy (founding year cited around the late 1990s).
Co-founded NewSchools Venture Fund
Co-founded the NewSchools Venture Fund to support entrepreneurial education reforms and charter public schools.
Early investment and board role at Google (approx.)
Led Kleiner Perkins' early investment in Google and served as a board member as Google grew into a major company (investment occurred in 1999; board role noted in multiple sources).
Co-chaired California Proposition 39 (approx.)
Co-chaired Proposition 39, a measure lowering the threshold to approve school bonds in California (exact proposition year/s referenced in sources; date estimated).
Co-chaired California Proposition 71 creating $3B for stem-cell research
Co-chaired Prop 71, which created roughly $3 billion in state funding for stem cell research in California.
Began major cleantech investing
Became a pioneer investor in cleantech/zero-emissions technologies (Kleiner Perkins-backed cleantech investments intensified since ~2006).
TED Talk on climate change
Spoke at TED in 2007 advocating innovation to fight global warming; cited his daughter's remark as a call to action.
Announced Kleiner Perkins $100M iFund with Steve Jobs
With Steve Jobs, announced the $100 million iFund to invest in iPhone applications and platform startups; called iPhone more important than the PC.
Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (class announced April 2009).
Served on board of ONE.org and other nonprofit boards
Serves on the board of Bono's ONE campaign and has taken roles across philanthropic and policy organizations (board service cited in multiple sources).
Appointed to President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
President Barack Obama appointed Doerr to the U.S. Economic Recovery Advisory Board to advise on fixing America's economic downturn.
Inducted into the California Hall of Fame
Recognized by the California Museum and inducted into the California Hall of Fame (class of 2010).
iFund increased by an additional $100M
In April 2010 Doerr and other iFund members announced an additional $100M, bringing the fund's total to about $200M.
Member of Global Advisory Board of Khan Academy (reported membership)
Listed as a member of Khan Academy's Global Advisory Board (exact join date not specified in source material).
Signed the Giving Pledge
John and Ann Doerr signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Board and advisory roles at many companies
Served on boards or advisory roles for companies including Google, Amyris, Zynga, Watershed, Tradesy, ASAPP, and others (dates vary by company; active across 2000s–2020s).
Led Kleiner Perkins' $150M investment in Twitter
Doerr led KPCB's reported $150 million investment into Twitter (2012 financing/secondary activity reported in media).
Kleiner Perkins involvement in consumer & mobile app investing
Through KPCB and the iFund, Doerr helped create one of the largest app-focused investment pools and supported mobile app ecosystems into the 2010s.
Co-founded FWD.us (immigration and education lobbying group)
Along with Mark Zuckerberg and Reid Hoffman, Doerr co-founded FWD.us to lobby for immigration reform, education improvements, and research support (group launched 2013).
Invested in DreamBox; Series A1 $14.5M (Dec 2013)
Participated in a DreamBox Learning funding round reported Dec 17, 2013; Reed Hastings led a $14.5M Series A1 in which Doerr invested.
Invested in Bloom Energy and other cleantech startups (historic investments)
Early/follow-on investments included Bloom Energy and other clean-energy startups; Doerr funded initial investments in Bloom Energy (timing around late 2000s/early 2010s).
Public speaking and conference presence (TechCrunch Disrupt)
Photographed/appeared at TechCrunch Disrupt 2013 in San Francisco; regular keynote/panel presence at major tech conferences.
Estimated net worth ≈ $4.1B (Forbes/Profiles)
Profile snapshot (SuccessStory/Forbes-era reporting) estimated Doerr's net worth around US$4.1B in mid-2010s (2015 figure reported in a profile).
Mentored Ellen Pao (historical mentorship)
Noted as an early mentor to Ellen Pao when she joined Kleiner Perkins (mentorship occurred when she first joined the firm; timeframe early-mid 2000s).
Profiled and invited to TechCrunch Disrupt
Featured in TechCrunch coverage and announced as coming to Disrupt SF (coverage July 2015); visible as a regular conference speaker and panelist.
Stepped down from leading Kleiner Perkins
In 2016 Doerr stepped down from his role leading Kleiner Perkins, ceding day-to-day leadership to partner Ted Schlein while remaining chairman/advisor.
Ranked 40th richest person in tech by Forbes
Forbes ranked Doerr as the 40th richest person in tech (ranking published in 2017; net worth not specified in the source snippet).
Published 'Measure What Matters'
Author of the best-selling book Measure What Matters, about goals and the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) system popularized by Andy Grove.
Received Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
Honored with the Golden Plate Award at the American Academy of Achievement for contributions to business and philanthropy.
Backer of carbon accounting and climate companies
Listed as investor/backer in carbon accounting, cleantech and climate-action companies (e.g., Watershed, Bloom Energy earlier, and other climate startups).
Published 'Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now'
Published Speed & Scale, outlining actions and timelines to address the climate crisis (book focused on climate solutions and policy).
Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability launched/collaborated
John and Ann Doerr collaborated with Stanford University to launch the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (first new Stanford school in ~70 years).
Donated $1.1 billion to Stanford to found Doerr School of Sustainability
Ann and John Doerr pledged/donated $1.1B to Stanford University to establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability — largest gift in Stanford history and second-largest ever to an academic institution.
Forbes net worth ranking and estimate
Forbes ranked Doerr as the 146th richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$11.9 billion (Forbes snapshot as of August 1, 2023).
Key Achievement Ages
Explore what John Doerr and others achieved at these notable ages:
Similar Trajectories
Peter Norvig
Born 1956 · Age 69
American computer scientist, co-author of 'Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach', long-time Google research leader, and Distinguished Education Fellow at Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI.
Meg Whitman
Born 1956 · Age 69
American business executive, diplomat and politician; long-time CEO of eBay (1998–2008) and Hewlett-Packard/Hewlett Packard Enterprise (2011–2018); 2010 Republican candidate for Governor of California; U.S. Ambassador to Kenya (2022–2024).
Guido van Rossum
Born 1956 · Age 69
Dutch programmer; creator of the Python programming language; former BDFL of Python; Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft.
Rob Pike
Born 1956 · Age 69
Canadian programmer and author; member of the Unix team at Bell Labs; contributor to Plan 9, Inferno, UTF-8; co-creator of Go; longtime Google engineer and author/co-author of influential books on programming.
Leo Laporte
Born 1956 · Age 69
American technology broadcaster, author, podcaster and entrepreneur; founder of the TWiT podcast network and longtime host of tech TV and radio shows including This Week in Tech and The Tech Guy.
Hal Finney
Born 1956 · Age 69
American computer scientist, cryptographer and cypherpunk; early PGP developer, inventor of reusable proof-of-work (RPoW), first recipient of a Bitcoin transaction, ALS patient and cryonics proponent.