John Doerr To Chairman at Kleiner Perkins - Fortune
John DoerrDavid Paul Morris/Bloomberg—Getty Images
Legendary VC is becoming chairman of the firm he first joined in 1980.
John Doerr, the legendary venture capitalist known for his early investments in companies like Amazon AMZN-0.84% and Google GOOG-0.74%, is transitioning into a chairman role at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley firm he first joined in 1980.
This means that Doerr will not be a general partner on any new funds raised by Kleiner Perkins―including new early-stage and digital growth vehicles that sources say are being raised shortly―although he plans to continue leading new deals, maintaining existing portfolio board seats, and serving on the firm’s investment committee.
The move might sound like a partial retirement, but that’s not at all how Doerr or Kleiner Perkins view it. Instead, the purpose is for Doerr to hand off some of his current day-to-day responsibilities in order to spend more time coaching and developing the firm’s next generation of leaders.
John Doerr To Chairman at Kleiner Perkins - Fortune
John DoerrDavid Paul Morris/Bloomberg—Getty Images
Legendary VC is becoming chairman of the firm he first joined in 1980.
John Doerr, the legendary venture capitalist known for his early investments in companies like Amazon AMZN-0.84% and Google GOOG-0.74%, is transitioning into a chairman role at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the Silicon Valley firm he first joined in 1980.
This means that Doerr will not be a general partner on any new funds raised by Kleiner Perkins―including new early-stage and digital growth vehicles that sources say are being raised shortly―although he plans to continue leading new deals, maintaining existing portfolio board seats, and serving on the firm’s investment committee.
The move might sound like a partial retirement, but that’s not at all how Doerr or Kleiner Perkins view it. Instead, the purpose is for Doerr to hand off some of his current day-to-day responsibilities in order to spend more time coaching and developing the firm’s next generation of leaders.
