Paul Wythes wins venture capital award Paul Wythes wins venture capital award (May 28, 2003)

Paul Wythes, an Atherton resident and the founding partner of Sutter Hill Ventures, recently received a lifetime achievement award from the National Venture Capital Association.

Mr. Wythes pioneered many of the principles used in early-stage venture capital, including business plan development, recruiting management, and shepherding companies through mergers or initial public offerings of stock, said Bill Younger, a managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto.

"While these are standard today, Paul was one of the first to do it," he said.

Mr. Wythes founded Sutter Hill in 1964, and partnered with venture capitalist Bill Draper, another Atherton resident, in 1965, to fund a number of companies.

He has served on the boards of 27 companies, was a founding director of the National Venture Capital Association, and was president of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists.

He is an overseer of the Hoover Institution, director of the T. Rowe Price Mutual Fund Complex in Baltimore, a board member of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and a trustee and vice chairman of the executive committee of Princeton University.