One of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firm founders has joined the list of VCs who departed from their positions this year in the wake of sexual harassment allegations....MUCH MORE
Steve Jurvetson, co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), confirmed via a Twitter post Monday that he has left the Sand Hill Road firm, where he has long focused on emerging technologies, from genomics to space exploration. He was named to board seats at Elon Musk’s companies Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) and SpaceX, as well as Craig Venter’s Synthetic Genomics.
Jurvetson didn’t resign with any admissions of wrongdoing.
“I am leaving DFJ to focus on personal matters, including taking legal action against those whose false statements have defamed me,” Jurvetson tweeted.
Jurvetson co-founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson in 1985 with Timothy Draper and John H.N. Fisher.
DFJ started an investigation of sexual harassment claims, Recode reported, after Keri Kukral, founder of the science media channel Raw Science TV, posted allegations against the VC firm on Facebook October 23. Kukral didn’t point to Jurvetson by name, but warned that “women approached by a founding partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson should be careful.”
DFJ wasn’t a funder of Kukral’s entrepreneurial ventures, for which she sought financing outside Silicon Valley, she wrote. In her Facebook post, Kukral doesn’t specify where, when, or even whether she personally encountered a DFJ founder, or learned of objectionable conduct from someone else. In addition to warning other women entrepreneurs about an unnamed DFJ founder, her carefully worded post seems to accuse either the firm itself, or Silicon Valley VC firms in general, of wrongdoing.
“Predatory behavior is rampant,” Kukral wrote. “The modes are varied. Silencing behavior ranges from security w/in the firm creating files on women, to potential violations of revenge porn laws, to threats. I have experienced some of these things (not all).”...
Meanwhile, last week the D-man was saying:
Tim Draper On Bitcoin: 'In 5 Years If You Use Fiat Currency, They Will Laugh At You'I'm starting to think the entire state of California has gone nuts.
Seriously, I'm not just talking Sand Hill Road, they're as detached from reality as their Hollywood brethren. Now however I'm wondering about all that space between the two as well.
