Huffpo: Conversation With Tom Perkins, The Godfather Of Venture Capital

"One can't help but wonder at the tales of a man who once wandered the halls of MIT pondering circuit design, only to now claim personal responsibility for converting the orchards of Silicon Valley into parking lots -- back at a time, no less, "when Silicon Valley wasn't even called Silicon Valley." This man isTom Perkins, who founded Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the most venerable and successfulventure capital firms in history.

Go to the KPCB homepage and you'll see a front-and-center summon: "In Search of the Next Big Idea." Well, Tom Perkins has many to his name. Starting KPCB with Eugene Kleiner, he planned to raise a $10 million fund, but managed only $8 million -- there was much skepticism back then that venture capital could be a business. He disagreed, "If it isn't high risk, then everyone will be doing it and it will be too late." Fast forward to today and KPCB portfolio companies include such giants as Google and Amazon, employ over 250,000 people and generate many billions in annual revenue."