Marc Tarpenning


Marc Tarpenning is an American engineer and entrepreneur. He co-founded Tesla Inc. with Martin Eberhard in 2003. Marc had served as the Chief Financial Officer and subsequently the Vice President of Tesla until 2008.

Early life

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

Career

After graduating from Berkeley, Tarpenning spent several years working for Textron in Saudi Arabia.
In 1997, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard founded NuvoMedia, a company that built an early e-book, the RocketBook, in 1998. In 2000, Gemstar–TV Guide International acquired NuvoMedia for $187 million.
In 2003, Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard collaborated again and founded Tesla Motors. 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. Tarpenning continued to serve as the Chief Financial Officer and later the Vice President of Electrical Engineering in Tesla until 2008.
After leaving Tesla, Tarpenning began to serve as an adviser or member of advisory board of several companies, including his alma mater and , a VC firm.