The character arc of David Friedberg
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 6 June 1980. Between then and now sit a transfer to Berkeley and an astrophysics degree in 2001, Google in March 2004, WeatherBill founded in 2006, Metromile in 2011, the renaming to The Climate Corporation in 2011, a lecture at Stanford on 5 October 2011, the Monsanto acquisition in October 2013, an advisory role in 2016, the Ohalo Genetics venture in 2019, a 300 million dollar raise in July 2021 and a return to running a company in November 2023. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is David Friedberg?
He sold insurance against rain.
After a year in upstate New York he transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where he worked part time on mathematical modelling at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and took a bachelor's degree in astrophysics in 2001. He spent several years in investment banking and private equity, and joined Google in March 2004 as one of the first thousand employees and a founding member of its corporate development group.
In 2006, while still working at Google as a business product manager, he founded his first company, WeatherBill, to create and sell custom weather insurance online. It is a strange product until you think about who needs it: a farmer whose year depends on rain that may or may not arrive. In 2011 he renamed it The Climate Corporation, and on 5 October 2011 he gave a lecture at Stanford titled Entrepreneurship Gives Life Meaning.
In October 2013 Monsanto announced it was acquiring The Climate Corporation for about 1.1 billion dollars, the first billion dollar transaction in agricultural technology. He joined Monsanto's executive team and moved to an advisory role in 2016. He had founded the car insurance company Metromile in 2011 and chaired it in its early years, and bought the Canadian quinoa supplier NorQuin in 2014. In 2016 he began speaking with Larry Page about financing companies working on food, agriculture and life sciences, which became The Production Board; it raised 300 million dollars in July 2021. Ohalo Genetics, a plant breeding company it incubated in 2019, made him its full time chief executive in November 2023.
The moments
David Friedberg's timeline.
The 2000s
Astrophysics at Berkeley
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Astrophysics, and a part time job building mathematical models.
One of the first thousand
Milestone, and it changed everything. Employee number something under a thousand, at Google.
Build it while still employed
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: start the company anyway, taken, or stay at Google. The company was renamed The Climate Corporation in 2011 and acquired by Monsanto in October 2013 for about 1.1 billion dollars.
WeatherBill
Milestone, and it changed everything. Insurance against the weather, built in the evenings.
The 2010s
It becomes Climate Corporation
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A new name, and a second insurance company in the same year.
The Stanford lecture
Milestone. A title he chose, which tells you what he thinks the work is for.
Monsanto buys it
Milestone, and it changed everything. The first billion dollar deal that industry had ever had.
He bought a quinoa supplier
Milestone. Quinoa, which is about as far from software as a business gets.
A conversation with Larry Page
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Out of the acquired company, and into the next question.
Ohalo Genetics begins
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Breeding plants, which is the oldest technology there is.
The 2020s
Three hundred million raised
Milestone, and it changed everything. Three hundred million dollars, for food and agriculture.
Back to running one
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Back out of the investor's chair and into an operator's.
A hundred million for seeds
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A hundred million dollars, and a programme in potatoes.
The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is a habit rather than a company: he keeps finding the unglamorous problem underneath a glamorous one, and then works on that instead.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His went from astrophysics to insurance to seeds, and each step used the last one. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
David Friedberg: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is David Friedberg's character arc?
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What does David Friedberg do now?
What is David Friedberg's Production Board?
Where did David Friedberg study?
Why did David Friedberg buy a quinoa company?
Where does this timeline of David Friedberg's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- David Friedberg, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Monsanto announcement of the acquisition of The Climate Corporation, October 2013.
- University of California, Berkeley degree record, 2001.