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August 2005 Doerr: Don’t Skip the Fundamentals
What makes a great entrepreneur? According to Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr, the best are missionaries, not mercenaries. “Mercenaries have a lot of drive, they’re opportunistic and always pitching their latest deal,” Doerr told a packed house of business students, “whereas missionaries are more passionate and strategic. Mercenaries are sprinting and often have in their organizations an aristocracy of founders, whereas the missionaries are in it for the long run, obsessing on customers, not competition. They try to build a meritocracy—a loud, noisy place where the best ideas can get on the table.” In a wide-ranging speech, Doerr reflected on his own career at Intel and then at the venture capital partnership of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he showed a talent for picking winners. Among startups he backed that have since become household names: Google, Compaq, Intuit, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Amazon.com, and Symantec. Doerr closed with some advice for the under-35 crowd in Bishop Auditorium. “Please, please, please,” he told the students, “in your drive to become great leaders, don’t forget the fundamentals. Learn about recruiting, hiring, firing, inspiring, managing, developing, and motivating others with the kind of tough love that makes leaders very effective. Not this Donald Trump thing: ‘You’re fired!’ There are extra points for humor.” |
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