
Kleiner Perkins makes major changes - _pius
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/10/11/kleiner-perkins-makes-major-changes/
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tonyplee
Worked for KPCB backed startup RGBNetworks a few years back. Loss all of my
respect for that VC after that. Install their own CEO - most technologically
clueless guy I have ever seen, kicked the 3 founders (extreme smart MIT grad)
out of the board/company, went on a hiring spree for a lot of clueless VP,
directors (friends of CEO) - turn a company with $40 mil / years revenue into
a walking zombie.

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selmnoo
I'm really sad about KPCB and other firms taking the direction they're taking.
It hit me hard to hear John Doerr express his desire to focus a lot of his
energy on firing up Zynga.

I had a lot of respect for KPCB when they were going all out on cleantech, on
stuff that would make a difference. It didn't give them much return, so
they're out of that game now. But on a happy note, Khosla and Gates (who's now
a limited partner to KV) are the new players there. Let's hope they succeed in
some capacity and more follow.

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iambateman
Agreed. It seems like the market has spoken on Zynga, and even 13-year-olds
don't like their games.

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monsterix
I am curious about the implications actually. Wondering how much is the impact
of crowd-funding / public micro-funding on deal quality and deal flow for
these traditional VC firms (Mattermark anything?)? Why are the VCs lowering
their fund size so rapidly? I know it's still early on to even ask this, but a
discussion went on those lines in one of the hallway conversations recently.

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tanzam75
> _Wondering how much is the impact of crowd-funding / public micro-funding on
> deal quality and deal flow for these traditional VC firms (Mattermark
> anything?)? Why are the VCs lowering their fund size so rapidly?_

Crowd-funding is a negligible factor, at least thus far.

Venture capital has simply underperformed the broad stock market. This looks
even worse on a risk-adjusted basis, because riskier assets are _supposed_ to
outperform safer assets.

As a result, pension funds and university endowments have been cutting back
their allocation to venture capital. Less money = smaller VC funds.

The reason VC worked out for Yale was because nobody else knew about VC. When
every other university adopted the Yale model, VC stopped outperforming other
investments.

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peterjancelis
Honestly I was expecting much worse of a restructuring for Kleiner Perkins. It
also would not have surprised me if Doerr would have retired to go into clean
tech politics or some related non-profit.

I'd like to see the pitch they used to still be able to raise this fund.

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bmcd
It's too bad they lost Denniston, I remember listening to him speak at Kleiner
a few years ago as a student and thinking to myself, "this is one the most
well-spoken, intelligent individuals I've ever encountered." Probably true for
most KPCB staff, but a loss nonetheless.

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jacques_chester
> _In related news, longtime Kleiner Perkins partner John Denniston has
> resigned to lead a Bay Area nonprofit called the St. Vincent De Paul
> Society._

Perhaps this was drafted poorly, but it gives the impression that this
organisation is local to the Bay Area only.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul is an international charitable organisation.
In Australia it is sufficiently famous to be known by the diminutive "St
Vinnies".

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brianbreslin
I had never heard of this foundation/charity here in Miami, FL (East coast
USA). So I don't think it is a major organization like the red cross or humane
society in the US. (I may be completely wrong)

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paxswill
They operate thrift shops in some areas of the US. It might be a west-coast
mainly thing, but I think they have some locations on the east coast as well.

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bgilroy26
They have St Vincent de Pauls societies in little towns all over the world.

In the Boston suburb where I grew up,they were 12 parishioners who would
collect money and make direct payments on people's rent, car payments, they
would bring Thanksgiving dinners to those who couldn't afford them, and they
had a clothing drive.

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Jamurai
What do you think are the implications (if any) of this change?

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rch
I'd be curious to know more about Bill Joy and how his role has evolved.

