enterprise software
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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The IPO market is back -- for enterprise tech
The hottest trend in enterprise technology is fueling the market.
FORTUNE --- If you hadn't heard of Tableau Software before its glamorous debut on the public market last Friday, you're not alone. The Seattle-based company makes visual analytics tools for technical and non-technical employees alike but is far from a household name. And yet, it raised around $254 million in its initial public offering and closed its first day of trading at MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 20, 2013 10:42 AM ETPosted in: Big Data, Box, data analytics, enterprise software, FireEye, Good Technology, IPOs, Marketo, Palo Alto Networks, Splunk, Tableau Software, Twitter, Workday -
Google Android's enterprise problem
Google's mobile operating system may be getting a boost from -- of all places -- Blackberry.
FORTUNE -- This week's Google I/O conference in San Francisco was disappointingly light on Android news. And it was especially light on new, enterprise-friendly features for Android devices. Instead, it showed improvements aimed at consumers and education institutions. But while Google may not seem focused on making its mobile operating system more attractive to IT departments, MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 17, 2013 9:23 AM ETPosted in: Android, Apple, BlackBerry, enterprise software, Google, iOS, Samsung Electronics, Smartphones, VMware -
SAP goes all in with the cloud
The German software giant is betting on cloud-based technology and services.
FORTUNE -- In case you haven't heard, SAP is serious about the cloud. On Tuesday the enterprise software giant announced it will offer HANA, its in-memory database, as a monthly subscription service, delivered via the cloud.
A limited cloud-based version of HANA was already available through Amazon (AMZN) Web Services. But SAP (SAP) says customers will now be able to access MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 8, 2013 10:26 AM ET -
Facebook co-founder's bid to replace email
Startup Asana has attracted a lot of buzz. Now it's shooting for the big leagues.
FORTUNE -- Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz generated a lot of buzz -- and funding -- when he left the social networking giant in 2008 to take on the less glitzy world of enterprise software. High-profile investors like Ron Conway, Peter Thiel, and venture capital firms Andreessen-Horowitz and Benchmark Capital all poured money into Moskovitz's idea: Asana, MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - May 1, 2013 11:05 AM ET -
Will Adobe's new cloud strategy pay off?
A risky makeover of the king of shrinkwrapped software is starting to win over skeptics.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story spelled Shantanu Narayen's name incorrectly. Fortune regrets the error.
By Kevin Kelleher, contributor
FORTUNE -- Adobe chief Shantanu Narayen and a dozen of his top executives were sequestered in a tony Carmel Valley spa in California. It was early September of 2011, and the group was running through a corporate MORE
Dec 10, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Personal tech gets down to business
After seeing executives jury-rig consumer gadgets and software for work, companies like Google and Apple are suiting up for success in the office.
By Richard Nieva, contributor
FORTUNE -- In recent years employees have been bringing their personal smartphones and tablets to work and tricking out their gadgets (sometimes without the tech department's okay) with productivity-enhancing apps and software. Now, instead of standing by as savvy individuals co-opt their technology for the MORE
Dec 28, 2011 5:00 AM ET -
Battle of the tech titans: Ellison vs. Benioff
FORTUNE -- Fierce competitors need, well, fierce competitors. The latest smack-down? Oracle (ORCL) billionaire CEO Larry Ellison vs. Salesforce.com (CRM) billionaire CEO Marc Benioff. Benioff once worked for Ellison, who later invested in Salesforce.com, the cloud-computing software company. No matter: Now the two battle for customers -- as well as bragging rights as the world's most visible software mogul. The rivalry is getting testy: Recently Ellison canceled Benioff's keynote at the MORE
Nov 28, 2011 5:00 AM ETPosted in: cloud computing, enterprise software, Larry Ellison, Marc Benioff, Oracle, Salesforce.com -
Bring your own device to work is finally here
CIOs are under pressure to allow personal devices into their enterprise IT departments. Companies that treat this change as an opportunity rather than a threat are more likely to win.
By Gary Kovacs, senior vice president at Sybase
When Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908, the speed limit in most places -- provided you were outside city limits -- was just 20 miles per hour (in town, it was usually MORE
Sep 1, 2010 7:00 AM ET -
How corporate America went open-source
According to recent surveys, more large companies are committing to open-source software. How the platform went from closet to corporate.
By Kit R. Roane, contributor
There was a time when open-source software was the domain of computer geeks and do-it-yourselfers with more time than money. But, as Oracle's legal salvo against Google highlighted last week, those days are long gone.
Oracle (ORCL), through its purchase of Sun Microsystems, has become one of the MORE
Aug 16, 2010 12:50 PM ET
