Getting To Plan B: Randy Komisar, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins (Part 2)

SM: Let’s get your basic concepts together. I saw four key concepts in your book; the concepts of analog, antilog, dashboard, and leaps of faith. RK: The way I think about the entrepreneurial or innovation process is from a “what’s the problem I am trying to solve” standpoint. In my business, I look for the

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Getting To Plan B: Randy Komisar, General Partner, Kleiner Perkins (Part 1)

Randy Komisar is a co-founder of Claris Corporation, served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and acted as a “virtual CEO” for such companies as WebTV and GlobalGiving. Prior to that, he served as CFO of GO Corporation and senior counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law. Randy holds

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Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 7)

SM: What is going on in the market that justifies Enquisite coming into it today? MH: At the highest level, you have people switching off newspapers and magazines. Everyone is under a lot of pressure to deliver revenue. A lot of things are shifting to electronic commerce world and electronic advertising.

Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 6)

SM: What kind of revenue ramp did you see in Commerce One? MH: We were doing about $200 million a quarter during our last big quarter. That was really from software sales, and a minimal amount from transaction revenues.

Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 5)

SM: What is the story of Commerce One? How did you get involved there? MH: In 1995 I became the chairman of Sybase. It was a tough time in the market for database people and there were disagreements with the board.

Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 4)

SM: What year did you take Sybase public? MH: That happened in 1991. I stayed there until 1995. SM: What was your experience like after Sybase became an established leader? MH: We grew it to 5,000 people. We had operations all over the world and I learned that companies go through phases.

Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 3)

SM: In 1984 when you started Sybase with Bob Epstein, what was the funding environment? That was not in the heyday of venture capital. MH: Most of the venture capital was going into hardware companies. Very few software companies were being funded.

Mark Hoffman’s Fourth Run: Enquisite (Part 2)

SM: Where did you end up working? MH: I took a position with AMDAL and went through their MBA rotational training program in 1979. I worked for them for a couple of years, and learned a lot. It was a mainframe company and was dealing with some of the most complex technologies for the time,

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