After hitting the jackpot, tech entrepreneurs school start-ups at Stanford
You're still in your 20s and you've already netted two blockbuster successes. What do you do next?
Give others a shot at an Internet fortune.
Jawed Karim, who lucked out as co-founder of YouTube Inc. and an early employee of PayPal Inc., is taking part in a unique Silicon Valley tradition: helping the next generation of entrepreneurs with cash, counsel and connections.
Despite netting $65 million in Google Inc. stock when the search giant bought YouTube, Karim, 28, lives in a dorm at Stanford University, where he's working toward a doctorate in computer science with the goal of becoming a professor.
He also is schooling start-ups through Youniversity Ventures, a twist on the traditional tech investment firm. Instead of opening their wallets and doors in shiny offices on Sand Hill Road, Silicon Valley's famed venture capital strip, Karim and his two partners hold office hours at Stanford every quarter. They hear start-up pitches from current and former students at the birthplace of such Internet greats as Google and Yahoo Inc.
His collaborators are two successful 38-year-old entrepreneurs from his PayPal days. Keith Rabois is vice president of strategy and business development at Slide Inc., which makes fun features for social networking sites, and Kevin Hartz is chief executive of online event service EventBrite.
With their youthful carriage and casual dress, they could easily pass as students during their campus visits. But these guys are all business.
On a recent Friday, they listened intently as entrepreneurs presented ideas, interrupting with sharp questions and insightful advice.
They brushed aside boasting and name-dropping -- one team trying to create digital coupons for mobile phones said Jeffrey Ullman, Sergey Brin's doctoral advisor, hadn't been this excited about a start-up since Google.
And they wowed young go-getters with war stories. Rabois recounted that in 2001, PayPal had resisted buying Google despite the urging of famed venture capitalist Michael Moritz because "at the time, we had a more proven revenue model."
Uplifted by angels
Entrepreneurs-turned-investors are crucial to the ecosystem here, an unparalleled incubator of innovation that so many regions have tried to re-create.
Typically the first to take a chance on start-ups born in dorms or garages, these "angel" investors roll up their sleeves well before venture capitalists do. They write small checks in exchange for minor upfront stakes or convertible notes that can be turned into equity.
