Father of Silicon Valley Venture Capital Tim Draper: A Pioneer Betting on Bitcoin and the Future Era

The success of the trendy toy brand Pop Mart has once again made its first angel investor, Mai Gang, a market focus. Mai Gang's investment insight is partly attributed to his "enlightener" during his study in the United States - the famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. During his time studying at UCLA, Mai Gang connected with Draper after winning an entrepreneurship competition, entering the Silicon Valley venture capital circle. In 2005, the two co-founded the startup incubator VenturesLab.

Tim Draper is known as the "Father of Venture Capital," and his investments include innovative companies such as Skype, Baidu, Hotmail, and Tesla. At the same time, Draper is also an early and staunch supporter of Bitcoin.

Family Legacy and Silicon Valley DNA: The Continuation of the Third Generation of Investors

Draper comes from a family with a background in venture capital and politics, being the third generation of the family. His father founded Draper & Johnson Investment Company and served as the chairman and president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. His grandfather, William Henry Draper Jr., founded the venture capital firm Draper, Gaither, and Anderson in 1958, establishing the fundamental rules of modern venture capital.

Draper earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from Stanford University and later an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 1985, he founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and developed multiple entrepreneurial and entrepreneurship education platforms.

Famous projects invested by Draper include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, Coinbase, and Robinhood. In the early 2000s, when many foreign capitals were withdrawing from China, Draper chose to stay and successfully invested in Baidu through DFJ.

In 2018, Draper University, founded by Draper, established a base in Zhongguancun, Beijing, to train blockchain talent. He also participated in the investment of several early crypto projects, such as Ethereum, Coinbase, and Ledger.

The Bond with Bitcoin: From Loss to Firm Belief

Draper's interest in Bitcoin began in 2011. He met CoinLab founder Peter Vincennes through investor Joel Yarmon and made a small investment in the company. Draper attempted to purchase $250,000 worth of Bitcoin when the price was about $6 per coin.

However, due to delays in the delivery of mining machines and the Mt. Gox exchange theft incident, the approximately 40,000 Bitcoins that Draper was supposed to receive "disappeared". This loss not only did not undermine Draper's confidence, but instead enhanced his respect for the resilience of the Bitcoin system.

In 2014, when the U.S. Marshals Service auctioned off the Bitcoins seized from Silk Road, Draper won all nine blocks, totaling about 36,000 Bitcoins, at a price of $632 each, which was above market value. He believed he could use these Bitcoins to promote their adoption in developing countries, providing solutions for approximately 3 billion "unbanked" individuals worldwide.

Outlook on the Future of Bitcoin

Draper believes that Bitcoin has obvious advantages: it is universally accepted, does not require government intervention, can retain value, and is frictionless. He views Bitcoin and its underlying technology, blockchain, as the engine driving human progress.

In May of this year, Draper repeatedly stated that the US dollar is rapidly depreciating and praised Bitcoin as an alternative. He predicts that within 10 years, Bitcoin will replace the US dollar as the global reserve currency, reaching a price of $250,000 by 2025.

Investment Philosophy: Long-Term Perspective and Passion-Driven

As a venture capitalist, Draper summarized six core investment principles:

1. Do not invest too much money in a single company in the early stages.
2. The investment period is set for 5 to 10 years.
3. Avoid projecting personal entrepreneurial experiences onto others
4. Focus on the mission, not the money
5. Investment values "enthusiasm" rather than solely relying on "data"
6. Maintain flexibility and reserve funds for future financing.

Draper emphasized that investments should be made out of recognition of the mission, rather than purely for profit. He values the passion of entrepreneurs and their vision for industry transformation more than just focusing on financial models.

While Bitcoin is still being questioned as a "bubble", Tim Draper has fully committed; while mainstream capital is still watching Web3, he is already cultivating talents, building infrastructure, and investing in visionary projects for the next era. Draper is not only an investor but also a catalyst for change, placing all his bets on the new world that may come.