Sunday, June 2, 2013
SAP star will join venture firm.
FORTUNE -- Silicon Valley venture capital firm
Andreessen Horowitz has a new general
partner: former SuccessFactors CEO and SAP
executive board member Lars Dalgaard.
Just last week, Dalgaard announced he was
stepping down from SAP (SAP) to become an
investor. The departure came about a year and
a half after he sold SuccessFactors, a maker
of cloud-based HR software, to the larger enterprise software maker for a cool $3.4 billion. SAP said Dalgaard
will stay onboard as an advisor to its cloud business, working one day a
week. The rest of the time Dalgaard will focus on his new
responsibilities at Andreessen Horowitz. It's not clear exactly when his
start date will be, but Dalgaard says he has already sat in on multiple
meetings at Andreessen Horowitz.
"I don't want to be a manager anymore," Dalgaard told Fortune
after stepping down from his role at SAP last week. "I have the
opportunity to be the best investor ever. I really understand how
companies run."
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After the sale to SuccessFactors to SAP in 2011, some speculated that
Dalgaard had his eye on the CEO job at the German software giant. If
that ever was the case, obviously things went a much different way,
though Dalgaard (and SAP's co-CEOs) say the departure was on good terms.
Dalgaard says he was attracted to Andreessen Horowitz because the firm treats entrepreneurs well. The firm's co-founder, Ben Horowitz, said they were looking to add another general partner with a background in enterprise software. "We want people who have been through the process of building a company and have done it in a way that people who were part of that process would do it again a thousand times," says Horowitz. "For us it's the most important thing."
Horowitz made the announcement on his blog Thursday morning, writing: "Building a company isn't about business models and inflection points; it's about doing something larger than yourself. It's about working for each other. It's about being part of a team trying to make possible the impossible. It's about doing it in a way that no matter what the outcome, everyone was glad they were there."
