Earlier in his career, Krach had run a robotics joint venture for GM he became the carmaker ’s youngest vice-president at the age of 26. Benchmark named Keith Krach its first “entrepreneur-in-residence ” (EIR) in 1996. Soon, the firm developed its own pipeline for finding the great commercial ideas of the near future. Most of the entrepreneurs who obtained financing from Benchmark were referred by business colleagues. Kagle believed the success of ventures depended mostly on finding and backing extraordinary people. They turned it into $7.8 billion, an extraordinary return of 92 times the original investment. The group raised $85 million for its first fund, Benchmark I. The group expressed a preference for high-tech ventures with the potential for creating or capturing huge consumer markets Benchmark provided seed capital for entrepreneurs at the very earliest stages of a venture. ” The group set for itself the goal of becoming the number one venture capital firm within ten years, hence the ambitious Benchmark name. The partners were not tagged with ranks such as “senior ” or “associate. Uniquely, profits would be distributed equally among the partners, a practice said to eliminate infighting. Andrew Rachleff, with a background in network equipment and telecommunications, rounded out the founding four.
Benchmark capital bruce software#
Kevin Harvey, Benchmark ’s resident techie, had gone to Rice University like Dunlevie, and had invested in a database software company while still at Merrill Pickard. A New York native who grew up in Dallas, Dunlevie was a former football player with a secret penchant for literature. Bruce Dunlevie also had prior venture capital experience, at Merrill Pickard Anderson & Eyre, and had worked earlier at Arthur Andersen and Goldman Sachs. A native of Flint, Michigan, Kagle had a keen interest in the Depression era and loved to regale his colleagues with tales of speculative pitfalls. Kagle was a consumer marketing expert who had spent the previous dozen years with Technology Venture Investors. An Ambitious Start in 1995īenchmark Capital was set up in 1995 by four ambitious young men. Benchmark ’s clients are managers of pension funds and college endowments, as well as wealthy individuals, and the firm prides itself on its service to the entrepreneurs behind its portfolio companies.
Benchmark ’s 1997 investment of $6.7 million in online auctioneer eBay holds the record for best-performing Silicon Valley investment ever: by the spring of 1999, this stake was worth $5 billion.
Venture capital firm Benchmark Capital stresses a team approach, and the team has shared in some spectacular results. Private Company Incorporated: 1995 Employees: 35 NAIC: 523910 Venture Capital Companies Suite 200, 2480 Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, California 94025 U.S.A.
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