| I once worked on a company funded by Pierre | | | | companies, where the best exit one can hope for is |
| Lamond, veteran Venture Capitalist at Sequoia | | | | becoming a feature in the larger offering of a |
| Capital. During the interview, Pierre asked me, "How | | | | Symantec or a McAfee. Not terribly inspiring, is it? |
| old is your father? What does he do? Is he retired?" | | | | Even though, there is a bit of money to be made, it |
| I explained, that my father (in his sixties) is an | | | | certainly doesn't qualify as a Legacy-building |
| entrepreneur, and will never retire, because he still | | | | opportunity. Additionally, it's fairly boring to do the |
| has too many things that he wants to accomplish, | | | | Nth gig in the same narrow domain, even though the |
| and that he will die trying to get through as many of | | | | mantra in hiring is Domain Expertise. (I go out of my |
| them as possible, and not run out of things to try. | | | | way, on a regular basis, to broaden the range of |
| Pierre nodded and said, "I don't understand 50-year | | | | domains that I get to play with, and that's what |
| old executives who want to play Golf all day." | | | | keeps me engaged, challenged, interested.) |
| I had another conversation with Jim Hogan of Telos | | | | So, what's the point? The point is, you cannot blame |
| Venture Partners over lunch one day on the same | | | | 50-year old executives for choosing to play Golf or |
| subject. Jim said, "You know, when a man is | | | | do Origami, over running an incremental business in a |
| successful, has made money, what he is looking for | | | | domain that they already know well, are bored by, |
| is his Legacy." | | | | and find positively uninspiring. Anyone who has been |
| If you look around Silicon Valley today, there are lots | | | | a CEO, knows, that trying to be one without oozing |
| of executives and entrepreneurs who have been | | | | enthusiasm for the business is not sustainable. And |
| successful, made money, and are "waiting in the | | | | with these little businesses, the CEO is effectively a |
| sidelines" looking for the right next opportunity. VCs | | | | glorified VP of Sales, another uninspiring little detail. |
| and Executive Recuiters recruit CEOs out of this | | | | This is a contrarian and counter-intuitive point-of-view |
| bunch. More than ever before, there is a large | | | | for VCs and Recruiters: Try to recruit experienced |
| population of people today in technology with prior | | | | CEOs to your promising company by offering them |
| CEO experience, many of them dreaming of | | | | opportunities to learn and grow as well, rather than |
| something really sizeable, high-impact, game-changing | | | | just milking them for what they bring to the table |
| and sufficiently exciting to get their juices flowing | | | | based on their history. Look for people's internal fire |
| again. | | | | and ability to figure things out, and be fresh and |
| The bulk of the opportunities out there, however, | | | | creative, without being boxed in by a 25-year history |
| are, for example, a CEO job at one of 600+ Security | | | | in one narrow domain. |