--- title: 6 Things to Know About the Very Colorful Venture Capitalist Tom Perkins, Who Died Tuesday description: The venture capitalist who set the tone for modern Silicon Valley died Tuesday. Here are some colorful things about the tycoon. authors: - name: Ethan Wolff-Mann url: https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/ at_money_since: 2015 articles: 160 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/ewolffmann former_staff: true published: '2016-06-10T16:23:57.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T02:16:26.000Z' section: Business tags: - pubdesk - Silicon Valley - Tom Perkins - venture capitalism word_count: 584 canonical: https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Tom Perkins Romance Novel](https://img.money.com/2016/06/gettyimages-106871469.jpg) Tom Perkins, the influential co-founder of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, died on Tuesday night at age 84. You may not know who Tom Perkins was by name, but there's a chance that you've heard some of his ideas, perhaps expressed by the *Silicon Valley* character [Gavin Belsen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5zQpN28xa4), who compared the treatment of the 1% to the Jews in the Third Reich. Penning a letter to the Wall Street *Journal*'s editor in 2014, Perkins [wrote](http://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304549504579316913982034286): "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.'" But Perkins was much more than his aggressive defense of the superrich. He was one of the people responsible for making Silicon Valley what it is today. Here are a few things you should know about him and the outsize personality he brought to technology. **1\. He set the tone for how Silicon Valley works** A co-founder of the premiere venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1972, Perkins was considered by many to be a founder of Silicon Valley culture. Perkins was a pioneer of making small investments in up and coming companies in exchange for ownership and mentoring, which led to his firm midwifing Netscape, AOL, Amazon and later Google, [according to the *New York Times*](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/technology/tom-perkins-dies.html?_r=0) *--* something that is now standard operating procedure in Silicon Valley today. **2\. He had a hand in early computing, biotech, and dot-coms** Perkins was the first leader of [Hewlett-Packard's computer division](http://www.kpcb.com/partner/tom-perkins), and helped the personal computing industry get started. Later, through his venture capital firm he helped usher in the biotechnology industry by financing companies like Genentech, in addition to early dot-coms. **3\. He stepped down from Hewlett-Packard's board after a spying scandal** In 2006, a member of Hewlett-Packard's board of directors was leaking information to the press, and chair Patricia Dunn ordered an investigation—which turned shady as investigators used identity-theft tactics like using social security numbers to get phone records from AT&T. Perkins found out and [quit the board in anger](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/technology/07hewlett.html?ref=business). **4\. He once said only taxpayers should vote, and the rich should get more votes** Back in 2014, Perkins told *Fortune* that [only taxpayers should be allowed to vote in elections](https://time.com/8466/tom-perkins-taxes/), and doubled down on that position by saying the rich should get more votes because they pay more in taxes. The comments drew some heavy laughter, and some said he was just joking. **5\. He had a $130 million yacht** An avid sailor, Perkins decided he needed a bigger boat when he was 74 and commissioned the Maltese Falcon, a super-yacht "that was bigger, faster, higher-tech, more expensive and riskier than any private sailing craft in the world," the [Wall Street](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118849942266013730) *[Journal](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118849942266013730)* [reported.](http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB118849942266013730) **6\. He wrote a romance novel "Sex and the Single Zillionaire"** In addition to having the world's tallest privately owned yacht, Perkins was also a romance novelist, taking after his ex-wife, Danielle Steele. His book, published in 2006, was called "[Sex and the Single Zillionaire](https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Single-Zillionaire-Tom-Perkins/dp/0060859776?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0)" about a widower who reluctantly agrees to go on a reality show called "Trophy Bride." He falls for the producer and tries to show that he's more than a just a pile of money. Rupert Murdoch, with whom Perkins served on News Corp's board, called it "Fun, fast—a great read!” and the New York *Post* said it was "slyly wicked." ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Entrepreneurship", "item": "https://money.com/entrepreneurship/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "6 Things to Know About the Very Colorful Venture Capitalist Tom Perkins, Who Died Tuesday" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/", "name": "6 Things to Know About the Very Colorful Venture Capitalist Tom Perkins, Who Died Tuesday", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-06-10T16:23:57.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/tom-perkins-scandal-silicon-valley/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:16:26.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "6 Things to Know About the Very Colorful Venture Capitalist Tom Perkins, Who Died Tuesday", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/06/gettyimages-106871469.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 1993, "caption": "Tom Perkins Romance Novel" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ethan Wolff-Mann", "url": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ethan-wolff-mann/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ewolffmann" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-06-10T16:23:57.000Z", "description": "The venture capitalist who set the tone for modern Silicon Valley died Tuesday. 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