I warmly recommend the book on Tom Perkins' yachting life: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mines-Bigger-Extraordinary-Greatest-Sailboat/dp/0061374024?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/Mines-Bigger-Extraordinary-Greatest-S...</a><p>It was a fantastic read. Taught me much about the man, early SV life and, of course, yachts.
There's a great 2011 documentary that features the old guard (Gordon Moore, Tom Perkins, Arthur Rock, etc). It's called "Something Ventured".<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1737747/</a><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq7JVThjHEA" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq7JVThjHEA</a>
Weird. Read the New Yorker article about HBO's Silicon Valley with this bit about Tom Perkins. Then googled him to find out who he is and learned he'd just died...<p>>In 2014, the Wall Street Journal published a letter by Tom Perkins, a billionaire venture capitalist: “Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘one percent,’ namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the ‘rich.’”
Just learned about Tom Perkins. Definitely was not perfect but Gosh those guys had some guts to try what they tried at a time when everybody was so big on traditional corporate finance and so fearful on new tech companies. RIP
Slightly OT, but I hate it when an article on someone's death shows a fairly recent photo of them healthy and charismatic. It always brings the eventuality of the end of life so close to home. That someone can go from healthy and happy to dead in a few short years is unnerving.<p>RIP.
Saw this video link on Twitter about Perkins and the early years<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/105745528" rel="nofollow">https://vimeo.com/105745528</a>
I can't recall the context, but super yachts, of which Tom Perkins is known for, was a big thing in the 90s. James Clark (Netscape founder, alongside the students) was big into his yachts at the time as well.
Looks like this scene in Silicon Valley was based off of him: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC9D-paXcHU" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC9D-paXcHU</a>
First, I should say I am sorry to hear he has passed away. Without a doubt he played a big role in growing SV.<p>I recall the incident below, and I'd like to reflect on it (in positive light, I refuse to speak ill of the dead).<p>"...he compared the “progressive war on the 1 percent” to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany."<p>There is without a doubt a problem with the growing divide. But still, the wealthy are humans too, many who have struggled to obtain their position. Many wealthy people are trying to fix the problem of the divide. A growing problem I see is desire to persecute the wealthy, or lump them all into one "evil" class. That is really throwing the baby out with the bathwater, because I think the majority of wealthy people are honest and trying to do good, as opposed to the few dishonest and corrupt individuals among them.<p>Edit: A lot of people will see the comparison to Jews as ridiculous, but IMO it is not entirely far-fetched. The Jews were an easy target for persecution because they were successful when most others were not (which many attribute to the Jewish work ethic). See: <a href="http://writing.uncc.edu/student-writing/nazi-propaganda-effective-two-ways" rel="nofollow">http://writing.uncc.edu/student-writing/nazi-propaganda-effe...</a><p>Obviously, I don't think his comparison was referencing genocide, but instead the growing attitude that hates success rather than celebrates it.
One of the popular self-help advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is to read obituaries and decide for yourself how your's should be. This guy deserves a great one. Nytimes, don't F this up.