Tim Draper

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

Pitch me: [email protected]

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

https://t.co/CdZ90Xt3sC

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

My dad gave me a MILLION Confederate dollar bill when I was a kid.

When I asked him what I could do with it, he said, "Nothing."

That's what's coming for the US dollar.

First, a few retailers will say, "we accept Bitcoin” and then a few will say, "we ONLY accept Bitcoin."

The moment that happens, people will panic and run to the bank. They’ll pull their dollars out and convert to Bitcoin.

Please own some Bitcoin, so you don’t panic when people don’t accept your dollars.

This is why I'm telling everyone the same three things right now:

1. Buy enough Bitcoin to keep your family alive for 6 months.
2. If you run a company, hold enough Bitcoin to pay your employees for 4 weeks.
3. If you manage a government treasury, put some percentage in Bitcoin.

Full conversation with Coinage is linked below.

👇

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

My amazing dad, Bill Draper died yesterday. He was the best! We were so lucky to have him with us as long as we did. I know he touched many of your lives.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

https://t.co/3dVizTY9UM

[David Zagaynov @DavidZagaynov]

Announcing Poseidon Aerospace's $60M Series A, led by TQ Ventures with participation from JAWS, Hanwha, G Squared, Starship Ventures, Drover Ventures, and others.

At @poseidonaero, we are building the future of air logistics with autonomous cargo planes designed and built from the ground up.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

@PoseidonAero just closed a $60M Series A to build autonomous cargo planes from the ground up.

Autonomous aircraft carrying cargo sounds wacky to some people today. So did an electric car company. So did internet phone calls. So did digital money.

Every big idea I have ever backed went through the phase where the consensus called it impossible, and the entrepreneur saw beyond that.

Air logistics is a massive industry running on decades-old assumptions: pilots in every cockpit, planes designed around a crew. Remove those assumptions and you get to rethink the entire aircraft.

That is exactly the kind of rethink I look for, a team that does not want to just improve the existing model but replace it.

The Poseidon team is building for a world the incumbents cannot see yet.

Congratulations on the round.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I have a t-shirt that says Decentralize Everything. That is 40 years of observation compressed into two words, and I finally wrote the argument down as the first guest contributor to @CryptoniteRap.

The piece is about DeSci, decentralized science.

Every institution stagnates the same way. A small group ends up controlling the agenda, that group gets invested in the current framework, and challenging the consensus becomes a career risk. I have watched it in banking, telecom, rocketry, and now science.

After 40 years I boiled it down to two rules.

1- The Draper Equation: the likelihood that a society needs to rethink an industry is proportional to the number of people benefiting from existing theories without change.

2- The Draper Corollary: the more centralized the decision-making, the less innovation occurs. The more decentralized the operations, the more innovation occurs and the faster that sector grows.

The consensus mocked Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, Bitcoin, and SpaceX too. Every time, mockery was an excellent signal.

Read the full editorial: https://t.co/kMYEnjkQTc

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

A wonderful perspective. Honor the workers, and the workers who created the tools that made them productive. Market Day. Great concept. https://t.co/PlOLcQfNet

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

An idea is like a keepsake.

Hide it, and you forget where it was.

Spread it to the world, and it grows more interesting and valuable.

Every time I give away one idea, I seem to get three more.

Don't worry about who gets the credit. Just move the technological ball forward.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

When you go off the main path and do something else, then apply it back to the main path… the path gets more extraordinary.

I started @draper_u just to help entrepreneurs get started.

Now it's a major pre-accelerator, a great source of deal flow, a powerful network connector for my venture business.

Elon does this at scale:

→ SpaceX + Tesla + Battery factory + Starlink all helping each other

→ Connecting Starlink to cars

→ Twitter (X) + XAI using Twitter's data for better AI

→ That AI is improving space, cars, batteries

Synergies take time. You need a long vision.

But when you go deep into one category, then another, you can start thinking about how they mesh.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

People ask where my optimism comes from.

When I was younger, I played football. I joined five benchwarmers in a challenge against the 6 best athletes on the team.

So...it seemed hopeless.

So we changed the game.

We ran routes they weren’t expecting.

We lined up in ways that confused them.

And we humiliated them.

As cliché as it may sound, that moment taught me everything: Anything is possible. There is always a way. The underdogs always have a shot. Try anything.

In my VC career, I had a couple early investment wins that nobody expected. Same lesson, different stakes.

That's why I invest the way I do. That's why I back the founders other VCs pass on. They are underdogs. They are trying new possibilities.

All because I've SEEN the benchwarmers win. Again and again.

They can always surprise you.

[Draper University @draper_u]

If you’re building in crypto, blockchain, decentralization, or Web3, Tim Draper has a message for you.

Applications are open for the Draper University x @Cardano Apex Growth Accelerator, an in-person program in Silicon Valley for founders ready to turn ambitious ideas into venture-scale companies.

For more than a decade, DraperU has brought together founders who want to build what’s next, giving them access to a community of entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and operators who can challenge them, support them, and continue opening doors long after the program ends.

As @TimDraper puts it, the value is not only in the program itself. It’s in the relationships you build with other founders working on similarly ambitious problems. These people can help you succeed, and you can help in return.

If you’re building in crypto, blockchain, decentralization, or Web3, this is your opportunity to join the Draper ecosystem and spend 10 weeks building in Silicon Valley.

Apply to Apex by Sep 1 -> https://t.co/paHtHywksj

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I am selling my island in Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. Gorgeous place, but we don’t use it enough. $7.9 million or best offer. Anyone interested should contact me directly at [email protected]

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Five years ago, the @RadiantNuclear team was pitching portable nuclear reactors.

Today the US Army handed them a $750 million contract for 15 of them.

We and @BoostVC were early investors and co-led their Series D recently. The founders made our decision to invest easy. They were determined to bring nuclear power back after decades of fear had frozen the field, and they kept building until the Army agreed.

Missionaries, every one of them.

Congratulations to the whole Radiant team. You earned every bit of this.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Independent Institute (@IndependentInst) just launched their 4th season of the hit dark comedy, “Love Gov 4”.

Gov is a character that keeps offering to help and protect the citizen, but really only wants to control her. Sound familiar? Watch it for a dark laugh.

Here is its home page: https://t.co/19fEPHs1GK

Independent institute also provides us with Government Cost Calculator, MyGovCost (https://t.co/sKzR2rDj8o), that seeks to increase awareness of young people of the true costs—including opportunity costs—of big government.

The new calculator produces personalized graphs that users are encouraged to share across social media.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Most VCs prefer serial entrepreneurs.

I don't.

I back first-time entrepreneurs more than most.

Yes, it's riskier, but the returns can be much bigger.

Second-time entrepreneurs are usually better operationally. They make sure they raise the RIGHT amount of money. They're ruthless about hiring.

But first-time entrepreneurs? They tend to raise too much money. They feel like they have to hire everybody. Then they hit the wall and wonder why the next round didn't come as easily.

Second-time entrepreneurs who've hit the wall know to keep it thin until product-market fit. Grow organically. Don't rely on the venture capital marketplace because it comes and goes.

I like first-time entrepreneurs making this their career. This might be the one they were meant to be.

I like second-time entrepreneurs going after something entirely different. Not recreating their old business.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison… first-time entrepreneurs.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Californians: Steve Hilton on Joe Rogan. Great guy. I think the D’s may switch to R for this race. https://t.co/rIyghmLM4s

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I was stuck in traffic in an Uber. Two hours. Couldn't move.

I realized the driver was the same one I'd had months ago.

Back then, I'd told him about AI music and showed him a song. He loved it.

Six months later, in that traffic jam, he reminded me. Then he said: "So I started playing around with it."

He played us the best music. This incredible vibe of meshing two cultures. Unbelievably fabulous.

It kept us interested the entire time we were stuck.

That's AI spreading. That's an artist thinking: "Now we've got AI, what do we do with it?"

Not "AI is going to take my job."

It's "I got to use AI. I got to be a better musician."

AI is just the new guitar.

Some artists will resist it. Some will master it.

Those who master it will create things we can't yet imagine.

By the way, that driver? He's proof that AI democratizes creativity. Anyone with curiosity and access can make something extraordinary.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Big opportunity for founders in the Cardano ecosystem. DraperU teamed up with @Cardano and @OrionFund to back the next wave of builders. 1 week left to apply

[Draper University @draper_u]

Reminder: applications for the Apex Accelerator close September 1.

DraperU has partnered with @Cardano and the Orion Fund for a 10-week program built for founders working in DeFi infrastructure, RWA and tokenization, enterprise and scaling, and emerging opportunities on Cardano.

What's in it:
→ A Silicon Valley residency at Draper University
→ VCs and industry experts in the room throughout the program, not just on Demo Day
→ Up to $70K in investment

If you're building something real on Cardano, this is your shot.

📅 Applications close September 1
🚀 Program starts in October

#Cardano #Web3 #Accelerator #DraperUniversity

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Here's what Tom Ford told me when I was starting out. He created 3000 Sand Hill Road.

I asked him about the real estate business. He got excited: "Real estate is fantastic!"

I said: "Should I do something?"

He said: "No. If you want to get into the real estate business, you have to dedicate your life to it."

Same thing with venture capital.

You've got to be in it. Deep. Shallow. Horizontal and vertical on every topic you can think of.

You've got to understand the consumer from different points of view. You've got to have a futuristic vibe.

And you've got to keep adjusting based on everything you see around you.

If it's a hobby? Just invest in a venture fund. Pick one where the people are completely dedicated. That's all they live for.

If you come at it from an angle, that's great. But it's got to be your entire life.

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

Proud to see @DraperVC named to @TIME's America's Top Venture Capital Firms of 2026 list.

Recognition for firms like this is nice, but I would like to take this moment to recognize our incredible founders.

Our firm's job is to find the missionaries early, back them when the idea still sounds crazy, and stay with them when the world catches up.

This award goes to the disruptive, unconventional founders who let Draper Associates be part of their story.

Also, congratulations to all the VCs who made the list. @BoostVC and about 10 others are Tim Draper acolytes.

https://t.co/1GEHG7hwN1