John Glynn

Research Statement

John Glynn’s research interest is studying organizations and cultures in early stage technology businesses. This interest is based on his experience as a venture capitalist for 37 years investing in those types of companies. Creating an environment where employees have an identity with the values of the business, a passion about their jobs and responsibilities, and a long-term focus on building a real company requires a culture that is well thought out and developed in a small firm. As companies grow, their cultures evolve, and maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity has been a major part of the success of many companies.

Bio

John Glynn is the founder and General Partner of Glynn Capital Management and Glynn Ventures, a venture capital fund, in Menlo Park, CA. He has been active in the venture business on a national basis since 1970. His firm has committed capital exceeding $300 million from endowments and many prominent individual investors and families who are founders, CEOs, or directors of well-known technology companies or who have been active venture investors themselves.

Glynn Ventures and Glynn Capital Management focus on significant new market opportunities in which substantial businesses can be built over time, and try to invest ahead of major waves of change. Industry focus would include hardware, software, telecommunications, networking, medical devices, biotechnology, and medical service companies. Over the years, Mr. Glynn has been an active venture backer of Agile Software, Alteon, Alza, COR Therapeutics, Cypress Semiconductor, Electronic Arts, Intel, Intergraph, Intuit, The Learning Company, Mentor Graphics, Molecular Devices, Neurex Corporation, Silicon Graphics, Storage Technology Corporation, Sun Microsystems, and 3Com Corporation. He has served as a director of many small private companies over the years. Mr. Glynn also serves as an advisor to New Enterprise Associates, a Baltimore-based venture firm with over $5 billion under management.

Mr. Glynn grew up in Virginia. He holds a BA degree from the University of Notre Dame, a law degree from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He practiced law for four years in San Francisco before entering Stanford. From 1990 through 1998, he taught a course in “Starting New Ventures” at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and since 1999 has offered a course at Stanford entitled “Venture Capital and the Entrepreneurial World.” He has offered both courses as a visiting lecturer at the Darden School at the University of Virginia where he is the Thomas C. MacAvoy Professor of Business Administration. For the past three years he has also taught a class in entrepreneurship at Cambridge University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Glynn is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Arts and Letters College of the University of Notre Dame, the Advisory Board of Cambridge Business School, and is a Trustee of the University of Virginia School of Law. Mr. Glynn is married, has three daughters and a son, and lives in Atherton, CA. He enjoys golf, photography, and fly fishing.

Academic Degrees

• MBA, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, 1970
• LLB, University of Virginia, 1965
• BA, University of Notre Dame, 1962

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 1990
• Visiting Lecturer, Cambridge University, 1999-2004
• Visiting Lecturer, Darden School, University of Virginia, 1990-2004

Professional Experience

• Managing Partner, Glynn Ventures, 1983-present
• Founder, Glynn Capital Management, 1983-present

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

STRAMGT 330: Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Partnership for Growth

This 3 unit course is a case study based course designed for those students interested in entrepreneurship and/or investing. The partnership (and interaction) between the entrepreneur and the investor is a very important dimension in the growth...

2016-17

STRAMGT 330: Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Partnership for Growth

This 3 unit course is a case study based course designed for those students interested in entrepreneurship and/or investing. The partnership (and interaction) between the entrepreneur and the investor is a very important dimension in the growth...