Kleiner Perkins partner Ray Lane: what it takes to get funded


Lessons learned from investor by John Shinal
September 13, 2007 | last edited July 10, 2008 | Comments (1)
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/4d

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With early investments in dozens of public technology companies including Google, Juniper Networks, Amazon.com  and Sun Microsystems, Kleiner, Perkins Caufield and Byers has earned a place among the most savvy and successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. In this clip, Kleiner partner and former Oracle chief executive Ray Lane explains what the firm looks for when evaluating a deal, using the example of Xsigo Systems, a virtualization startup and Kleiner investment. Part of the reason Xsigo got funded was that Kleiner had confidence that the founding executive team could get their product to market first, Lane says, because Xsigo CEO Ashok Krishnamurthi and President Steven Haley had proven themselves at Juniper. Apart from a proven team, Kleiner also wants to see a company addressing a very big market. "Every time we invest, we expect it to be a billion-dollar outcome," Lane says. "We want to change the world every time we invest." Even though it doesn't always work out that way, the firm sets the bar high. Any entrepreneurs who want to pitch Kleiner should do the same.

1 comment

Matthias Schwarz
Matthias Schwarz, on September 17, 2007
Ray Lane is arguably one of the VC superstars, so his comments naturally focus on a lofty segment of the start-up world that 99% of aspiring entrepreneurs will hardly ever touch. However, his thoughts can be "scaled down" and applied in principle to small start-ups as well: As great as your ideas may be, it is the people that must impress the investors, it is the breath-taking size of the opportunity you present that must convince the VC of your venture's viability, and it is the time-to-market that plays perhaps the greatest role in your success. Being an innovator is in part being a dreamer, having a vision, and acting with the child-like innocence that everything is possible and believing it.

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