Find your path to L. John Doerr
205 people in our graph share verified history with L. John Doerr — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
About
Louis John Doerr is an American venture capitalist who has spent his career at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, then joined Intel in 1974, where he became one of the company's top systems salespeople and adopted the goal-setting framework he later popularized as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). He joined Kleiner Perkins in 1980 and backed technology companies including Compaq, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Intuit, Amazon, and Google, serving as an early investor and board member at Google and Amazon. He introduced OKRs to Google and led Kleiner Perkins's $150 million investment in Twitter in 2012. In 2016 he stepped down from leading the firm, handing leadership to Ted Schlein. He has focused increasingly on climate, public health, and education, and in 2022 he and his wife Ann donated $1.1 billion to establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He authored two books, Measure What Matters and Speed & Scale.
Beyond investing
- Founded
- Doerr founded the chip-design firm Silicon Compilers while at Kleiner Perkins and later sold it for $127 million. He co-founded FWD.us, an immigration reform lobbying group, with Mark Zuckerberg and Reid Hoffman.
- Education
- Studied at Rice University (BS, electrical engineering) Studied at Harvard Business School (MBA, 1976) Studied at Chaminade College Preparatory School
- Boards
- Doerr co-founded and serves on the board of the New Schools Venture Fund, an education reform and charter public schools fund. He serves on the board of Bono's ONE campaign to fight global poverty. Doerr serves on the board of the Obama Foundation. He is a member of the Global Advisory Board of Khan Academy.
- Charities
- Doerr and his wife Ann donated $1.1 billion to Stanford University in 2022 to establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. In 2010 Doerr and his wife signed the Giving Pledge.
- Communities
- In February 2009 he was appointed to the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board by President Barack Obama.
- Awards
- Doerr was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University in 1997. In 2009 he was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2019 he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2026 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
- Family
- Doerr is married to Ann Howland Doerr and they have two children.
- More
- Doerr holds several patents for memory devices. He introduced the idea of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to Google.
From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.
Investments
Led
Investor
Bloom Energy IncCompaqDreamBoxdrugstore.comIntuitLotus Development Corp.MacromediaNetscapeRemindSymantec
Per curated public sources.
Colleagues at Kleiner Perkins
Frequently asked questions
- Who is L. John Doerr?
- Louis John Doerr is an American venture capitalist who has spent his career at Kleiner Perkins in Menlo Park, California. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, then joined Intel in 1974, where he became one of the company's top systems salespeople and adopted the goal-setting framework he later popularized as Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). He joined Kleiner Perkins in 1980 and backed technology companies including Compaq, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, Intuit, Amazon, and Google, serving as an early investor and board member at Google and Amazon. He introduced OKRs to Google and led Kleiner Perkins's $150 million investment in Twitter in 2012. In 2016 he stepped down from leading the firm, handing leadership to Ted Schlein. He has focused increasingly on climate, public health, and education, and in 2022 he and his wife Ann donated $1.1 billion to establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He authored two books, Measure What Matters and Speed & Scale.
- Where does L. John Doerr work?
- L. John Doerr is General Partner at Kleiner Perkins.
- What boards does L. John Doerr sit on?
- L. John Doerr holds tracked board seats at Alphabet Inc., Amazon, Amyris Biotech, ASAPP, Google, Sun Microsystems, Tradesy, Watershed, Zynga.
- What companies has L. John Doerr invested in?
- Investments tracked here include Twitter, Bloom Energy Inc, Compaq, DreamBox, drugstore.com, Intuit, Lotus Development Corp., Macromedia, Netscape, Remind, Symantec.
- What awards has L. John Doerr received?
- Doerr was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in 2010. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rice University in 1997. In 2009 he was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2019 he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 2026 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
- Does L. John Doerr lead rounds?
- Yes — L. John Doerr has led 1 tracked investment.