Draper University, also known as Draper University of Heroes, is a private,

for-profit school For-profit education (also known as the education services industry or proprietary education) refers to educational institutions operated by private, profit-seeking businesses. For-profit education is common in many parts of the world, making up m ...

located in San Mateo, California, United States. Founded by

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

Tim Draper Timothy Cook Draper (born June 11, 1958) is an American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ),

in 2012, Draper University partnered with

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

(ASU) in 2013 to offer students 15 course credits for a sixteen-week semester program. Prior to the partnership with ASU, the school was

unaccredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

History

In 2011, venture capitalist Tim Draper purchased the Hotel Benjamin Franklin building in San Mateo, California. Draper University was established in 2012 by Tim Draper, who is also the co-founder of

Draper Fisher Jurvetson Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in enterprise, consumer and disruptive technologies. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. DFJ Growth ...

(DFJ). The school's first session had 40 students. Since then the school has grown to offer Fall, Spring and Summer programs for both students as well as executive education for CEO's and governmental officials. In April 2015, a

reality program Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

called '' Startup U'' featured Draper University's seven-week program in a 10-episode series. The show included Miss USA 2013,

Erin Brady Erin Joyce Brady (born November 5, 1987) is an American television host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 2013. She then represented the US at Miss Universe 2013 in Moscow, Russia, on November 9, where she placed in the Top 10 ...

, who joined the series to help develop and find investors for her company, ''Romeo in a Box''. Draper University formed a partnership with

and Global Silicon Valley in May 2016 to launch an entrepreneurial program combining Draper's innovations in education with ASU's curriculum and large student body. Dubbed the ASU Draper GSV Accelerator, the program includes the Draper University entrepreneurial boot camp with a network of scholars. Six scholarships were given to ASU students to attend the program in 2015. Since then, Draper University has launched a new partnership, teaming up with ASU to offer 15 college credits and a certificate of entrepreneurship for the Fall 2017 program.

Program

The Draper University runs a five to seven-week program with four sessions each year, but will begin its sixteen-week semester long program in Fall 2017. The program is primarily aimed at students aged 18 to 28, and has 500 alumni. In addition to the program, Draper includes a co-working

business incubator Business incubator is an organization that helps startup companies and individual entrepreneurs to develop their businesses by providing a fullscale range of services starting with management training and office space and ending with venture ca ...

space called Hero City, VCx, a one-week program teaching early stage investment, and a one-week program aimed at executives adding innovation to corporations. Draper also offers online courses.

Demographics

Draper's spring 2016 class was 45% female. The school previously offered scholarships for women including the Meera Kaul Foundation,

Women Who Code Women Who Code (WWCode) is an international non-profit organization that provides services for women pursuing technology careers and a job board for companies seeking coding professionals. The company aims to provide an avenue into the technolo ...

, and SoGal. 45 percent of students are international. Unlike a traditional faculty, Draper has guest lecturers under a variety of themes.

Pre-history of the Hotel Benjamin Franklin

In 2011, Tim Draper purchased the Hotel Benjamin Franklin building, which had first opened in San Mateo on June 28, 1927. The Benjamin Franklin (named not for the American statesman but as a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsAlvinza Hayward Alvinza Hayward (1821 – February 14, 1904) was an American mine-owner, capitalist, businessman, and financier. He was a well-known gold mining millionaire who made his fortune in during the California Gold Rush. He lived in the San Francisco Bay ...

's mansion but had burned in 1920. The building was designed by local architect

W. H. Weeks William Henry Weeks (1864–1936) was an early 20th-century architect who designed hundreds of buildings including many schools, banks, and libraries. He was best known for the monumental neoclassical style of his public buildings, although he ...

. It is nine stories high, exceeding at the flagpole.

Churrigueresque Churrigueresque (; Spanish: ''Churrigueresco''), also but less commonly "Ultra Baroque", refers to a Spanish Baroque style of elaborate sculptural architectural ornament which emerged as a manner of stucco decoration in Spain in the late 17th c ...

decorative details can be seen around windows on the second, eighth, and ninth floors. Notable guests at the Benjamin Franklin have included

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel (born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was one half of the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Ha ...

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...

Friend Richardson Friend William Richardson (born William Richardson; December 1, 1865September 6, 1943) was an American newspaper publisher and politician, most famous for supporting a 1923 gun control bill aimed at Chinese and Latinos. A member of the Progressiv ...

, and

Masanori Murakami Masanori "Mashi" Murakami (村上雅則, ''Murakami Masanori'', born May 6, 1944) is a retired Japanese baseball player. He is notable for being the first Japanese player to play for a Major League Baseball team. Sent over to the United States ...

. The Benjamin Franklin had a longstanding relationship to provide temporary housing for

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

employees, which began in 1946 and lasted until 2003, when the airline filed for bankruptcy. In 1955, the hotel was purchased by the Max Best family, which ran it until it was sold to

Westin Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wester ...

in 1985. Westin in turn sold it to The Empire Group in 1989. The building was largely vacant aside from a ground-level bar and restaurant after United moved out, and was part of a larger property transfer from the

Lembi Group CitiApartments was one of the largest real estate companies in San Francisco, California, which at its peak owned and managed more than 300 buildings directly and through a number of affiliates. In recent years the companies suffered a financial ...

UBS AG UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

in 2009 after Lembi fell behind on loan payments. Draper purchased the building in 2011 with the intent to redevelop it. Nearly a year later, Draper revealed plans to reopen Draper University as a boarding school. Draper had also acquired a two-story property across the street, intending to use it as classroom space.

Notable alumni

Draper University alumni include: * Abhyudoy Das * Patrick Dai * Carly Martinetti * Surbhi Sarna

References

External links

* * * * {{authority control Universities and colleges in San Mateo County, California San Mateo, California Draper family Private universities and colleges in California 2012 establishments in California