American It Entrepreneurship Madness male: A speech to deal with KPCB300 million VCs

Source: Internet
Author: User
Excerpt from: "It Entrepreneurial Madness history" Jerry Kaplan/The Phoenix Press, shortly after the disastrous meeting in Boston, Mitchell arranged for me to meet with the legendary John Doerr, a venture capitalist, who runs Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Kleiner venture capital) has helped many well-known enterprises such as tandem, Compaq, Sun and Lotus. Then John asked me to go to his office and talk to his colleagues in the next Monday, and the funny thing was that my rookie really thought he was talking about gossip. For venture capitalists, Monday is as sacred as the Vatican Sunday, as it is a day when global venture capitalists gather to discuss potential stocks. No one will be absent from death or natural disasters on this day-the means of communication include teleconferencing at any location, or even walkie-talkies on beds. My identity at the time was a special guest to address the Kleiner partners of high-end venture capital firms.  This opportunity is very rare, but I am completely unprepared ... Then I took a chestnut briefcase, some paper, a Christmas pen, and dressed in a casual costume to get there on time.  As for the business plans, slides, charts, money plans and models, I didn't take any. Kleiner's office is on the 30 floor, in a fashionable and stylish building in the heart of San Francisco's financial district, and stands there looking through the windows, and the beautiful and fascinating picture is instantly greeted by a vast gulf, half a row of bay-side city.  More extravagant is the legendary office, which is independent and separate from anywhere else, and fumosoroseus glass divides the area completely. As I walked into their office, there was a representative in a dark blue striped suit, a red tie and a gold tie clip, and he was nervously answering the questions of the investors. I saw a model of the circuit board on the table and a colored icon projected on the whiteboard.  And, of course, I saw the sparkle of sweat on his forehead under the reflection of the projector. Then one of the partners said, "Thank you, we'll let you know in about a week."  Then the representative put away his things and quickly went out. After a little rest, John reconvened, he invited me in, briefly introduced my background and Mitchell's view of the project, and then passed on the torch, and at that time I had basically no other feelings except panic. Then I used a surprising trick-playing hard to get: pretend to meditate, because it looks more like a master.  But in fact, I don't know what I'm supposed to say ... All of a sudden, I think of all the questions I have to face when I show my doctoral dissertation and my defense, and I think of the key to winning: though the auditorsI'm the one who knows the content. That was the way it was in the boardroom that day, and the person who was most familiar with the subject was me, and if I wanted to earn their respect, I had to put the core of the discussion in the area I knew best.  Then I thought about it and decided to start with the business outlook. "Gentlemen, as a result of intense competition and many entrepreneurial hurdles, you are likely to feel that creating a new computer company is no longer a way to make a profit." But what I want to say is that the computers we know and love today are not necessarily the best or the final models. I believe that for those of us who need to stay away from desks, a computer that is more like a notebook than a typewriter, a pen, and no keyboard is better for everyone. We can use it to take notes, send and receive information by connecting to the phone, search for addresses, phone numbers, price lists, and various inventories, compute things on spreadsheets, and fill out orders. All this can be done in meetings, talking to clients, taking the bus to work, or even standing or walking without hindrance. Hand-written computers in the promotion of business operations, but also to bring greater efficiency! [Page] [Page] Before John responded, Frank Caufield, who had always liked to go straight, pointed at him and said, "No memory can touch John's word--no one can read any of his words Frank Kaulfield!"  God, this is the chance I need! "Then you wouldn't mind if I just used his font as a standard for our design?"  After listening to this seemingly rude remark, the people quietly turned their attention to Dors and Byers to know their reaction. The two of them laughed, and then they all came along. John even joked, "at least I can type." "From that moment on, I almost didn't have to talk. In the ensuing discussion of this new business opportunity, it was basically the investors who had their own views on various issues and opinions. Then almost everyone in the audience joined the discussion, and the topic changed from one to two, then more and more. I felt like I was at a cocktail party, and in the middle of a heated discussion, we were fiddling around with my briefcase.  The bag was in an instant, like a magic trick from a regular stationery to a symbol of future technology.  The discussion was in full swing, and the situation lasted for a few minutes, when Brook Bairs to quiet down.  He said: "The last question, what is your own goal for the project?" I replied slowly: "I don't want to prove how smart I am, or how much I can do to run a big company (I know that's the easiest two mistakes entrepreneurs make when they start a business.") I have four goals: first, to bring useful things to the people who need them; second, to bring investors a better return than expected; third, create a healthy andChallenging working environment.  Then I stopped.  Byers raised his eyebrows and said, "What's the fourth?" In fact, I didn't even know what the fourth goal was. Then I looked around and saw a plate of sandwiches and cookies that they had left over for lunch, and I said, "No more spending your money for dinner in the next 4 years." He smiled and said, "Eat a little bit, our venture capital company's service is very good." "Thank you."  "I picked up a cookie and put it in my mouth," he said. Then our meeting finally came to an end, when everyone began to call outside, Doerr turned to me and said: "Well done, I'll continue to discuss with you, and then we will tell you the idea."  "I thanked him again, and I got my briefcase back from two partners and went home." I was going to Cambridge to do some final counseling for the Lotus. One morning I was suddenly woken up by the telephone in the hotel. It was Doerr, and I was wondering how he found me, but I was more strangely jet lag-because it was 4:30 A.M. when he was calling from San Francisco.  John had already started what he had to say before I could figure it out. "As a representative of the partners, I am pleased to inform you that we have agreed to invest." Now I'm more lost because I haven't even given him a business plan, and I haven't mentioned the money at all. I said, "John, I'm really happy to hear the news, but don't you even have to look at the financial plan?" We are not only willing to support this project, but we are more than willing to support you. "It was very straightforward, but for me, at the early morning, everything seemed a little dizzy," he said.  Is happiness coming too fast? John continued: "We should sign an agreement at once, when will you be coming?" I'm going to San Francisco tonight. "No, I have to go to New York early in the morning." [Page] I asked him, "When are you going to get back to San Francisco?" A week later, but that's too slow. "I was not so familiar with John, I just knew he was a lanky man with sandy hair and a deep voice." I also know that he likes to wear khaki trousers and white shirts, and he has a habit of carrying some paper bags and gadgets. Whenever he was excited--most of the time--he was as restless as a racing dog in a cage. Before I met him, I never knew anyone like him who put all his energy and enthusiasm into his work. Especially after he has identified a goal, he will pursue that goal with the same intensity as the laser and the urgency of the addict.  In the ensuing conversation, I saw his efforts to solve the problem. He asked me, "which plane do you take?" Global airlines. "Well, they have a Saint Louis in theHeart, wait for me, I have this official airline guide, and this is what every manager needs to travel frequently ... Change your flight to nine o'clock tomorrow morning from Logan, the 10.55 branch of the plane to Saint Louis, and then 12 will continue to fly to San Francisco.  So we can have about an hour of the meeting time, I will change the itinerary, then we will see the boarding gate! I said, "Well ... Of。 "When the plane arrived at Saint Louis the next morning, John was there for me," said the man. We soon reached an agreement that the investors, with a share of 33% per cent of the company's shares, invested 1.5 million of dollars, shared by Kleiner, Perkins, Mitchell and some retail investors, including Vinode Kosla, who were particularly interested in the project. John will be the chairman of the company, I am the CEO. The members of the board include John, Mitchell, Vinod and me. I can get 25% of the remaining shares, the other two--the vice president of software and hardware (not yet confirmed)--who will share my shares with me (8.3% per person).  The remaining shares are reserved for future staff.  After the business agreement was finalized, we arrived at the boarding gate of my flight.  John asked me, "What do you want to name the company?" I thought, "on" was already in use--Mitchell and Peter were trying to do something together, which would probably be the name of their new company.  Later my second choice was "go". So I said: Go, all in uppercase. It's like starting out (go Forth), fighting for It, and panning for the gold. John added: "Go public." "After I boarded the midday flight, I was thinking about 3 million dollars worth of ideas after the agreement (deducting the company valuation after the investment) and the more than 1 million dollars that belonged to me-I had to cash it out first." Of course, investors are certainly expecting more than that.
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