successfactors
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."
MORE: Why your teen loves Wanelo
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."
-
One year later, SAP hasn't blown it with SuccessFactors
But the software giant has set ambitious goals. Can it reach them?
FORTUNE -- It's been over a year since German enterprise software giant SAP shelled out $3.4 billion for SuccessFactors, a Silicon Valley-based maker of human resources software. Since then, engineers on both sides of the Atlantic have been hard at work getting SuccessFactors's cloud-based apps to work alongside SAP's on-premise offerings, so that customers can more easily adopt the MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - Apr 12, 2013 7:13 AM ET -
Inside SAP's radical makeover
The mission-critical (but unsexy) software giant lost its way with customers. CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe think they can make SAP appealing again.
FORTUNE -- At the stroke of midnight on Feb. 15, a new app called Recalls Plus appeared in Apple's App Store. It promised parents real-time alerts on the latest baby formula or car seat recalls, allowing them to share such information with friends. There was nothing MORE
Michal Lev-Ram, writer - Mar 29, 2012 5:00 AM ET -
Why Workday has Oracle and SAP worried
Aneel Bhusri and Dave Duffield were pioneers at PeopleSoft — until they were forced out. Now, with brisk sales and an IPO on the horizon, their new venture has big competitors on the defensive.
FORTUNE -- In business, revenge is often swift. Take the sudden firing of a poorly performing CEO, for instance. In the case of Workday, it's been more of a slow-burn.
Founded in 2005 by co-CEOs Aneel Bhusri and MORE
JP Mangalindan, Writer - Mar 12, 2012 12:51 PM ET -
Welcome to your new "social" work life.
There is a race going on right now among software companies to become the Facebook for the workplace. Jockeying for position are behemoths like IBM (IBM), giants in-waiting like Saleforce.com (CRM), and a slew of smaller companies including Greenplum, Jive, LinkedIn, and Socialcast among others.
With its recently announced acquisition of CubeTree, you can now add SuccessFactors (SFSF) to the list of contenders, and one likely to move to the front MORE
Michael V. Copeland, Senior Writer - May 10, 2010 2:38 PM ET
