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June 4, 2005
Ray Lane & the Doerr Effect
Ray Lane makes some good points about venture investing and the evolution of the enterprise software category in this BusinessWeek interview, but I think the following comment was the most useful one in understanding the venture business itself:
Q: You mention ego, and I imagine there's a good deal of that being a partner at Kleiner Perkins, too. Would you have joined any other venture firm?Why is this most telling? Because it is a reminder that venture investing remains a people business driven by personalities. It wasn't just that Lane -- who could have gone anywhere in the venture world -- wanted to go to Kleiner, but that he wanted to work with the Energizer bunny of the venture business, John Doerr.A: No.
Q: Why not?
A: John [Doerr], it's really John. If John weren't here, I'd seriously think about something else to do...
So, is Ray Lane right to put so much stock in "apprenticing" under Doerr? I think he can learn a lot about the man's unique approach to venture investing, one built around an inability to accept No for answer combined with being a one-man LinkedIn. And it is very good stuff to learn, an approach that demonstrably works -- but it works for Doerr. The venture business is sufficiently idiosyncratic that it is doubtful if the same approach will work for Lane, or anyone else for that matter.
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