First, a note on a notable passing: Silicon Valley lost one of its formative leaders on November 20, Eugene Kleiner. Scientist, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist, Kleiner co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor in 1957 with future Intel founders Robert Noyce and George Moore, among others. Kleiner helped change the valley from walnut and peach orchards into the technology forest it is today.

He was an early investor in Intel and in 1972 started the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers with a focus on high-tech start-ups. Since then, Kleiner Perkins has seeded around 300 companies, including Sun Microsystems, Genentech, Compaq and Amazon.com. This at a time when fees and IPOs were flowing like wine.