5 questions for Dixon Doll

0 Comments | USA TODAY, June, 2008 | by Edward Iwata

Dixon Doll, new chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and co-founder of the DCM venture-capital firm in Silicon Valley. He has seen his industry grow rapidly over four decades. Now he's guiding the trade group into a new era of globalization and through a possible recession.

Q: What was the tech and venture industry like decades ago?

A: When I got out of the University of Michigan with a doctorate (in electrical engineering) in 1969, nobody was paying much attention to communications. There was no wireless then, the Internet didn't exist and I was beginning to follow (pre-Internet) research work by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency).

I did a lot of work at IBM, which had brilliant technology people, the best in the...