Venture Capital Pioneer Illuminates the Silicon Valley Ecosystem

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January 16, 2013 | by Erika Brown Ekiel

Johnson recently discussed his insights into why and how Silicon Valley continues to thrive.

Q: You’ve been part of helping other regions in the world to become centers of entrepreneurial activity. While many of these places have gotten better at this, Silicon Valley continues to dominate. Why?
A: People forget San Francisco and Silicon Valley have their roots in pioneering. Failure is not unthinkable here. You can try again. Once entrepreneurs come up with a scheme to move their technology ideas into the market, they need money. Here, we have an abundance of venture capital. In many places in the world, you need a rich friend or an uncle.
Q: What do you look for in a venture investment?
A: This is a big argument between me and my good friend Don Valentine, a founding partner of Sequoia Capital. The first thing you look for in an entrepreneur is a sense of integrity, honesty, openness, and decency. Once you think you have found a decent person, the second thing is: Do they have a clear vision of the marketplace they want to serve? Don believes that you need decent people, but the marketplace comes first, because you can’t change that, but you can change the people.
Q: What are the most important characteristics of winning entrepreneurs?
A: They must have a strong desire to compete and win, an intuitive understanding of marketplaces and how to serve them, and a deep understanding of technology and how it can be used to serve marketplaces.