Walter Kortschak’s journey from aspiring software engineer to a top venture capital investor is a story of dedication and success. Born in Canada to an Austrian father and an American mother, he spent much of his childhood in Geneva, where his father worked for DuPont. Kortschak pursued degrees in software engineering, earning a bachelor’s from Oregon State and a master’s from Caltech.
After joining a computer graphics startup in 1982, Kortschak shifted his focus and entered the venture capital world. In 1985, he was selected as one of two “Venture Fellows” at UCLA, which led him to intern at Crosspoint Venture Partners. He joined Crosspoint full-time in 1986, despite limited opportunities in the industry at the time.
Kortschak later moved to Summit Partners in 1989. During his two decades there, he made significant contributions. His success earned him a spot on Forbes’ Midas List from 2005 to 2009.
In 2010, Kortschak transitioned to an advisory role at Summit as the firm’s assets grew to $5 billion. He later returned to early-stage investing through Firestreak Ventures and Kortschak Investments. Through these, he backed companies like Lyft, Twitter, and Robinhood, along with AI-focused companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.
He owns homes in Aspen and London, and a nearly 3,000-acre plot on the island of Kauai. He also purchased most of his Hawaii land, where Jurassic Park was filmed. His assets are now worth an estimated $1.6 billion (Rs 13420 crore).
Kortschak’s career reflects a full-circle journey, from early-stage investments to growth equity and back to early-stage, now in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.
