Upward!

I am thrilled to join Kleiner Perkins to help shape the next decades of this iconic institution.

I came to Silicon Valley two decades ago as a 19 year-old Electrical Engineer. I wanted to design semiconductors and joined Xilinx where I spent the first six formative years of my technology career. I rode the ups-and-downs of the dot-com period and observed the massive amounts of technological innovation and wealth creation, in addition to the daunting challenges associated with building truly great businesses.

I was among the first (thousands) users of products like Netscape, Amazon and Google. I frequently wondered who the people were behind these companies (and Xilinx) at the earliest stages. One name consistently came up — Kleiner Perkins.

Another theme emerged — Electrical / Computer Engineers were often involved in starting and investing in these companies. As a naive 20-year old, I imagined, I, too, could pursue a path helping build great technology companies. When I applied to grad school in 2003, this inspired my admission essays — with venture capitalists like John Doerr as role models. In fact, my first visit to a VC office was Kleiner Perkins in 2004.

Now I can’t wait to set foot into KP’s offices again — I’m looking forward to working with entrepreneurs and building on the rich history of work that has embodied Kleiner Perkins for last 45 years. I look forward to leaving my imprint for decades to come.

I’m also excited to see what the incredible team at Social Capital does over that same time period as they work on their mission to advance humanity to solve the world’s hardest problems.