Bill Tai

Bill Tai

Bill established CRV's Silicon Valley office. Past Board Director of 7 public companies from his investments. World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer Committee; Adjunct Professor of Innovation, Curtin University; Sponsored Athlete in Kiteboarding

Website: www.about.me/billtai
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kitevc
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kitevc
Menlo Park, California, United States
Accredited investor
Member since January 26, 2010
Quote
VC Investor, Adjunct Prof & Sponsored Athlete. Chairman @TreasureData, BOD @BitFuryGroup, @Voxer. Seed @Tweetdeck/@Twitter, @TangoMe, @WishShopping, Quote_down
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Angel Early stage VC
Typical investment size $100k - $250k $1M - $2.5M
Typical investments in a year 3
Categories of interest
Locations of interest
School/Associations of interest
HBS
Credentials Accredited Investor, Qualified Purchaser
Activity
Investments made canva, tweetdeck, treasure data, zoom.us, wish.com, scribd, safety culture, shoes of prey, 150 companies over 20+ years
Board seats Transmeta, Network Peripherals, Microtune, 8x8, IPinfusion, iasiaworks
Education
Unversity of illinois , BS , BSEE, with Honors
Harvard , MBA
I am a(n):

Investor

Achievements (products built, personal awards won):

Forbes Midas List

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

Because it's FUN and has the same highs & lows as kiting.

My favorite startups:

Treasure Data, Zoom.us

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Rewarding: It's FUN. Frustrating: the masses never understand at first.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Usually the main mistakes are around 1) Timing and use of resources vs. timing of need and 2) hiring mistakes and when to correct them.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

Team matters more than the initial idea.

Full bio

Bill established CRV's Silicon Valley presence and is a Partner Emeritus backing Ark.com, Maxthon, Scribd,Wish.com on CRV's behalf.

Past Investor in more than a dozen startups that made it to public listing; Board Director on 7 of them as public companies.

Board Director at BitFury, Voxer andTreasure Data where he is Chairman. Among Lead Angels in Canva, Color Genomics, SafetyCulture, Shoes of Prey, Tango.me, Tweetdeck(Twitter), Zoom.us. Backer of Further Future and MaiTai Global.

Previously - VC at IVP; Founding CEO iAsiaWorks (IPO 2000 via Goldman Sachs); Founding Chairman IPinfusion (TSE:4813);

World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer Committee

Adjunct Professor of Innovation, Curtin University

Sponsored Athlete in Kiteboarding