Tim Draper

Backing the bold ideas that shape the future. Founder of @DFJvc, @drapervc, @Draper_U, @meetthedrapers.

Pitch me: [email protected]

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

In 2014, I bid $632 for Bitcoin when the market price was $618.

I bought around 30,000 BTC at the US Marshals auction.

The possibility of a different financial system drew me in. If Bitcoin transformed the world economy, the difference between $618 and $632 would barely matter.

I shared that story with @ Yahia Amin in a conversation about the dollar and Bitcoin.

Thank you, Yahia, for bringing this conversation to your Bengali-speaking audience.

Listen to the full interview:
https://t.co/PntgsIBBbP

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

In 2014, I bid $632 for Bitcoin when the market price was $618.

I bought around 30,000 BTC at the US Marshals auction.

The possibility of a different financial system drew me in. If Bitcoin transformed the world economy, the difference between $618 and $632 would barely matter.

I shared that story with @ Yahia Amin in a conversation about the dollar and Bitcoin.

Thank you, Yahia, for bringing this conversation to your Bengali-speaking audience.

Listen to the full interview:
https://t.co/PntgsIBBbP

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I’ve made my picks. Now you make yours. 🗳️ Voting for Meet the Drapers USA opens TODAY. Help decide which two founders can come back to the finale for the chance to win up to $1M. Vote now → https://t.co/d4uFk0oCKe

@StreamDraperTV

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

There were about 10,000 new venture funds started between 2019 and 2022.

They have not done well.

That money went deep and wide. Little seed groups everywhere.

What happened? Markets shifted. Returns compressed. Competition exploded.

Most of those funds won't raise a second fund.

That's the reality of venture: It looks easier than it is.

From the outside, it's "just invest in startups." From the inside, it's judgment, timing, relationships, and conviction through the J-curve.

The funds that survive will be the ones that differentiate. That built real advantages.

Not the ones that just showed up with capital.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

We are thrilled that Draper Associates has been named to @Inc's 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list, but it belongs to the founders.

Founder-friendly is a funny phrase to me, because the entrepreneurs are the superheroes here, win or lose. They walk into my office with great visions of the future that might seem outlandish or controversial, but years later might just give humans an anthropomorphic leap.

I see myself as someone who can imagine the future inside those visions and give them early support needed to prove it out to the world. Also to help the entrepreneurs stay steady on the tiller as they go through their tumultuous journey.

This one goes to the founders. Congratulations.

https://t.co/HXad2ryGCR

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Absolutely historic. Congratulations to Radiant. Big approval.

[Radiant @RadiantNuclear]

Radiant has secured U.S. Department of Energy (@ENERGY) approval of its Documented Safety Analysis for Kaleidos, making it the only microreactor to be reviewed and approved by the DOE for full power operations.

The approval is not just for criticality, but for Radiant’s full power, full temperature testing at the Idaho National Laboratory. Radiant will test the complete reactor system using the same design it will manufacture at scale.

Next up in the path to commercialization: Readiness Review.

Read more here 🔗 https://t.co/9mlhK6YHmO

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I backed @fairmint because I believed the future of equity would be onchain.

Today, that vision is becoming reality. Real shares, real ownership, 24/7 markets.

Congratulations to the @Fairmint team! The future of capital markets is being built! 🚀

[Fairmint @fairmint]

A public company is bringing its own shares onchain.

@CantonStrategic (NASDAQ: CNTN) has selected Fairmint as its Onchain Transfer Agent, with trading planned on TSV via @CantonNetwork.

Fairmint will maintain its official shareholder register onchain.

[andy tang @Andytang]

historic milestone! @RadiantNuclear micronuclear reactor design was just approved for safe nuclear operations! congrats @DougBernauer @torishiv https://t.co/irCNJYViA2

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Here's the thing about fundraising that nobody talks about:

Many VCs won't even look at your deck unless someone they trust sends it to them.

At @DraperVC any founder can pitch us directly through our site.

We've already made 3 investments this year from founders who just... showed up in our inbox.

But here's what I keep seeing...

Founders spend weeks perfecting their pitch deck, only to receive their first real feedback when they're sitting across from an investor.

That's like practicing your wedding speech in front of the wedding guests.

So we built something called PitchLens.

It's an AI pitch coach trained on how we actually evaluate deals at Draper.

It'll tell you:
→ Where your story gets confusing
→ Which slides aren't pulling their weight
→ How to tighten your narrative before you hit send

We're still tweaking PitchLens based on founder feedback. What would make this most useful for you?

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Read more → https://t.co/yOLWc9mbnI

[Bitcoin Magazine @BitcoinMagazine]

JUST IN: Billionaire Tim Draper says it's now irresponsible for companies to not hold bitcoin.

"Because when Silicon Valley Bank went out of business, we almost saw the domino effect, we almost lost all the banks." 👀

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s irresponsible to not own bitcoin.

First, companies will say, “We accept bitcoin.”

Then, they’ll say, “We only accept bitcoin.”

Then people will not value dollars or fiat, and there will be a run on the banks.

Eventually, the world will never be the same.

The individuals and companies that are ready for the seismic shift will come out ahead.

Those that are left holding legacy currency will not.

[Draper Associates @DraperVC]

Draper Associates has been named to @Inc.'s 2026 Founder-Friendly Investors list!

This one means something specific: Inc. builds the list from what founders say about the investors who backed them.

Our formula has not changed in four generations: back missionaries, not mercenaries.

Fund the wacky and weird before the world understands it. Then get out of the way and let the founders do the impressive part.

63 unicorns and 400+ companies backed, and the part we are proudest of is that the people we backed would say it again.

Thank you to every founder who vouched for us. The credit runs the other way. 🤝

https://t.co/apAY3Q6azY

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

@Forbes just named me one of America's greatest living optimists. #76! It was a huge honor.

After all, while pessimists might be “right” for the time being, optimists do everything that drives progress.

All the great successes I know are huge optimists.

Supporting optimism is my life.

Free email sounded crazy to pessimists. But Hotmail was built by optimists, Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith.

Free phone calls and video calls sounded even crazier to pessimists. But Skype was born by optimists, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Fries.

An electric car company and a private space company? Crazier still to a pessimist, but Tesla and SpaceX were built by the biggest optimist anywhere, Elon Musk.

Satoshi Nakamoto is an optimist, willing to transform the entire global economy with a trusted 3rd party in software around Bitcoin.

Every one of those started with an entrepreneur painting a picture of a world nobody had seen yet. My job was just to believe in the world they were creating, and to say yes to them and encourage them forward.

So the award really belongs to the founders. They supply the optimism. I just keep buying it.

https://t.co/nftwPjT5Ec

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

This is awesome. Data is to AI as oil is to automotive. @otter_ai has captured 9 years of meetings for @DraperVC

[Otter.ai @otter_ai]

Voice is the biggest untapped dataset in the enterprise. We've been going after it from day one, and today we're adding fuel. 🚀

Otter has closed $320M in growth financing from @generalcatalyst's Customer Value Fund to accelerate our mission of becoming the voice system of record for every enterprise.

40M+ users. 86% of the Fortune 500. 1B+ meetings transcribed. $1.5B in customer ROI. And we're only getting started. ☄️

https://t.co/I94E9vcpd0

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Founders ask me all the time: "What should I look for in an investor?"

One question: Does their management style match how you want to be managed?

You want an investor with great connections. Someone who'll give you insights when you need them.

But you DON'T want someone who tells you WHAT to do or HOW to do it.

If I thought I knew better than you how to run your company, I'd start my own company.

I'm writing a check because I believe YOU are the expert. Not me.

The best investor-founder relationships are partnerships. Not boss-employee dynamics.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I like this: Important that we are one person one vote. https://t.co/ny92FBdqn7
Of course we should all be voting by phone by now.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Huge announcement from @DraperVC portco Radiant. Proud to be a part of your journey. Radiant is now the only nuclear microreactor company with partnerships across the Army, Navy and Air Force.

[Radiant @RadiantNuclear]

The @USNavy has selected Radiant to deploy our Kaleidos microreactor at Naval Weapons Station Crane, Indiana.

With this selection, Radiant is now the only nuclear microreactor company with partnerships across the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The Navy has more than 70 years of safe reactor operations. It wrote the playbook on reactor safety. Earning its confidence is powerful independent validation of Kaleidos.

This milestone moves us closer to our goal: reliable, resilient nuclear power wherever the mission demands. Through our work with all three branches, we’re building a clear path from military deployment to nuclear energy at scale for government and commercial customers.

Read more details here: https://t.co/LQ3MXZgTMH

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Founders...

Investors are watching to see what you do right after they write the check.

Good founders get straight to work. They've got the rocket fuel, now they're launching.

Bad founders come back asking what to do next.

If you’re getting a check, it’s because an investor believes that you already know where you’re going.

They’re giving you fuel, not GPS directions.

Also... too much celebration is a red flag.

Pop some champagne, sure or in my case sparking apple juice. But then get back to building.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I voted for Steve Hilton. We need to break the one-party gunion monopoly in California. Try a republican this time.
I voted yes for Prop 39. I think it will stop most corruption in our ballots, but we really should be voting with our phones by now.
I voted no on Prop. 40. It will drive businesses and jobs out of state—also unconstitutional.
I voted yes on 41 and 42. Because capitalism.
I voted no on everything else. Most are just driven by special gunion interests.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Fifteen years. That was the timeline my nuclear physicist friend gave me for a new nuclear plant in the US. Five to design, five for approval, five to build.

Most entrepreneurs would have given up right there. @JakeDeWitte doubled down.

That is what I invested in. Not the reactor, the founder who hears fifteen years and starts anyway.

Now @Oklo is the first nuclear company approved in the US in 40 years, and the future keeps arriving faster than expected.

[Draper University @draper_u]

When Sci-Fi Becomes Reality: Oklo. What if nuclear power plants could be smaller, easier to deploy, and eventually turn used nuclear fuel into a new source of energy?

That was the kind of idea @JacobDeWitte brought to @TimDraper. When Jake was building @Oklo, the timeline alone was enough to make most investors walk away.

Tim recalls asking a nuclear physicist friend what it would take to build a new nuclear plant in the U.S. The answer: Five years to design. Five years for approval. Five more years to build.

Tim invested anyway. Draper Associates committed $1 million early on. Tim has said the decision was made within an hour. They were betting not only on the technology, but on Jake’s ability to push through an industry defined by long development cycles, regulation, and enormous technical complexity. Draper Associates went on to back Oklo through every round leading up to its public listing.

Today, Oklo is developing its Aurora fast-fission powerhouses: compact, metal-fueled, sodium-cooled reactors designed to deliver clean, reliable power. The current Aurora product line is designed to produce 15–75 MW of electricity, with the potential for larger systems in the future.

But the reactor itself is only part of the idea. Oklo is also developing technology to recycle used nuclear fuel into new reactor fuel. Conventional reactors leave most of the fuel’s potential energy unused; Oklo says its recycling approach could recover up to 95% of the energy remaining in used fuel while reducing the amount of material requiring long-term disposal. And what once sounded like a distant nuclear vision is moving into the physical world.

Oklo’s first Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory is under construction. In June 2026, the U.S. Department of Energy approved its Preliminary Documented Safety Analysis, another major step toward operation. Oklo currently forecasts commercial operations at the Idaho project beginning in 2028. The ambition is getting much bigger, too. In 2026, Oklo and Meta announced an agreement supporting development of a nuclear-energy campus in Ohio that could eventually scale to 1.2 GW to support Meta’s regional data-center infrastructure.

The best frontier companies don't necessarily make an impossible technology appear overnight. Sometimes they take an industry everyone assumes is too slow, too regulated, or too difficult to reinvent, and ask whether the underlying assumptions are still true.

Why it matters for builders: A long timeline doesn't automatically make an idea unrealistic.

The more important questions are:
🔎 Has the technology changed?
💰 Can the economics change?
🕚 And is the founder willing to stay with the problem long enough to make the future arrive?

That was the bet on Oklo. And more than a decade after the company was founded, the experiment is still moving forward.