Early Life and Education
Born in Canada to an Austrian father and an American mother, Walter Kortschak spent his childhood in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father worked for DuPont. He initially pursued a career in software engineering, earning a bachelor's degree from Oregon State University and a master's degree from Caltech. He later earned an MBA from UCLA.
Rise to Success
Kortschak's career began in 1982 at a computer graphics startup, which later became MSC Software. In 1985, he became a Venture Fellow at UCLA and interned at Crosspoint Venture Partners. He joined Crosspoint full-time in 1986, starting his journey into venture capital. In 1989, he joined Summit Partners, where he spent 26 years and played a key role in the company's growth. Kortschak was responsible for investing over $1.2 billion in 50 companies, returning over $7.6 billion in value. He was named to the Forbes Midas List from 2007 to 2010.
Key Business Strategies
Kortschak's investment strategy focuses on duration and persistence, and selecting outlier founders. He is known for investing in early-stage technology ventures. He has made investments in companies such as The Trade Desk, Lyft, Palantir, Robinhood, and Twitter.
Philanthropy
Walter and his wife, Marcia, are active philanthropists. They founded the Kortschak Scholars Program for incoming Ph.D. students in computer science at Caltech. They also support the USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity and endowed the Division Chair in Film and Television Production at USC Cinematic Arts.
