Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (last year No. 14) NET
WORTH Tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars AGE 46 ADDRESS 2750 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, Calif. BIO He is the
Johnny Appleseed of high-tech start-ups. Doerr may call himself a
"glorified recruiter," but he has probably sown more
technological seeds than any other person in Silicon Valley. The
venture-capital invisible hand behind such big-name stocks as
Compaq, Intuit, Netscape and Sun Microsystems, he also invented
computer memory devices (for which he holds patents) and serves
on the Board of Directors of high rollers like Macromedia and
Amazon.com. 1998 POWER PLAY Recently Doerr's interests expanded
beyond technology into the fields of education and politics.
While working with TechNet, a Silicon Valley political
organization, he has focused on making changes in the
public-education system. His most recent victory was the passage
of legislation that lifted the limit on the number of charter
schools permitted in California. PLACE YOUR BETS Hang out in
Silicon Valley long enough, and you will see the bumper stickers:
DOERR AND GORE IN '04. A run for office may not be out of the
question. Otherwise, if you have a tech start-up, keep your
fingers crossed that one day he may invest in you.
