Stories
Stories
Charles P. Waite (MBA 1959)
Charles P. Waite (MBA 1959)
Two institutions completely changed the life of Charles P. Waite, says Patti Waite Bishop about her late father, a venture capital pioneer and founding partner at Greylock Management: the US Army and Harvard Business School. “He credited the army with giving him the discipline and focus and HBS with opening up the world of business to him.”
Thankful for the opportunities both experiences offered him, Waite continued to serve in the US Army Reserve for 20 years after completing three years of active duty, and was a dedicated HBS volunteer and donor. In addition to giving annually to the HBS Fund, in honor of his 50th Reunion, Waite decided to leave a lasting legacy at the School by including it in his will. HBS recognized his commitment by welcoming him into the John C. Whitehead Society.
“My father believed so fervently in the importance of education. Neither he nor his family could have afforded for him to go to the University of Connecticut and HBS without the GI Bill,” explains Bishop. “With his gift, he wanted to help keep HBS accessible for future Charlie Waites to attend and also wanted to express his appreciation for what Harvard did for him. The School and the army were central to his whole success story.”
Waite also credited his career achievements to his association with legendary HBS professor and the founder of venture capital, General Georges Doriot (MBA 1922), for whom Waite served as a teaching assistant after graduation. He subsequently joined Doriot’s venture capital firm American Research and Development Corporation (ARD), where he worked for seven years before forming Greylock in 1965 with fellow HBS alumni and ARD colleagues William Elfers (MBA 1943) and Daniel Gregory (MBA 1957). The founding partners, with general partners Howard E. Cox Jr. (MBA 1969) and Henry F. McCance (MBA 1966), were honored in 2003 with an HBS Alumni Achievement Award in recognition of Greylock’s role in helping to build more than 250 companies and nurturing numerous leading-edge products in a wide range of areas, including information technology, health care, telecommunications, and software.
“When they founded the company, venture capital wasn’t a familiar term,” says daughter Bishop. “My father felt like he was an entrepreneur. That was how he explained their approach to us—being part of the investment. It was hugely important to my father, who felt responsibility for these companies, for shepherding them through both the good times and the bad.”
Waite explained this innovative model of partnership in the book Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories edited by Udayan Gupta, excerpts of which are included in this 2001 Working Knowledge article. “Doriot’s thesis was that if you took a team of people with business experience and a willingness to expend time and effort as well as money, and mixed them with an entrepreneur they could invest in, it would be greater than just the entrepreneur raising money from his uncle Fred,” noted Waite. At Greylock, he added, the primary focus was on helping these companies to succeed, not just on making money. Waite remained a general partner at Greylock until his retirement in 1995, served as president in the 1980s, and as a limited partner and partner emeritus until his death in 2019.
“I tell my kids about their grandpa and I say, you can’t imagine how hard he worked for everything he had,” says Bishop. In creating value for his clients, Waite also created a better life for his greatest legacy, his family of four children, including Catherine, Patti, David, and Charles P. Waite Jr. (MBA 1983), who followed in his father’s footsteps to HBS and into venture capital; 11 grandchildren; and two great grandchildren.
Learn how you too can give back by including HBS in your will or estate plan.
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