Kleiner Perkins Adds Lane As New GP –

MENLO PARK, Calif. – It’s not often that venture capital transition’ stories make the front pages of the mainstream press, but the unusual happened when Raymond Lane, former chief operating officer at Oracle Corp., decided to join the world of venture capital at the end of August.

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers hired Lane as its 11th general partner, said partner Kevin Compton. “When you get someone with the skill of Ray available in the market, you just grab him,” Compton said.

Lane is equally fond of the firm: “They are the N.Y. Yankees of the venture business – they are the best.” Lane will invest in all sectors, but will concentrate on the business-to-business arena, specifically focusing on supply chain management, he said.

Most recently at Oracle, Lane was responsible for planning, communicating, and implementing policy and strategy decisions formulated by the executive committee, he said.

As Oracle’s president and chief operating officer, Lane was instrumental in the software giant’s revenue growth from nearly $1 billion in 1992 to more than $10 billion in 2000. During his tenure, Lane also helped to expand Oracle’s business beyond its core database technology into enterprise applications and professional services. Lane began his eight-year tenure at the software giant as president of Oracle USA, after which he became executive vice president of Oracle and president of Worldwide Operations, he said. Prior to joining Oracle, Lane was a senior partner at consulting firm Booz-Allen & Hamilton.

Lane decided to join venture capital because he wants balance back in his personal life, he said. While at Oracle, he found himself spending about 70% of his time traveling. Kleiner Perkins’ focus on companies based in Northern California, coupled with the location of the office – a five-minute commute from Lane’s house – makes the offer even that more attractive, Lane said.

Founded in 1972, the firm keeps all information about its capital under management private. “We won’t talk about our funds or the status of our funds at all,” Compton said. The firm’s portfolio includes America Online Inc., Netscape, Amazon.com Inc., Juniper Networks Inc. and VeriSign Inc.

Lane began working at Kleiner Perkins in September.