![]() Losses in a tennis shoe resoling company and a waste treatment company proved the company's expertise lay in high tech. One of these, Advanced Recreation Equipment Corp., was launching a combination snowmobile-motorcycle in time for the Arab oil embargo, which crushed the off-road market. However, eight of the 18 investments were considered losers. ![]() Genentech was an even better investment, with a return of 200 to 1 in two years. The $1.6 million the firm invested in Tandem Computers Inc. It would average a 41.5 percent return over ten years. Kleiner Perkins, as the firm was called, raised $8 million for the first fund. Through Robertson, Perkins met his first partner, Eugene Kleiner, one of the founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, the hugely successful Silicon Valley chipmaker. Perkins called on San Francisco investment banker Sanford R. This deal inspired his career in venture capital. It eventually merged with Spectra-Physics. At the same time, he was starting a small company to build a low-cost laser he designed. He began his career at Hewlett-Packard Co., eventually being picked to lead its new computer division in 1965. Perkins studied engineering at MIT and picked up an MBA at Harvard. An informal version of the Japanese "keiretsu" system encourages resource sharing and deal making among KP-backed companies. The firm's partners assemble management teams and often sit on boards of the companies they sponsor. KPCB's involvement with companies goes further than writing checks. We try to launch successful industries." The firm reckons that the hundreds of companies it has backed-including such household names as Sun Microsystems, Compaq Computer Corp., Lotus, Netscape Communications Corp., America Online Inc., and -have a combined market cap of about $650 billion and have created 250,000 new jobs. Partner John Doerr told the Washington Post in 1990, "We don't just try to launch successful companies. Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers is a leading Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firm. ![]() These relationships are the foundations for strategic alliances, partnership opportunities, and the sharing of insights to help build new ventures faster, broader, and with less risk. Entrepreneurs gain access to our unmatched portfolio of companies and associations with global business leaders. We pioneered the idea 20 years ago of bringing the businesses we work with into an informal network, which we call a Keiretsu. We've long recognized that collective strength and experience are essential to building a business. We know that it takes more than solid financial support to getting a company off the ground. That's why our partners put all of our efforts behind strong entrepreneurs who turn concepts into companies. Along with technology, the greatest assets businesses have are talented people. Our focus is on new technologies and new applications of technology that will drive high-impact change. We're constantly on the look out for ideas with the promise to invent new business categories or radically alter existing ones. For nearly 30 years, we have invested in hundreds of market-defining ventures that have resulted in the creation of over 250,000 new jobs, over $100 billion in new revenue, and over $650 billion in market capitalization. Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers is committed to helping entrepreneurs build sustainable technology businesses.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |