Man that was as a different ethos back then…”Draper realized that his ‘learning curve was flattened out’ in venture capital and detoured into public service”. Subsequently he funded 280 non profits.
The A16z team of today is probably deeply confused reading this article.
I met Mr Draper once. I was staying at the SFO hyatt, or maybe the Mariott, and had a couple hours to kill after breakfast and noticed there was some sort of conference going on, so I crashed it. I walked into a talk room and sat in the front row and introduced myself to my neighbors. On one side was Steven Levy (author of many books in the industry) and the other was Bill Draper. I don't really remember the conversation, nor even the topic of the conference - it was a brief conversation in the 5 or 10 minutes before the talk started. At the time I didn't really know who he was but I was a little star-struck by Mr Levy, and it was Levy who told me I should be more impressed by being next to Draper. Mr Draper thought that was funny and the three of us chatted a bit more about whatever. I found it interesting that Mr. Draper was a surprisingly relatable guy (particularly given what I know about him know) and that he was very insightful of technology for someone who was in his 70 or 80s at the time.
RIP Mr. Draper. I didn't know it when we talked, but you helped make my career possible - thanks!
I do wish that "Silicon Valley" would have been elsewhere less useful, though. As mentioned, before it became the tech hub, the Santa Clara valley was extremely productive agricultural land that is now paved over.
A trip to Palm Springs is an eye-opener. You see so many sidewalks being watered at all hours of the day, and the water just flowing right into the drains. Such a shame in a desert area.
Out west, water rights are based in common law, sometimes formalized by legislation. And common law is based on how miners and prospectors resolved water conflicts while panning for gold.
While there may be no sane system, the legacy of "first come, first serve" and ",use it or lose it" is particularly insane.
Man that was as a different ethos back then…”Draper realized that his ‘learning curve was flattened out’ in venture capital and detoured into public service”. Subsequently he funded 280 non profits.
The A16z team of today is probably deeply confused reading this article.
> The A16z team of today is probably deeply confused reading this article.
Possibly not considering Humpty Dumpty's stated goal of zero introspection.
Third generation of Drapers doing this, which is its own kind of rare.
What a great read. RIP Bill!
I met Mr Draper once. I was staying at the SFO hyatt, or maybe the Mariott, and had a couple hours to kill after breakfast and noticed there was some sort of conference going on, so I crashed it. I walked into a talk room and sat in the front row and introduced myself to my neighbors. On one side was Steven Levy (author of many books in the industry) and the other was Bill Draper. I don't really remember the conversation, nor even the topic of the conference - it was a brief conversation in the 5 or 10 minutes before the talk started. At the time I didn't really know who he was but I was a little star-struck by Mr Levy, and it was Levy who told me I should be more impressed by being next to Draper. Mr Draper thought that was funny and the three of us chatted a bit more about whatever. I found it interesting that Mr. Draper was a surprisingly relatable guy (particularly given what I know about him know) and that he was very insightful of technology for someone who was in his 70 or 80s at the time.
RIP Mr. Draper. I didn't know it when we talked, but you helped make my career possible - thanks!
https://archive.ph/YRgDY
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/technology/william-draper...
I do wish that "Silicon Valley" would have been elsewhere less useful, though. As mentioned, before it became the tech hub, the Santa Clara valley was extremely productive agricultural land that is now paved over.
We have lots of agricultural land; too much, actually. This is a side effect of the green revolution.
What we in California don’t have is sustainably plentiful water, or a sane system of water rights to apportion it.
In SoCal, yes, but things are (mostly) fine in the north and in the central valley.
More frustrating is all the water waste due to "use it or lose it" type policies around commercial and agricultural water allocations.
A trip to Palm Springs is an eye-opener. You see so many sidewalks being watered at all hours of the day, and the water just flowing right into the drains. Such a shame in a desert area.
In much of the US, water is a common good and there are no water rights.
There is no sane system of water rights which is why there are cotton fields in Arizona.
Out west, water rights are based in common law, sometimes formalized by legislation. And common law is based on how miners and prospectors resolved water conflicts while panning for gold.
While there may be no sane system, the legacy of "first come, first serve" and ",use it or lose it" is particularly insane.
Sort of metaphorical, eh?
Too on-the-nose to make for good fiction.
Maybe the site would be more cheerful if there were a separate section for AI, obituaries and diseases.
You take the good, you take the bad. Take them both and there you have the facts of life.