Early Life
David Ross Cheriton was born on March 29, 1951, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He grew up in a family of engineers, which instilled in him an early interest in the technical field. He initially pursued music at the University of Alberta but later shifted his focus to mathematics and computer science. He earned a Bachelor of Arts and Science from the University of British Columbia in 1973.
Rise to Success
Cheriton's journey in computer science continued at the University of Waterloo, where he obtained his Master of Science and Ph.D. in computer science in 1978. His career took off at Stanford University, where he became a professor in 1981. In the mid-1980s, he co-founded Granite Systems, an Ethernet switching company that was later acquired by Cisco for $220 million in 1996. However, his most significant financial success came from being one of the first investors in Google. Cheriton and Andreas von Bechtolsheim each invested $100,000 in Google in its early stages.
Key Business Strategies
Cheriton's strategy included investing in technology companies. He co-founded Kealia, a networking company sold to Sun Microsystems, and Arista Networks, a cloud networking company, and has been involved with at least 20 companies. He is known for focusing on specific problems and identifying market opportunities, which contributed to his success. Cheriton is also known for a frugal lifestyle despite his vast wealth, and he continues to work as a professor at Stanford University.
Philanthropy
David Cheriton is committed to philanthropy, particularly in education. He donated $25 million to the University of Waterloo, resulting in the renaming of its School of Computer Science to the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Additionally, he has made significant contributions to the University of British Columbia and Stanford University to fund scholarships and research programs.
