Need to reach me? david [at] ulevitch [dot] com

How I spend my time today

Andreessen Horowitz

I am a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital firm I wish I had when I was an entrepreneur. I focus on helping great entrepreneurs build iconic companies. My primary area of interest is enterprise software, applications, SaaS, and security / defense.

The Tony Hawk Foundation

The Tony Hawk Foundation seeks to foster lasting improvements in society, with an emphasis on supporting and empowering youth in disadvantaged communities. Since 2002, the foundation has provided more than 500 grants and community support to enable the creation of public skateboard parks that promote healthy, active lifestyles and positive after-school activities.

How I used to spend my time

Cisco

Cisco runs one of the (if not the) largest security businesses in the world. I led the overall security business as the General Manager and Senior Vice President where I helped the 1000s of people in the business realize our full potential and focus on enabling our partners and customers to connect with confidence. It was a tremendous experience with an incredible team and wonderful customers and partners.

OpenDNS

A startup in San Francisco that makes the Internet a safer and faster neighborhood. OpenDNS was acquired by Cisco in 2015, and today our flagship product, Umbrella, provides world-class security to more than 65 million users and more than 10,000 companies under the Cisco Umbrella flag. Started in 2005, we became the largest in the world at what we do. I was Founder / CEO / Janitor. We were backed by Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Cisco, and other great investors. I was privileged to work with an amazing team of passionate technologists on some really great stuff with a great outcome. We’re nearly all still working on this mission at Cisco, come work with us!

EveryDNS.Net

(For a long time, it was) The world’s largest free DNS provider. I started it in 2001 and sold it at the very end of 2009 to my good friends at Dyn, Inc.

California Community Colocation Project

A non-profit that I helped start with my collaborator David Weekly. We provide free, unencumbered Internet services to non-commercial entities (currently numbering around 140). Update 2/2007: After years and years of great service we have shut it down.

Washington University in St. Louis

I went to college here. I was an Anthropology major. College was good to me and I was good to my college.

Parting comments

Success requires sacrifice — there’s no satisfaction without first knowing pain.

You don't just get to win. It's special. Companies don't just get to win. It ain't like that. It's special. You've got to have a fire in your belly that tells you, "I want to to win in the worst way." This kind of thing is not un-emotional. It is very emotional.
(My words paraphrasing the amazing TPHS football coach, Ed Burke)

Adult Principles

By John Perry Barlow

  1. Be patient. No matter what.
  2. Don't badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn't say to him.
  3. Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
  4. Expand your sense of the possible.
  5. Don't trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
  6. Don't ask more of others than you can deliver yourself.
  7. Tolerate ambiguity.
  8. Laugh at yourself frequently.
  9. Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
  10. Try not to forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
  11. Give up blood sports.
  12. Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don't risk it frivolously.
  13. Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
  14. Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
  15. Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
  16. Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
  17. Praise at least as often as you disparage.
  18. Admit your errors freely and quickly.
  19. Become less suspicious of joy.
  20. Understand humility.
  21. Remember that love forgives everything.
  22. Foster dignity.
  23. Live memorably.
  24. Love yourself.
  25. Endure.