Tim Draper

Jake DeWitte called me with an idea that most people thought was crazy. He wanted to build small fission nuclear power plants. For more than 40 years, the mantra “no nukes” permeated the zeitgeist, and half the people protesting were protesting nuclear war. Jake said he could build a portable nuclear power plant. That could power a small city, be placed anywhere, and even transported. My nuclear physicist friend told me the timeline: "Five years to design. Five years for approval. Five more to build" 15 years. Minimum. I invested anyway. I had faith in Jake that if anyone could get a nuclear power plant built in the US, Jake could. Jake had the energy and drive to actually pull this off. Most entrepreneurs would've given up after hearing that timeline. He doubled down. Fast forward to today: Oklo became the first nuclear power company to get US approval in 40 years. Jake took the company public via SPAC. The Aurora reactor (their flagship model) is a 1.5-megawatt beast that runs for years without refueling. Uses spent nuclear fuel. Cuts waste and environmental impact. Perfect for remote areas and small grids. Oklo today is worth more than $10 billion. Nuclear energy can reduce the carbon emissions damaging Earth. Oklo will be the company that makes it happen.

Before there was a "cleantech" industry, there was Tim Healy. Tim figured out that he could route electricity through digital switches and create an energy marketplace. Companies could trade and share their energy when they weren't using it, then back it up on batteries for future needs. The concept was solid, but would utilities actually allow energy trading behind their backs? We invested anyway based on Tim's confidence and long-term vision. EnerNOC became an enormous success, paving the way for an entire cleantech industry. Today, EnerNOC's technology has saved more than 10,000 gigawatts of electricity since its inception. For perspective, ALL of San Francisco runs on just 6 gigawatts of electricity per year. Back founders who see the future before it exists.

I backed a 25-year-old first-time founder who wanted to digitize music. This was 1988. I was excited by the prospect. I knew it was possible, but to most, the idea sounded insane. Peter Gotcher and Evan Brooke had started Digidesign, and I introduced them to Paul Lego, a top student from my HBS class. They built the company that would change music forever. ProTools (now Avid) would allow musicians to track and digitize music. We invested and Paul joined them. As chief operating officer, Paul made a starting salary of $60,000 but negotiated stock options for 8% of the company. Best decision he ever made. By 1993, Digidesign went public at a $100 million valuation. By 1994, Avid Technology acquired them for about $200 million. We made roughly 20x on that investment. Digidesign invented ProTools which is the software that became the standard for musicians everywhere. MC Hammer wrote "Hammer Time" on it. Cant touch this.

My life’s mission is to spread entrepreneurship and venture capital around the world. In the process I continue to back visionary founders early, before they have fully baked their visions. At Draper, we backed Tesla when there had not been a successful car company started in the US for 50 years. We backed SpaceX when space travel was reserved for governments and hobbyists. We backed Coinbase, and still people seem to think the fiat banking system will not fail. In short… We invest in the future, one we would like to see. I favor entrepreneurs who have a passion for an optimistic and challenging outcome. We have backed more than 60 unicorns, 10 rhinos (fat unicorns), and three trinocorns (Tesla, SpaceX, and Bitcoin) that have reached more than $1 Trillion in market value. We’ve invested early in Bitcoin, Tesla, Robinhood, Twitch, Baidu, and SpaceX. At Draper University, I've unleashed 6000+ heroes (entrepreneurs) from 104 countries, sparking 2000+ companies. Six of these are unicorns, and 25 have reached greater than $100 million in market value. My main focus for the next decade? -Transforming medicine from chemo-therapies to BIO-CURES. -Driving Space and Transportation fields to new heights, improving defense. -Utilizing A.I. to improve everyone’s performance, even robots. -Making the Bitcoin ecosystem more attractive than the fiat-banking one. -Making what seems impossible, possible. Nothing is too weird, too wild, or too controversial for us. If you have a mission that will rock an major industry, I'm listening. Pitch me at tim@draper.vc

How to think about the founder who won’t take “No.” for an answer. Regulatory barrier? They find a workaround. Technical limitation? They build around it. Market rejection? They pivot the approach. Funding door slams? They find another way in. Too many investors see this and think, "Difficult. Stubborn. Won't listen." I see it differently, "Problem solver. Unstoppable. Will find a way." The smooth-talking sales founder who charms everyone is often the bigger risk. The enthusiasm and charisma is great for getting funding, but doesn’t always translate to the ability to find their way around barriers. When building a startup, finding ways around barriers is the single most important skill. Don’t give up on the first, “No.” The founder who sees barriers as challenges to overcome... that's who builds something special.

When the criminals find out the police is running low on munition, it does not take a genius to figure out crime rate will go up in the neighborhood. The US not only needs to replenish the arsenal, but also needs to modernize its defense tech in the coming decade. Advanced defense tech is the best deterrent for crime. Just-in-time and 3D-printing manufacturing techniques from the consumer and industrial products are coming to the US government and primes. Our manufacturing base will either look more like China’s or most likely leapfrog them through extreme automation. Select @DraperVC Portfolio: @ScoutAI_ @aureliuslasers @iceye_global @FirehawkAero @VenusAerospace @outpostspace @GraviticsInc Inc MaxSpace Longshot Space Technologies Corporation wsj.com/world/middle-e…

A couple days ago we announced Rise Earn 🚀 - stablecoin yield directly built inside our Rise payroll engine - with overwhelming response! Making payroll cash productive instead of passive is a first in our industry. Due to our blockchain native infrastructure, plugging protocols like AAVE is possible, and we don't plan on stopping here. Sharing a bit more on our view of yield features within payroll and payment operations below 👇 Payroll cash should work as hard as you do! @rise_pay riseworks.io/blog/from-payr…

Hosted a livestream with Pump.fun’s CEO a couple weeks ago. Thanks to CoinPasar for covering it! Listen to the full thing here: pump.fun/coin/CPLTbYbtD…

@AndyTANGvc @America250 @RosieRios @RosieRios @AndyTANGvc @michellebkwok you guys ready to check out some biz plans???

The State of Union Speech had three things that received the MOST cheers: gold medalist Olympians, war heroes, and….. @America250! Charged by Congress, and spearheaded by @RosieRios , the 43rd Treasurer of the United States, A250 Startup [info here: america250.org/americas-start…) is the BIGGEST business plan competition I have been associated with. If you are a college-aged entrepreneur, please apply to the A250 Startup competition. Top ten gets $25K grant each to pursue your dream/business! PS. That's non-dilutive grant funding - you retain total ownership of the idea! @TimDraper

Count Down: only 33 days until the deadline of @America250 pitch competition! America's youth! Share your favorite business idea and pitch to a panel of investors along side me, @RosieRios @AndyTANGvc @michellebkwok @DraperVC @meetthedrapers @draper_u Rolling basis... please apply here america250.org

We backed @XTrace_ai (xtrace.ai) because context is the most valuable asset in the enterprise AI. Go check it out. Every major platform shift creates a new login layer. Email gave us "Sign in with Google." Social gave us "Connect with Facebook." AI will give us "Connect with your memory." Right now, your context is a prisoner of the platform. It’s locked inside ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Every time you switch AI vendors, your institutional intelligence resets to zero. That isn't just inefficient, it's a loss of sovereignty. @XTrace_ai is building the private, portable memory infrastructure that puts organizations back in control. By owning your context, you unlock doors that didn't exist before: • Vendor Independence: Move your "brain" from one LLM to another instantly. • Selective Intelligence: Share specific knowledge with specific agents without exposing the whole vault. • Infinite Persistence: Workflows that span months stay as sharp as day one.

If you're solving massive problems for humanity and making people feel uncomfortable along the way... We should probably talk. I want to fund the wild, weird, and unconventional. As my son puts it, “We want to fund the rebellion.” Today, it looks like investing in: 🤖 AI, Robotics & Automation 🧬 Healthcare & Biotech 🛡️ Defense & Dual-Use 🚀 Space & Aerospace ₿ Crypto & Blockchain Tomorrow, only you know. Philosophically, it means: Draper Associates isn’t afraid to be too early even if people think we are weirdos. The problems our portfolio companies are solving are humanity-scale crises that we’re tackling with an unconventional edge. We are putting our money behind the founders who think bigger, broader, and maybe even crazier. If that’s you... Draper Associates should be your first call.

Singapore has 67.8% of their population employed and only 3.8% are Government. Cuba has only 37.6% of their people employed and 68.3% are Government. Less Government = More Employment.

This whole program is the American dream. America’s Startup is the platform for the best and brightest to create companies that have never been seen with ideas that have never been thought of. There are opportunities that are far beyond our imagination. Bring it on baby. Thanks to @scrippsnews for having me on to talk about @America250’s opportunity for college and university students!

College founders — $25K grants + a trip to Silicon Valley are on the table. America's Startup Competition (backed by Congress, chaired by the 43rd U.S. Treasurer) closes 3/31/26. 5-minute application. Apply today @America250 america250.org/americas-start…

I was asked what would be a “Heck, Yes!” and what would be a “Heck, No!” when faced with a new entrepreneur. Here was my answer: Heck yes if a founder’s background is aligned with their venture. Heck no if they're not. Heck yes if a founder is willing to go out on a limb and try something experimental. Heck no if they're driven by fear. Heck yes if founders let each other speak and show mutual respect. Heck no if founders are talking over each other. Heck yes if the founder is open to suggestion, but sticks to their guns around the vision. Heck no if a founder just agrees with every new idea that I throw at them. If they say yes just for the money, they'll flow with the river and never really build anything of value.

Prediction: Bitcoin 4x in less than 2 years from here. #bitcoin #opportunity Maybe a @Polymarket bet?

See below the companies that left CA. Each billionaire represents about 25,000 jobs. How many more jobs does California want to lose? And they wonder why there is a homeless problem here. #deregulate #lowertaxes #innovateeducation #growcalifornia