From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 7)

Keith Krach: We followed the same path. At Ariba, we focused initially on the buyers. At DocuSign, we focused on the businesses or the consumers. On the DocuSign Global Trust Network, about 400 million consumers are putting on two million documents a day and well in excess of 430,000 companies have standardized. We ran the

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From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: You left in 2003. Did you hand the reins over to somebody else? Keith Krach: Yes. Sramana Mitra: That was not the point when SAP acquired Ariba right? Keith Krach: Yes, 15 years ago. Sramana Mitra: Why did you let go of the CEO job?

From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: You were basically selling license software at this point right? Keith Krach: Yes, we were selling license software. We said, “If we’re ever going to do this again, we’re going to pull as much expense as we can and push as much revenue out as we can. When it came to recognized revenue,

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From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 4)

Keith Krach: Benchmark fund number one ended up being the best-performing fund in history. We started it. We were going to an offsite. I said, “Paul, can you do a prototype?” He said, “I can’t do a prototype until we talk to a customer first.” I said, “How many do you think we should talk

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From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: You started navigating the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley? Keith Krach: Yes, that was my introduction. We had five venture capitalists. It got to a point where we were running out of money. Sramana Mitra: Who were these people? This is 1989. This is a very immature industry from a venture capital

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From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What years are we talking? Keith Krach: We’re talking 1981 to 1987. Sramana Mitra: You were at GM until ’87 or longer? Keith Krach: Until ’87. I was Vice President at General Motors and was running a division. It was time to move on. They keep you moving when you’re high potential. I

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From Zero to a Market Cap Bigger than General Motors: Keith Krach, Founder of Ariba (Part 1)

Ariba was the first B2B internet company in history. In this interview, we go back through one of the iconic ventures that shaped Silicon Valley, paving the way for much that came later. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in

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