| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Hoffman: We both believe that the key thing is the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur is the person who is massively driving the business. The venture firm's role is to be a really good partner -- not a softie that's asleep in the back seat, but someone who is fundamentally collaborating on the business, asking the hard questions and working with you on solving problems. The expectation is that the relationship will last for the next 20 years, and so you have to be up-front and transparent. When there are conflicts, you have to work through them to provide a basis for a decades-long relationship. When we tackle problems, David will clearly identify where Greylock's interests are and where the startup's are. He puts it on the table and doesn't try to persuade you that Greylock's interest is necessarily the same as the company's. What contributions has Sze made to the companies you're involved in? David is a former product executive from Excite. He brings up really good, incisive thoughts about how the product can be developed. One small example is I remember an early board meeting at LinkedIn, where he said, "Currently, LinkedIn is sending me a number of different e-mails, but I'd rather see them batched together every day or every week." We had the idea of doing a weekly e-mail summary on our to-do list, but his feedback helped us prioritize it. When it comes to that kind of focus on how the product touches the consumer, David is at the top of the game for venture capitalists. Why did you decide to join a firm instead of just continue investing as an angel? There's a whole platform of partnership that I can bring to the deals I'm doing, including smart people, reach, resources, marketing and recruiting. As an angel, I can decide to write a check in five minutes. Now I have to go back to a partnership and make a case about why we should do it. I'm part of a collaborative process, not a solo one. I've always been somewhat collaborative. As an angel, I syndicate to some other angels who are strong players and knowledgeable in a particular space, like Brett Bullington [co-founder of Oodle Inc.] and Joe Kraus [founder of Excite Inc.] as well as some mini VCs, including Mike Maples Jr. [founder of Maples Investments LP], Josh Kopelman [co-founder of First Round Capital] and Jeff Clavier [founder of SoftTechVC]. Now I have a set of partners I really like. Working with these other really smart people helps you raise your game and sharpen your thinking. I believe I have very good taste in the people I work with -- but then of course I would!
CategoriesCommentsPrivate capital video
Categories
Blog roll
Archives
| |||||||||||
David Sze and the others at Greylock Partners, which just closed a 
|
|
|
|
|
Egnyte is the best company Maples Investments has invested in and I think will be the next one to hit it big.