Arthur Rock

Arthur Rock, HBS 1951, was one of America’s first venture capitalists. He played a key role in launching Fairchild Semiconductor, Teledyne, Intel, Apple, and many other high- tech companies. He was a visionary who saw very early on the future of the computer industry and, in many ways, was a driving force in the emergence of Silicon Valley as a center of innovation and entrepreneurship. Following an early career on Wall Street in investment banking, Arthur started his first venture capital partnership with Tommy Davis (who was at that time a vice president of Kern County Land Company) ten years after graduating from HBS. Between 1961 and 1968, Davis & Rock invested $3 million and returned $100 million to their investors. American venture capitalist of Silicon Valley, California raising money for high tech companies such as Intel, Apple, Scientific Data Systems and Telydyne. Convinced the wealthy industrialist Sherman Fairchild to start Fairchild Semiconductor.