Mitch Kapor

Mitch Kapor
Kapor, Mitchell David
Born	November 1, 1950 Brooklyn, New York
Occupation	Founder

Career

Mitchell David Kapor is an American entrepreneur, software designer, and technology activist best known as the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the original author of Lotus 1-2-3, one of the most influential software applications of the early personal computing era. Kapor played a key role in shaping the early software industry through both his technical innovations and his later philanthropic and policy efforts aimed at ensuring technology serves a broader public interest.

Early Life and Education

Kapor was born in Brooklyn, New York, and earned a degree in psychology from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1971. He initially pursued interests outside of technology, including a stint as a Transcendental Meditation teacher and work in human potential organizations. However, by the late 1970s, he became fascinated with microcomputers and programming, eventually shifting his career toward personal computing.

Early Career and VisiCorp

In 1980, Kapor joined Personal Software, the company behind VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program for the Apple II. The company later changed its name to VisiCorp. There, Kapor developed VisiPlot and VisiTrend, early charting and statistical tools for business users. These programs were among the first examples of business graphics software and were sold as part of the VisiSuite product line.

Kapor's work at VisiCorp gave him insight into the needs of business users and the limitations of existing tools. He left the company in 1982, frustrated by management dynamics and product development constraints. That same year, he began working on what would become his most famous creation: Lotus 1-2-3.

Lotus Development Corporation and 1-2-3

In 1982, Kapor founded Lotus Development Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with backing from venture capitalist Ben Rosen and support from programmer Jonathan Sachs. Their flagship product, Lotus 1-2-3, was released in January 1983 for the IBM PC.

Lotus 1-2-3 integrated spreadsheet, charting, and rudimentary database features into a single fast and efficient program, leveraging the capabilities of the IBM PC’s hardware, including expanded memory and display. It quickly became the killer app for the IBM PC, displacing VisiCalc and establishing Lotus as a dominant force in business software. The program’s success helped legitimize the IBM PC as a business platform and drove explosive sales for both Lotus and IBM.

Kapor served as Lotus's CEO until 1986. Under his leadership, Lotus grew rapidly, went public, and became one of the most successful software companies of the 1980s. Lotus also published other notable applications, including Lotus Symphony and Jazz, though none matched the impact of 1-2-3.

Post-Lotus Ventures and Advocacy

After stepping away from Lotus in 1986, Kapor became increasingly involved in technology policy, digital rights, and startup investing:

In 1990, he co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) with John Perry Barlow to promote civil liberties and privacy rights in the emerging digital world. Kapor served as the organization’s first chairman and provided key financial support.
Kapor was an early investor and board member in several major internet and open-source initiatives, including the Mozilla Foundation, which developed the Firefox web browser.
In the 2000s, Kapor and his wife, Freada Kapor Klein, founded Kapor Capital, a venture firm focused on socially impactful technology startups. They also established the Kapor Center in Oakland, California, to advance diversity and equity in the tech industry.
He also founded the Open Source Applications Foundation, where he led development of Chandler, a personal information manager intended to offer an open-source alternative to Microsoft Outlook.

Legacy

Mitch Kapor’s legacy is twofold: he is a pioneering software designer whose work helped define the business software market, and he is a prominent voice for technology as a tool for equity and justice. His early technical contributions— especially Lotus 1-2-3— are foundational to the history of personal computing, while his later work continues to influence how the tech industry thinks about inclusion, responsibility, and access.