By Pui-Wing Tam
Former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos is joining venture-capital firm Benchmark Capital as an entrepreneur in residence, says Benchmark partner Kevin Harvey.
The move builds on Benchmark’s tradition of pulling in entrepreneurs, typically for a six-month or so stint, to help the venture firm evaluate new startup opportunities and dig into its portfolio of companies. Benchmark’s other entrepreneurs in residence, or EIRs, have included Silicon Valley techies such as Nirav Tolia and former Google engineers Bret Taylor and Jim Morris.
Mickos helped build MySQL into a leading provider of open-source software for enterprises and was CEO of the company for seven years. MySQL was bought by Sun Microsystems last year for around $1 billion, and Mickos stayed on with the company through its integration until earlier this year.
Mickos and Harvey go way back, since Benchmark helped lead a round of investment in MySQL and Harvey says he served as the company’s chairman. Harvey says he first talked with Mickos about coming into Benchmark when MySQL was sold last year, but neither got serious about it till this summer. Then earlier this month, the two talked again “and decided it made sense,” says Harvey, who adds that Mickos is “fantastic.”
Harvey adds that Mickos will likely help Benchmark look at enterprise software and open source opportunities, though he “definitely won’t be limited to that.”
As for Mickos, he tweeted that he likes Benchmark because the firm asks “What’s best for the entrepreneur?” And, Mickos noted, “they think big.”
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/09/29/former-mysql-ceo-joins-benchmark-capital/
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