Steve Kirsch Home Page


	Steve Kirsch stk@propel.com Propel Corporation 1010 Rincon Circle San Jose, CA 95131-1325 Office: (408) 571-6317 Fax: (408) 716-2493 Search my site for: [Help] Example: +"cancer cure" Stanford

Steve Kirsch, 42, was chairman and founder of Infoseek Corporation, a leading Internet navigation service. But Disney acquired Infoseek on November 17, 1999. That meant that Steve was out of a job, looking for work. In other words, he became one of the "unemployed in Silicon Valley."

Failing to find suitable work at reasonable pay, he started Propel.

Prior to Infoseek, Steve founded Frame Technology in 1986 and Mouse Systems in 1982. He has been involved with the Internet since 1972 when he worked with the "father of the Internet" Vint Cerf and others at the first ARPANET node as a systems programmer while attending high school. He has BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Steve and his wife Michele have a $75M charitable fund and have donated over $10M to charitable causes over the past 5 years. Recently, in response to an $11M shortfall at the United Way of Santa Clara County, the Kirsch Foundation donated $1M to establish an Emergency Response Fund at the Community Foundation of Silicon Valley to benefit the charities affected by the shortfall. A recent article in the Los Altos Town Crier described their charitable giving. In 1999, they were named Outstanding Philanthropists of the Year by the Silicon Valley chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. The time Steve doesn't spend at work or with family is usually spent on philanthropy. This leaves little time for sleep, unfortunately.

Political stuff: See my Political Home Page

Recent presentations: CASEE talk on engineering education improvements (October 20, 2004)
High impact philanthropy Family Foundations Conference, Feb 23, 2003; Turning the Tide- The New Philanthropy (American Lung Association: Sep 2002); High impact philanthropy (March 2002); SIGMOD talk: "Internet and Beyond: Database Challenges"; AIHP talk on Entrepreneurial Philanthropy; VentureOne Keynote
The Top 10 ways to tell if you have the makings of a Red Herring Top 10 Entrepreneur; SDF Visionary Award Celebration acceptance speech, June 6, 2000; YPO: Making it and giving it away; NSFRE acceptance speech
MIT TR100 keynote: What happens when Technology meets reality?
San Diego Connect keynote: What they forgot to teach you about business
Why, how, and where of charitable giving
SIGIR Keynote; AEA Innovation Now Conference Keynote; Everything you need to know about the Internet
JHTC talk
Speaking references

Other information: My bio (the short version); Awards and honors: some of which are pretty cool, like being listed on the Forbes Midas List
My favorite products (highly recommended if you are into high tech toys)
My experiences installing a new HP Pavilion d4650y customizable Desktop PC (learn from their mistakes); My Life History on One Page
Funniest emails I've received; Surprising things you should know about medical research, medical care, and more...
Medical page
Charitable activities (my old charity site, largely superceded by my foundation site)
Kirsch Foundation Home Page (the official home page for my charitable foundation)

Charity Articles: Environmental studies grant given, San Jose Mercury News, June 7, 2000
The Good Deed Doers, Inc. Magazine, May 15, 2000
Tech Gurus Who Also Teach Giving, San Francisco Chronicle, June 3, 2000
A new way of giving: Infoseek's Steve Kirsch champions causes: curing cancer, saving the world
Foundation Coming to Rescue of Charities - Emergency fund planned to fill $11 million void
Cyber-rich folks being taught the basics of Philanthropy - Business techniques applied to giving, SF Chronicle, 10/13/1999
Article on MIT $2.5M gift
Group Wants The Rich to Donate More - Study found Silicon Valley's elite were stingy toward charities; "The Rockefellers of Silicon Valley," Christian Science Monitor, Jun 11, 1999, p. 3
"Young, Rich, Now What? Tech millionaires face the rest of their lives," SF Chronicle, Jun 4, 1999
"The new currency of charity," MSNBC
"A New Take on Giving: Meet the philanthropists for the next century: savvy, shrewd and funding causes that produce results," Time Magazine, December 21, 1998