Bill Maris

William J. Maris is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist focused on technology and the life sciences. He is the founder and first CEO of Google Ventures (GV).[1][2] He is the creator of Google's Calico project, a company focused on the genetic basis of aging.[3] He is the founder of early web hosting pioneer Burlee.com, now part of Web.com, and the founder of Section 32, a California-based venture fund focused on frontier technology.[4][5][6]

Bill Maris
Bill Maris 2016
Born
William J. Maris
Alma materMiddlebury College
Known forFounder, Section 32
Founder, Google Ventures (GV)
VP of Special Projects at Google
Founder Burlee.com (now part of Web.com)

Education and early career

Maris graduated with highest honors with a degree in neuroscience from Middlebury College.

Maris' background includes research at the Duke University Medical Center Department of Neurobiology. He has a degree in neuroscience from Middlebury College.[7] Maris began his career as a biotechnology and healthcare portfolio manager for Swedish investment firm Investor AB. In 1997, Maris founded one of the first Web hosting companies, Burlee.com, and built the company's original computing, network and technological infrastructure after teaching himself to code from books purchased at the local Barnes & Noble. Burlee was subsequently acquired by Interland, Inc. and renamed Web.com.[8] Burlee.com was merged with Interland in 2002. Maris remained with the company until 2003. Interland subsequently changed its name to Web.com.[9]

Maris was a portfolio manager at Investor AB in 1997. It was on a business trip to Investor's headquarters in Stockholm where Maris was inspired to found Burlee.com after seeing a rack of servers in a closet which housed the company's email and web site.

Career

In the mid 2000s, Maris partnered with entrepreneur David Green to transfer a novel hydrophobic acrylic lens to Aurolab to cure cataract blindness in the developing world, where it has been used in more than 30 million patients.[10]

Maris founded GV, formerly Google Ventures, in 2008 as the venture capital investment arm of Google Inc. He was responsible for the fund's strategy and management, and oversaw $3.0 billion in investments in technology and the life sciences.[11] Bill was also Google’s Vice President of Special Projects and head of Google for Startups[12][13] and led Google’s global startup and private company investment activities, including building a team of 70+ across 13 global offices, 8 countries and 9 different venture funds.

While at GV, Bill managed $2.5B and made 400+ investments in companies including Nest, Uber, Flatiron Health, Robinhood, Cloudera, Carbon 3D, Slack, Duo, The Climate Corporation, Impossible Foods, Aurora, Jet, and 23andme. His investments resulted in more than 20 IPO’s, 100+ mergers and acquisitions, and includes more than 40 companies whose valuations have exceeded $1B.[14][15][16][17][18]

Maris was one of the first to cite the troubles with Theranos, the troubled Silicon Valley blood testing company.

Maris founded Calico, a multibillion-dollar company whose mission is to understand and influence the genetic basis of aging. Google funded the company after Maris pitched the board of directors.[19][20][21]

In a 2015 interview, Maris stated that health care breakthroughs can significantly improve the quality and duration of human lifespan across the globe, and that he is looking to invest in promising biotechnology companies.[22]

Bill was also Google’s Vice President of Special Projects, which included extensive work with at the earliest stages of Google X, Verily, Waymo and other projects.

Maris left Google Ventures on August 12, 2016, declaring "mission accomplished." [23]

In 2017, Maris founded Section 32, a California-based venture fund with approximately $400 million under management.[24]

Personal life

In 2014, Maris married singer/songwriter Tristan Prettyman at Kruger National Park in South Africa. Their son Kylo Evergreen Maris was born on August 26, 2015.[25] He filed divorce from Prettyman on April 20, 2018.[26]

References
  1. "Bill Maris". gv.com. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  2. "Google Ventures and the Search for Immortality". Bloomberg.com. 2015-03-09. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  3. "The brains behind Calico? Bill Maris of Google Ventures". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  4. Primack, Dan (2017-03-14). "Google Ventures founder Bill Maris is back. Again". Axios. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  5. "On again, ex-Google superstar Bill Maris is said to bankroll a $100M biotech fund". endpts.com. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  6. "Google Ventures founder Bill Maris: 'I'm leaving because everything is great.'". Recode. 2016-08-10. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  7. The Disruptive Ideas of Google Ventures - Charlie Rose with Bill Maris and Kevin Rose, October 2012 (broadcast)
  8. "The Education of Bill Maris: How One Entrepreneur's History Shaped Google Ventures | Xconomy". Xconomy. 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  9. "Interland Completes Acquisition of Web.com Assets: Assets Include Web.com Domain, Web Hosting Accounts, Registrar Business; Interland Announces Plans to Change Name to Web.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:WEB)". ir.web.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  10. "David Green | Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship". www.schwabfound.org. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  11. Google Ventures Stresses Science of Deal, Not Art of the Deal - New York Times, June 2013
  12. https://startup.google.com
  13. https://www.campus.co
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-13. Retrieved 2016-03-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-02-22.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/business/dealbook/after-leaving-google-bill-maris-is-set-to-open-new-fund.html
  17. https://xconomy.com/san-diego/2017/08/31/bill-maris-takes-stage-for-2nd-act-says-new-fund-mostly-committed/
  18. https://fortune.com/2016/08/10/bill-maris-google-ventures/
  19. "New details on Google's anti-aging startup". Fortune. 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  20. Popper, Ben (2013-09-19). "Understanding Calico: Larry Page, Google Ventures, and the quest for immortality". The Verge. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  21. "I'm excited to announce Calico, a new company that will focus on health and…". plus.google.com. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  22. Brooker, Katrina (8 March 2015). "Google Ventures and the Search for Immortality". Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  23. Bergen, Mark (2016-08-11). "Google Ventures founder Bill Maris: 'I'm leaving because everything is great.'". Recode. Retrieved 2016-10-23.
  24. Loizos, Connie. "Bill Maris has closed his new fund with $150 million, to accommodate "strong" investor interest". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  25. Tristan Prettyman - Instagram
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