Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Randy Komisar joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers as a partner in 2005. Several years prior, Komisar partnered with entrepreneurs creating businesses with leading edge technologies.
He was a co-founder of Claris Corporation, he served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and he's acted as a "virtual CEO" for such companies as WebTV, Mirra, and GlobalGiving. He was a founding Director of TiVo where he remains current chairman of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Earlier, Komisar served as CFO of GO Corporation and as Senior Counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law.
Komisar holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and a JD from Harvard Law School. He is a Consulting Professor of Entrepreneurship at Stanford University and author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, as well as several articles on leadership and entrepreneurship. His most recent book with co-author John Mullins is Getting to Plan B.
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Last Updated: Thu, Apr 8, 2010
Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, explains his title of Virtual CEO, which does not have a specific meaning. It is extremely adaptive and evolves to his changing roles. The purpose of the title was to provide a sort of identity on a business card that he could point at and say "this is what I do."
The role of the Virtual CEO is peculiar to Komisar and his own strengths and weaknesses. It was created as a way to bring together his diverse experiences in some kind of a flexible role that includes helping to guide emerging leaders and nurture emerging companies.
According to Komisar, he provides the biggest value to companies at the beginning, and his value diminishes as the company grows and becomes more operational. He initially focuses on helping companies develop an overall strategy and business plan at a conceptual level. As the company evolves, he becomes more of the problem solver, rather than the generalist.
Recently, Komisar has noticed that the IPO market is reopening and VCs are becoming anxious to invest. There are a number of companies lined up to go public. There tends to be a lag in the markets of step technologies, while the customers catch up to the advance, but they do catch up and a large amount of value is created in the process, he says.
According to Komisar, what distinguishes the Silicon Valley is not its successes, but the way in which it deals with failures. The Valley is about experimentation, innovation, and taking new risks. Only a small business that can deal with failure and still make money can exist in this environment. It is a model based on many, many failures and a few extraordinary successes.
A basic skill set covering finance, organization, transactions, strategy, and business models can be taught successfully, says Komisar. These skills are useful for engineers because they provide context about the personality and character of entrepreneurship. However, according to Komisar, having a character suited for entrepreneurship is something that cannot be taught, as being comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity is something you either have or you don't.
Komisar explains that there is no balanced life in being a CEO. It is a 24/7 job and is all-consuming. After being a CEO, Komisar decided to cut back and bring his life back into balance so he could have time for all the things he enjoyed. It is essential to stay ethical and never put yourself in a situation where you can't say no and cut back. Maintaining a balanced life is a dynamic quest and changes as your priorities change. People who know and respect you can be a powerful resource in helping you find this balance.
According to Komisar, creating visibility and driving sales are two different tasks. Marketing channels are pretty well honed, but driving sales requires more attention. As an entrepreneur, you play a large part in creating the demand for your product and Google is not going to do that for you. You have to convince people that your product will save them money, he says.
Instead of thinking about the passion, expalins Komisar, free yourself to think of a portfolio of passions. Marry this portfolio with the opportunities in front of you, he says. Think of it as a quest towards which you are moving in the right direction, he adds.
Komisar explains that consultants are not in the position of obtaining the level of intimacy with a company that builds confidence in decision making. Strategy consulting exists because senior management wants their strategy to be accepted by a board of directors. Contrastingly, Komisar's role is to come up with bold ideas and steer the direction of the company.
To find companies to work with, Komisar engages in a sort of dating process. First, the company has to be referred to him by a trusted source. Second, he holds a meeting in order to get to know the person and find out what they are trying to do with the business. Komisar is only interested if the business is an interesting opportunity and the person is someone who has merit and can make a difference. This process of getting to know the founder can take months before Komisar is willing to commit.
According to Komisar, globalization needs to be part of the tool set for every entrepreneur doing a start-up today. This doesn't mean immediately going global, but understanding the global market and having a plan for the future, he adds.
Komisar sees social entrepreneurship is taking off. There is a group of highly motivated people wanting to make a difference but who are not as concerned with making money and are creating drastic innovations in business models. There is an incredible level of commitment from these folks and hopefully a bright future ahead of them, he adds.
Debra Dunn, former vice president of strategy and corporate operations at Hewlett Packard, and Randy Komisar, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, believe that leadership skills and the ability to handle change comfortably are the key characteristics that have been useful in their respective careers.
Dunn discusses her foray into the business world and why she decided to work at Hewlett Packard. She describes how the values of the company strongly resonate with her and the company has provided her with many opportunitites.
Komisar talks about his transition from teaching at Stanford to getting into the structured environment of venture capital firms. He discusses the things he found appealing about his job as a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers.
Komisar talks about how many traditional companies like Kleiner Perkins are involved in making significant social differences. He believes that the entreprenuerial spirit and pursuit of innovation of these companies is consistent to the model of many social ventures in the market.
Dunn and Komisar share their philosophies about how much to plan one's careers versus creating and taking opportunities as they present themselves.
Dunn and Komisar give advice to graduating students from Stanford University to never stop learning as well as spend a considerable amount of time to figure out the things one is truly passionate about.
Dunn believes that lack of transparency has led to a lack of competition in the non-profit world, which has witnessed an absence of business rigor. She is confident that there is an opportunity for radical transformation in the non-profit world.