John Mumford

John Mumford, founding partner of Crosspoint Venture Partners, gave $200,000 in August 2011 to the pro-Rick Perry Make Us Great Again Super PAC. That was the same month that Perry entered the presidential race and before a series of missteps that doomed his candidacy, at least this time around. In addition to investments in Ariba, Connectify, and WhereNet, Mumford's other startups included Office Club (which became Office Depot) and food machinery automation companies. "For a number of years, the industry hasn't had any 'brave new world' opportunities in the enterprise space," Mumford said in 2006, according to an article on the Web site of the W.P. Carey School of Business, his alma mater. "The YouTubes, MySpaces, and Facebooks are kind of the new business models that get public attention. This is not something any of us at Crosspoint want to do. So we are winding down our portfolios so we can all retire." Retirement includes maintaining his collection of "approximately 50 street rods, hot rods, and custom cars," including a 1932 three-window coupe and a 1932 Ford. Crosspoint Venture Partners, located in the tony Silicon Valley enclave of Woodside, Calif., is no longer making investments.