Gayle and I are honored to join the Giving Pledge.

I’ve spent the better part of nearly 50 years working and investing in tech companies, supporting extremely talented and dedicated founders, for which I am very proud and grateful. These founders are to be commended for their successes: creating a large number of jobs, and technologies that we use every day to make life and work more productive, and our world more connected.

Success is not just what you build, it’s how you give back.

After my first company, Altos Computer Systems, went public in 1982, Gayle and I became co-founders of the Altos Foundation, which pioneered support for domestic violence shelters and preventative efforts. We also began donating locally, initially to our kids’ schools, and then to Bay Area children’s hospitals.

SV Angel was fortunate to be an early investor in Google. The day our Google investment first became liquid, half went directly to charitable commitments — not to a personal foundation or donor advised fund sitting on investments for years, waiting for direction. As my successes grew, my charitable commitments have grown and today, we are humbled to be able to join the Giving Pledge.

Gayle and I have focused our philanthropic giving to support Bay Area causes, including the UCSF Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, local organizations like Hamilton Families that work to end homelessness, and national issues like civic engagement, gun safety, and immigration reform. In 2020, we also directed significant philanthropic support towards helping first responders and health care workers on the frontlines of the pandemic, and towards organizations working to end racial injustice and systemic economic inequality.

Along the way, my personal inspiration has been Chuck Feeney, one of the most impactful business leaders of the past century. After building his business, Chuck, co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers, founded Atlantic Philanthropies and gave away 99% of his over $8B fortune over 40 years. Chuck, the inspiration for the Giving Pledge, is the blueprint for a successful technology founder to become a “never-billionaire.”

Gayle and I like to lead by example, and in doing so, our sons are becoming philanthropists in their own right. As I began angel investing, I encouraged founders to give back and see how rewarding and satisfying it is to help others. One of my proudest accomplishments is evangelizing SV Angel founders to become philanthropists. Gayle and I encouraged Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan to make their first “giving pledge” – a pledge of stock – even before Facebook was a public company. Today, I make it a point to share with founders my “philanthropy chart” with over 100 charities categorized by sector, showing I use the same “index approach” to philanthropy as I do investing.

One of my goals in joining the Giving Pledge is to encourage more tech founders to join and become role models for their generation. I encourage founders to see the tipping point when they donate meaningful amounts of their net worth and begin the process of becoming “never-billionaires” by donating their worth now and not later. And advise them not to let their money sit in a donor advised fund. It’s much better to put it to work in philanthropy and see the good it does.

I am a proud “never-billionaire.” I continue to pursue high growth investments with SV Angel and am passionate about backing incredibly talented entrepreneurs and companies, and I will be directing nearly all future gains directly to philanthropy. This is my Giving Pledge and I encourage other tech founders to join me.