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The Future of Global Tech Entrepreneurship
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The Silicon Valley at this moment is experiencing arguably one of the most robust seasons of opportunity in its storied history. In tandem, other entrepreneurial hubs are emerging around the country, broadening the effects of the Valley and its coastal complement, Boston. New York City, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, Boulder, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and even St. Louis and Detroit are growing their entrepreneurial ecosystems through tailored imitation. And this phenomenon is developing not only within the United States but also in parts of Europe, Latin America and Asia. The recent $21B+ valuation of the Chinese internet behemoth Alibaba only underscores what has been emerging as a global wave of entrepreneurship. Where did this latest wave of entrepreneurship originate? What technological and political factors have helped make it possible? Who are its leaders? And where is future technological innovation likely to emerge? Dixon Doll, considered by many as among the "Fathers of the Silicon Valley," will help us explore these questions by examining our nation's entrepreneurial past and by predicting its "“ and the world's "“ entrepreneurial future.
For more than 35 years, Dixon has influenced and guided entrepreneurs, investors and executives in the computer, communications, and internet industries. Dixon was named to the Forbes Midas List for four consecutive years and received the 2013 Special Achievement Award in VC from the International Business Forum. He was elected to the Board of the National Venture Capital Association in 2005 serving on the Executive Committee and as Chairman in 2008/9. Under Dixon's leadership, the NVCA developed a widely embraced set of recommendations (NVCA 4-Pillar Plan) to stimulate liquidity in the U.S. venture capital industry. This plan resulted in bipartisan Congressional support for new job creation legislation and simplification of the IPO process for young emerging companies. Known as the JOBS Act, President Obama signed it into law in 2012.
Dixon has led DCM's investments in About.com (Acquired by The New York Times Co.), @Motion (Acquired by Openwave), CENX (Chairmen), Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), Coradiant (Acquired by BMC), Force10 Networks (Acquired by Dell), Foundry Networks (Nasdaq: FDRY), Internap (Nasdaq: INAP), Ipivot (Acquired by Intel), Keep.com, Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM) and Mobileum (formerly Roamware). He is the past Chairman of Network Equipment Technologies (NWK) and serves on the Board of Directors of DIRECTV (DTV).
Prior to co-founding DCM, Dixon launched the venture capital industry's first fund focused solely on telecom, investing in such noteworthy companies as Alantec, Bridge Communications, Centillion Networks, Network Equipment Technologies, Optilink, Picturetel, Polycom and UUNet. He also founded and ran a strategic technology consulting firm, served on the faculty of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York City for 10 years and published a seminal text Data Communications which was adopted as course text by more than 60 universities worldwide.
Dixon has traveled extensively to six continents to serve on advisory boards and give highly sought after presentations on entrepreneurship, technological trends, job creation, government policy and innovation. He also serves on the Executive Committee and Advisory Board for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Institute (SIEPR) and is on the Board of Overseers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. His non-profit activities also have included serving as Chairman of San Francisco's Asian Art Museum and as a trustee at the University of San Francisco where he currently chairs the Investment Committee. Dixon received his B.S.E.E. (cum laude) from Kansas State University and an M.S.E. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a National Science Foundation scholar.