# John Doerr

> John Doerr is the Chairman of Kleiner Perkins and one of Silicon Valley's most consequential venture capitalists. The man who backed Google and Amazon with early checks, taught the world OKRs through his bestselling book 'Measure What Matters', and bet $1.1 billion on Stanford to build the Doerr School of Sustainability. A Rice-trained electrical engineer turned Intel salesman turned legendary VC, Doerr has spent 45+ years turning missionary founders into category-defining companies - and is now directing that same energy toward solving the climate crisis.

- **Role:** Chairman at Kleiner Perkins
- **Organizations:** Kleiner Perkins, Alphabet (Google) - Board Member, Obama Foundation - Board Member, Khan Academy - Advisor, New Schools Venture Fund - Co-founder, TechNet - Co-founder, ONE.org - Board Member, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University, Watershed - Board Member, ASAPP - Board Member
- **From:** St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Secondary Education, Chaminade College Preparatory School, B.S. and M.E.E. in Electrical Engineering, Rice University, MBA, Harvard Business School
- **Known for:** Backed Google with $11.8M in 1999 - one of the greatest VC investments in history, Backed Amazon in 1996, helping recruit the executive team that built it into a global giant, Popularized OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) globally through Google and the book 'Measure What Matters'

## Career timeline

- **1974** — Joined Intel as engineer and marketing manager; rented half a garage near Stanford for $55/month
- **1975** — Attended Andy Grove's OKR course at Intel - learned the framework that would shape his career
- **1980** — Left Intel to join Kleiner Perkins as General Partner, despite Grove calling VC 'not a real job'
- **1982** — Led KP investment in Sun Microsystems
- **1994** — Backed Netscape, the browser that opened the web to mainstream users
- **1996** — Met Jeff Bezos in Seattle two days after introduction; backed Amazon
- **1999** — Co-led $11.8M Series A in Google; introduced Larry Page and Sergey Brin to OKRs
- **2006** — Launched Kleiner Perkins' $1B Green Growth Fund, pioneering cleantech investing in Silicon Valley
- **2007** — TED Talk 'Salvation and profit in greentech'; daughter's remark redirected his philanthropic focus to climate
- **2009** — Appointed to President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
- **2010** — Signed the Giving Pledge with wife Ann; inducted into California Hall of Fame
- **2015** — Donated $50M to Rice University to establish the Doerr Institute for New Leaders
- **2018** — Published 'Measure What Matters' - became a #1 NYT Bestseller
- **2021** — Published 'Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now'
- **2022** — Donated $1.1B to Stanford - largest gift in university history - establishing the Doerr School of Sustainability
- **2025** — Invested in Hippocratic AI Series C round
- **2026** — Elected to National Academy of Engineering; released 2026 Speed & Scale Tracker with urgent climate call

## Achievements

- Backed Google with $11.8M in 1999 - one of the greatest VC investments in history
- Backed Amazon in 1996, helping recruit the executive team that built it into a global giant
- Popularized OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) globally through Google and the book 'Measure What Matters'
- Published #1 NYT Bestseller 'Measure What Matters' (2018)
- Donated $1.1 billion to Stanford - second largest US university gift ever; created Doerr School of Sustainability
- Donated $50 million to Rice University establishing the Doerr Institute for New Leaders
- Signed the Giving Pledge (2010)
- Served on President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
- Inducted into California Hall of Fame (2010)
- Elected to National Academy of Engineering (2026)
- Forbes Midas List Hall of Fame - longest tenure
- TED talks with combined tens of millions of views
- Pioneered cleantech investing in Silicon Valley from 2006
- Co-founded TechNet, influential tech CEO policy network
- Helped create 150,000+ jobs through Kleiner Perkins portfolio companies

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Released 2026 Speed & Scale Tracker with urgent call to world leaders to accelerate clean energy build-out, citing AI-driven electricity demand, geopolitical competition, and market cost parity as three converging forces
- **2026-02** — Elected to National Academy of Engineering - recognition of lifetime achievement in engineering and technology
- **2025-11** — Invested in Hippocratic AI Series C - continuing to back AI companies with clear social purpose

## Links

- Website: https://www.whatmatters.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-doerr-03248211/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/johndoerr
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdoerr123/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/john-doerr
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-05