When Tim Kaine came to the Silicon Valley

When Hillary Clinton announced, at the end of last week, that she had selected Senator Tim Kaine to be her running mate, I reflected on my first meeting with the Vice Presidential hopeful.

Our meeting was back in 2009, when my wife, Linda Yates, and I hosted then-Governor Tim Kaine for his first official visit to Silicon Valley as DNC Chairman. We were introduced by our mutual friend Eileen Donahoe, a former U.S. Ambassador who was eager for Tim and I to meet, in part, because of our mutual connections to Virginia. I grew up in the Old Dominion, and did both my undergraduate and graduate degrees there. I even met Linda at the University of Virginia. Eileen wanted Tim to have a chance to speak with politically active citizens in the area who also understood Silicon Valley. At the time, I was President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists.

Tim visited with us at Foundation Capital’s Menlo Park office. I’ll confess that I went in to the meeting with a little trepidation. Most times when I’ve met with national politicians in this situation, the encounters aren’t terribly productive. They feel like box-checking exercises: come out to Silicon Valley to meet some tech people, maybe collect a check or two, then hurry back to DC. But our conversation with Tim could not have been more different.

If you have been following the presidential race, you’ve probably heard of Candidate Clinton’s famous “listening tours,” which she undertakes to better understand the needs of the people she hopes to serve. As I reflected on our meeting, that is exactly what Tim was sincerely doing in Silicon Valley: trying to understand the needs and concerns of the business and tech community. Over the course of an hour and half, Linda, myself, my Foundation Capital partners and the rest of a very bi-partisan group, had an open and fruitful discussion with Tim. We talked about how the DNC could better connect with the industry, and we discussed policy, especially ways that government stifles or could more effectively support innovation.

We didn’t agree on everything. But where we agreed, he had productive, informed things to add; and where we disagreed, he listened, was respectful, and made intelligent counterpoints.

My colleagues and I left the meeting feeling that we had been given a fair hearing, and that this was a public official the Silicon Valley community could work with to get things done.

On a personal note, I found Tim to be refreshingly honest, frank, and genuine. He is the antithesis of the plastic politico who tells you whatever he thinks you want to hear. Our conversation was relaxed and free-flowing, it felt like you were talking to a real person. My guess is that his authenticity stems from his having had a wealth of non-Beltway life experiences: growing up in a family that ran a small blue-collar business in Kansas, working as a missionary in Honduras, and serving as Mayor of Richmond (just a few miles from my hometown of Prince George).

When he officially received his party’s nomination for Vice President yesterday, I thought, here’s a guy you can’t help but root for — and here’s exactly the kind of person in politics who you hope gets elevated. In an ugly, strange, and depressing election, it is highly encouraging that someone of Tim Kaine’s quality has stepped into the race.