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American venture capitalist (1932–2019) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Donald Thomas Valentine (June 26, 1932 – October 25, 2019) was an American venture capitalist who concentrated mainly on technology companies in the United States.[1] As the founder of Sequoia Capital, he has been referred to as the "grandfather of Silicon Valley venture capital".[2][3] The Computer History Museum credited him as playing "a key role in the formation of a number of industries such as semiconductors, personal computers, personal computer software, digital entertainment and networking."[4]
Don Valentine | |
|---|---|
Valentine in 2009 | |
| Born | June 26, 1932 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | October 25, 2019 (aged 87) Woodside, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Fordham University (BA) |
| Occupation | Venture Capitalist |
Valentine grew up in the Bronx, New York, was Catholic, and came from a family with Danish background. He went to Mount Saint Michael Academy.[5] After graduating with a B.A. from Fordham University,[6] Valentine began his career as a sales engineer at Raytheon. He was in the position for less than a year before moving on to Fairchild Semiconductor, where he built up the sales force for seven years. He left and joined National Semiconductor, working as a senior sales and marketing executive.[3][7][8]
In 1972, Valentine founded venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.[3][9] Initially, the company focused on early venture investments with small, risky tech companies.[10] Sequoia's first investment was in Atari in 1975 before the company was sold for $28 million to Warner Communications.[11] Sequoia was one of the original investors of Apple Computer and Atari after Valentine met Steve Jobs when he was a line engineer for Atari,[12][13] and in 1978, Sequoia invested $150,000 in Apple Inc.[14] Sequoia Capital has also made early investments in companies including LSI Logic, Oracle Corporation, Cisco, Electronic Arts, Google, YouTube and many others.[1]
Valentine was a chairman of NetApp and Traiana. He served on the boards of many other technology companies including Apple, Atari, C-Cube, Cisco Systems, Electronic Arts, Linear Technology, LSI Logic, Microchip Technology, NetApp, Oracle, PMC-Sierra.[9][15] Valentine was featured in the documentary film Something Ventured which premiered in 2011.[16]
Valentine died on October 25, 2019, at age 87.[17] He is survived by three children and seven grandchildren who all live in the Bay Area.
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