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How I Bought 12% of Google for $12M; How VC is Fixing Climate Change | John Doerr Full Interview

John Doerr is an engineer, venture capitalist, the chairman of Kleiner Perkins, and the author of the #1 New York Times best-seller Measure What Matters. For over 40 years, John has helped build some of the most generational defining companies of our generation. He was an original investor and board member at Google and Amazon, helping to create more than a million jobs. A pioneer of Silicon Valley’s cleantech movement, John has invested in zero emissions technologies since 2006. Check out his latest book, Speed & Scale: An Action Plan for Solving Our Climate Crisis Now. ------------------------------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with John Doerr You Will Learn: 1.) What was John’s entry into climate change investing? Having backed the likes of Amazon and Google, why did John decide then was the right time to do a climate fund, a pandemic fund, an iPhone fund? How does John think about market timing risk today? How does John determine between risks he is vs is not willing to take? 2.) What was one of John’s biggest lessons on risk and upside from working alongside Tom Perkins? How did the Google deal come together? Where did John first meet Larry and Serge? What convinced John to write them a $12M check for 12% of the company? Why was it a contested deal within the partnership? How did the discussion go internally? 3.) Why and how is climate innovating and investing different today than it was in 2008? What are the core OKR’s laid out in the book, that we need to achieve as a society? Why does John believe that governments are the biggest problem to us achieving these objectives? What does John mean when he says, “I am hopeful but not optimistic”? 4.) What does truly great listening mean to John? How would John describe his style of board membership? What do the truly special board members do? What does John do that makes him often cited as one of the best at recruiting? What is John’s biggest investing miss? How did it change his mindset and approach? What investment is John most proud of, that no one knows? ------------------------------------------------------------------- For more 20VC, check out the podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-venture-capital-startup-funding/id958230465 ------------------------------------------------------------------- #JohnDoerr #KleinerPerkins #20VC #VentureCapital #HarryStebbings

John DoerrguestHarry Stebbingshost
Feb 20, 202230mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

VC Legend John Doerr Maps Venture-Backed Plan To Solve Climate

  1. John Doerr discusses his shift from backing iconic tech companies like Google and Amazon to focusing heavily on climate, energy, and pandemic preparedness, explaining both the financial outcomes and hard lessons from early cleantech investing.
  2. He contrasts the 2006–2007 climate investing environment with today’s far more urgent and opportunity-rich landscape, arguing that the climate crisis is both a moral imperative and the greatest economic opportunity of the century.
  3. Doerr outlines his “Speed & Scale” climate action plan, built around six major decarbonization objectives and a detailed OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework with 55 measurable targets to reach net zero by 2050 and halve emissions by 2030.
  4. He emphasizes the critical role of governments, youth movements, corporations, and investors, while also sharing his philosophy on timing, learning from failure, active listening, and how non‑climate VCs can thoughtfully enter climate-related investing.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Early climate investing was hard but ultimately validated.

Kleiner Perkins invested about $1B in ~70 climate companies over several funds; despite many setbacks (e.g., Chinese competition crushing solar panel makers), the portfolio is now worth around $3B and seeded critical learning for today’s ‘Climate 2.0’ wave.

Portfolio construction and asymmetric upside matter more than being right every time.

Doerr underscores Tom Perkins’ maxim that you can only lose 1x your money but can make many times that; a single winner like Enphase (microinverters) offset losses across seven failed solar panel bets.

Being early is preferable to being late, but timing is unpredictable.

Doerr would rather be too early than too late, pointing to Google (the 18th search engine) as proof that late entry can still win if the product is vastly superior and paired with the right business model.

A structured climate plan needs measurable, time-bound OKRs, not just goals.

His Speed & Scale framework defines six major objectives (transport, grid, food, nature, industry, carbon removal) with 55 key results—like EV price parity and green premiums below zero—to track real progress rather than vague ambition.

Government action is the biggest bottleneck to solving climate change.

Doerr is blunt that without governments increasing urgency and ambition, “we’re screwed”; his plan includes making climate a top-two voting issue in the 20 largest emitting countries by 2025 to force policy change.

Doerr’s transition from classic tech venture investing to climate and energyLessons from early climate and pandemic-focused funds (including failures and Enphase win)Market timing, prepared minds, and maintaining intellectual flexibility in ventureThe climate crisis as a massive economic and moral opportunityThe Speed & Scale OKR-based plan to reach net-zero emissionsRole of governments, youth movements, and corporations in driving climate actionHow non-climate specialist VCs can approach climate-related investing

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