The venture capitalist who left Silicon Valley for Romania to build something better

As a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, Don Lothrop would go to bed and think "Here’s the 20 things I need to do tomorrow." Checking things off the list, that’s how days went by. Add to this, travelling back and forth from San Francisco to New York twice a week, being on 14 boards and being part of the US financial elite who made more than 30 million dollars. And still, Don would sometimes get to the end of the day and ask himself: "did I even look a person in the eyes?" He had more money than he could ever spend but he was stressed and agitated. Lothrop was high on the American Dream, but was already exhausted by it. He was by no means alone in this. From outside, Silicon Valley looks like the glorious, high-tech hub, where the best people deliver the best results. And it may be true. But there’s more to that, Don says. Venture capitalists in the Silicon Valley are successful, but they are not happy. Money ruin their kids, and many of them are under some anti-depressive drug. The super rich and the beautiful women are lonely. People glob onto them because they are beautiful or rich, not because they care about them. "They’ll golf with you, ski with you, but you die and you have 30 people at your funeral." Off the rollercoaster was Don Lothrop at 42. In June 2002, he told his colleagues at Delphi Ventures that he would not sign up for the next fund raise. "Guys, I’m not gonna do this anymore." A long-term change began in him. Romania, a country with no absolutely no connection to Don, became part of it.

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