KLEINER PERKINS KICKING ASS AGAIN
Sequoia Capital too... Moritz Must Be Loving It

As Google prepares to go public, two of Silicon Valley's most storied and successful firms stand to reap incredible returns again... after the bust times. Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia each invested $12.5 million into Google back in 1999. I forgot the stake they each hold, but I believe it's about 20% so they stand to gain hundreds of millions if not a billion dollars from their early investment into Google.

Good article on Mike Mortiz in a recent Fortune issue (subscription required), which I pasted below. Totally reflects what I remember from a Garage.com Startup Bootcamp I attended back in 1999. It was a seminar with a panel of four venture capitalists talking about what they look for in early-stage companies. Moritz in a smug manner proclaimed,"Sequoia's investments have created approximately a third of the value on NASDAQ today... We only invest in companies with five letters, such as Cisco, Apple, Yahoo..."

I remember a few people moaning and the other VCs on the panel rolling their eyes. After the seminar was done, Guy Kawasaki came out laughing and said a few words about Moritz and joked about how well liked he was by the other panelists. I always wondered how serious Moritz was with his words and how seriously he takes himself. Either way, he does kick ass. He definitely is at or near the level of VCs like John Doerr now.

From Googles to Giggles, KP Closes Fund

Private Equity Week
Lawrence Aragon
May 10, 2004

As it prepares for a windfall from the highly anticipated public offering of Google Inc., Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has bulked up for future deals that it can only hope will be as successful.

As anticipated, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm held a final close in the last week of April on $400 million for its 11th fund, says John Denniston, the firm's chief operating officer. That total amount includes a side fund, according to a source close to the firm. (full article)


Google's Banker
As money pours into venture capital, some of the biggest in the industry are starting to worry. Just ask Google's banker.

Fortune
By Adam Lashinsky
April 19, 2004

The all-time greats of Silicon Valley venture capital can pretty much be counted on one hand. There's Arthur Rock, who was present, checkbook in hand, at the creation of Intel. Don Valentine seeded Oracle, Apple, and Cisco—a VC trifecta for the ages. John Doerr made a fortune with early bets on Sun, Netscape, and Amazon.com. And when search star Google goes public—the waiting on that one should end shortly—sculptors will need to get busy on one more bust for Sand Hill Road's Mount Rushmore: Michael Moritz, the wily investor whose previous grand slams include early stakes in Yahoo and PayPal.

In 1999, Moritz led his firm, Sequoia Capital, to invest $12.5 million in Google. If Google goes public at the $8-billion-and-up valuation that investment bankers expect, Moritz and his partners will likely reap hundreds of millions of dollars. With that kind of payday around the corner, it is easy to understand the giddy mood in the ballroom of San Francisco's Fairmont hotel in late March. There, 100 or so fund managers for university endowments, charitable foundations, and the like have gathered for updates on their investments in Sequoia Capital. Among other activities, they are dazzled by a Q&A session with Google co-founder Larry Page, pitched on the virtues of conducting IPOs as auctions by investment-banking legend Bill Hambrecht, and enthralled by a peek into Sequoia's latest bets.

But leave it to Moritz to pour cold water on the merriment. His narrow face and high forehead make him look like a bird of prey sporting oversized round spectacles, and Moritz stands in the front of the room to deliver a sobering message: Audience members are wasting their time—and, more important, the money they manage—on venture capital. He amplifies his point with a simple image projected on a screen behind him. It shows a billfold below four boldfaced words: sit on it (please!).(full article)