John Walecka

Early-stage investor in chip maker Entropic helped build and ready the company for its eventual IPO. Launched with unfortunate timing in December 2007. The company went public at $7.01 a share, but traded at 50 cents a year later. Today the company prospers at $9.25 a share (current market cap: $790 million). Portfolio company Fortinet went public with better luck in 2009 (current market cap: $3.25 billion). Made an early bet on private solar company Solyndra which registered for and then pulled its IPO, citing choppy market conditions.