Tim Draper is the closest thing to a rockstar at the Banff Venture Forum09

Tim Draper, from Draper Fisher Jurvetson gave the first keynote of the day. He went through the history of Venture Capital. Draper is a very personable  guy, but may do better in the conversation format than a straight presentation. He highlighted how the innovation, the inventions and the excitement all come from the entrepreneur and Venture Capitalists just round out the wheel a little.

A few highlights from Draper's presentation include some hints on how to become big, including solving a problem, starting a revolution, or reducing a companies cost to zero.

Some tips from Tim Draper on being a successful startup are:

• Test local, think global
• Become the best at what you do, make it very narrow and just pound away at it
• Viral marketing, figure out a way to allow your customers to become your sales people
• Be cheap, it is forced in this environment, but keep that culture, what every penny.

...and then...Tim Draper started singing. You can't make this stuff up people, it really happened. He sang an entire song, but here's the chorus:

• He is the riskmaster
• Lives fast, drivers faster
• Skates on the edge of disaster
• He is the riskmaster