Marc Tarpenning

Marc Tarpenning (born June 1, 1964) is an American engineer and entrepreneur. He co-founded Tesla Inc. (then Tesla Motors) with Martin Eberhard in 2003.[1][2][3][4][5] Marc had served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and subsequently the Vice President (of Electrical Engineering) of Tesla until 2008.[3][6][7][8]

Marc Tarpenning
Born (1964-06-01) June 1, 1964
Sacramento, California
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley (BS)
OccupationEntrepreneur, Engineer, Co-founder of Tesla

Early life

Marc Tarpenning was born in Sacramento, California, on June 1, 1964.[7] He later entered University of California, Berkeley and obtained a B.S degree in computer science in 1985.[1]

Career

After graduating from Berkeley, Tarpenning spent several years working for Textron in Saudi Arabia.[1][3][9]

In 1997, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard founded NuvoMedia, a company that built an early e-book, the RocketBook, in 1998.[1] In 2000, Gemstar–TV Guide International acquired NuvoMedia for $187 million.[1][6][7][9]

In 2003, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard collaborated again and founded Tesla Motors (now Tesla Inc.). The two co-founders funded the company until early 2004, when Elon Musk led the company’s $6.5 million Series A financing round in February 2004 and became the Chairman of the Board.[5] Tarpenning continued to serve as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and later the Vice President of Electrical Engineering in Tesla until 2008.[3][8]

After leaving Tesla, Tarpenning began to serve as an adviser or member of advisory board of several companies, including his alma mater (SkyDeck project, UC Berkeley)[1][10] and Spero Ventures, a VC firm.[11]

References
  1. "Co-Founder Marc Tarpenning '85 Shows Off Tesla's "Baby Pictures" | Innovators". innovators.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  2. "A Founder's Night: Hap Klopp & Marc Tarpenning - UC Berkeley Sutardja Center". UC Berkeley Sutardja Center. 2017-03-06. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  3. "The Making Of Tesla: Invention, Betrayal, And The Birth Of The Roadster". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  4. "Tesla Co-Founder Marc Tarpenning Tells Definitive Story Of Company's Beginnings | CleanTechnica". cleantechnica.com. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  5. Kumparak, Greg. "A brief history of Tesla". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  6. "Tesla's original team, where are they now?". Electrek. 2015-05-16. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  7. "Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning | American entrepreneurs". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  8. "Berkeley Innovators Series: Marc Tarpenning, Co-Founder of Tesla Motors". CITRIS Foundry. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  9. "Co-Founder of Tesla, Marc Tarpenning". Internet History Podcast. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  10. "SkyDeck | Advisors". skydeck.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  11. Kolodny, Lora (2019-10-03). "Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning joins Pierre Omidyar's Spero Ventures". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-03-23.
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