Management Hall of Fame: Leading Management Gurus
Arthur Rock
Venture Capital & The Silicon Valley
(1926 - Present)
Arthur Rock is the man credited with coining the term "venture
capital." Without his work, there probably would
have been no information revolution, no silicon valley or
even a venture capital industry. He is a venture capitalist of
Silicon Valley, California. He was an early investor in major firms
including Intel, Apple Computer, Scientific Data Systems and Teledyne.
Key Work
- The first venture
capitalist (VC) operating on the West Coast of the United States.
- Organized the funding that got the computer revolution under way when he
helped eight researchers break out from William Shockley's laboratories to
found Fairchild Semiconductors.
- Rounded up financing for some of
the biggest companies in Silicon Valley, including Intel and Apple.
- Founds the firm of Davis and Rock which dissolved after a seven-year life.
- Eugene Kleiner, one of the original
"Fair children," later went on to found the VC firm Kleiner
Perkins. Many others follow Arthur Rock VC example
- Forms Arthur Rock & Associates
- Director of Air Touch Communications.
Career Moves:
- He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business administration
from Syracuse University in 1948 and earned an MBA from Harvard Business
School in 1951.
- Rock started his career in 1951 as a security analyst in New York
City, and then joined the corporate finance department of Hayden, Stone
& Company, where he focused on raising money for small high-technology
companies.
- After graduating from Harvard, he worked as an investment banker in
New York.
- In 1957, when the Traitorous Eight left Shockley Semiconductor
Laboratory, Rock was the one who helped them find Sherman Fairchild to
start Fairchild Semiconductor.
- In 1961, he moved to California. Along with Tommy Davis, they formed
the San Francisco venture capital firm Davis & Rock.
- In 2003, Rock donated $25 million to the Harvard Business School to
establish the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.
Rock's Law, named for Arthur Rock, says that the cost of a
semiconductor chip fabrication plant doubles every four years. As of
2003, the price had already reached about 3 billion US dollars. The
semiconductor industry has always been extremely capital-intensive, with
very low unit manufacturing costs. Thus, the ultimate limits to growth
of the industry will constrain the maximum amount of capital that can be
invested in new products
Books and References
- Interview with Rob Walker on November 12, 2002 as part of The
Silicon Genesis Project with Stanford University
- Harvard Business School (2003-01-31). Harvard Business School
Receives $25 Million from Venture Capitalist Arthur Rock. Press
release. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
- Arthur Rock. HBS Bulletin Online. Retrieved on 2007-05-07.
IIM Executive Education & Management Training
|
|
