Ben Horowitz
SAP's Lars Dalgaard joins Andreessen Horowitz
May 30, 2013: 2:16 PM ETSAP 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."
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