December 5, 2006

Calacanis Takes Position at Sequoia Capital

Michael Arrington

59 comments »

Photo by JD LasicaToday at 7 am PST at the SES conference in Chicago, Weblogs Inc. founder Jason Calacanis will announce that he has joined Sequoia Capital as an EIA (Entrepreneur in Action). This comes just two and a half weeks after Jason announced his departure from AOL.

The role will be similar to what’s normally called an “Entrepreneur in Residence” - Jason will take a salary, help review companies pitching for money, and work on his own projects. Entrepreneurs who take this kind of job generally roll out their own new startup within a few months. Look for more news from Calacanis in the near future. Chances are it will be a Sequoia-backed startup.

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Sign me up! That sounds like a fantastic job to have, congrats to Jason!

 

Yeah, sounds like a great deal. Any idea on how much a typical Entrepreneur in Residence takes home? I know it varies greatly, but wow, seems like you can’t get too many better deals than this.

 

This an obvious indication that he is planing a big roll-up

 

Awesome! I was just hanging out with Jason the other night and I had no idea that he’d be going with a VC firm — right on! Jason’s one cool dude and I know that he’s going to go on to doing BIG things!

Thanks for the great advice the other night, Jason.
I’ll make sure to send you the first Mind Petals Newsletter ;)

 
 

Seems like Sequoia got full pockets of cash after their YouTube exit.

I wish him more luck than he had at Netscape… :-)

 

Can somebody to me pls help me why this statement is true for Entrepreneurs of this kind more than it is for the others ?

“Entrepreneurs who take this kind of job generally roll out their own new startup within a few months. Look for more news from Calacanis in the near future.”

Can somebody also give me some examples of these kind of moves pls …

 

Just saw Jason’s co-keynote (with Danny Sullivan) at SES Chicago live where he made the announcement.

The keynote was excellent - a coffee table discussion of what’s relevenat in the mind of one of the few remaining old-school ‘thinking men’ in the leading edge web world.

It was a great conversation & a pleasure to sit in as a fly on the wall (with the other 1000 or so audience members.

Looking forward to this “striving” force helping make our world “suck less” (a lot less.)

–C

 

Congrats goes out to Jason. Some guys have all the luck. Sequoia offered me a job also, but I rejected because I didn’t really like the “janitor in residence” title.

 

Congrats to jason on this great chance, being an entrepreneur and helping with VC stuff sounds like the best job ever in the industry.

I’m excited to see what he has to offer.

 

Congrats to Jason. I’m sure this will be a great move for him and the Midas men at Sequoia…

 

much like everyone here, I’m drooling at the prospect of this kind of job, sounds like fun. I guess this is not the kinda gig you find on craigslist or monster..right?

 

So so proud of Jason. It is a great thing for Sequoia and I hope Jason has a blast.

 

I’ll bet he’s making an infrared pointer that you attach to your finger, as a replacement for a mouse. That’s what I’d make at least. Haha :)

 

Lets go, send your executive summaries about mp3 audio players to Sequoia Capital :-)

 

FYI, If you would like to grab the audio files of his keynote speech including his dicussions on Payperpost, TechCrunch, Netscape and the annouincement of his hiring by Sequoia Capital, check out this link:
http://www.centernetworks.com/.....ote-review

I am working on getting videos up, but those might take me a little longer.

 

Congrats to jason…I wonder how much somebody in his new position would bring home annually or quarterly…anybody any info?

 

Definitely sounds like a great job to have! Jason is a smart guy and I’m eager to see what he comes up with next. It would be interesting to see what the trend is with VC firms hiring current entrepreneurs for this type of a postition.

Mike
http://www.thosestupidgames.com

 

A role as an entrepreneur in residence (EIR) with a venture fund is a very coveted role for many entrepreneurs. This is a role that has been around for a long time under different names and structures (I am aware of EIRs back to the early 90s). The role of an EIR varies from fund to fund (and entrepreneur to entrepreneur), but typically it involves an individual that wants to start a company. The entrepreneur may enter the position with an idea at various stages of development. Sometimes an entrepreneur has already spent a great deal of time on the idea and is leveraging the EIR position for office space and mindshare with VCs.

Another EIR role is to act as a “partner” and help VCs evaluate potential deals where the entrepreneur has a particular expertise. An EIR might also spend some time with an existing portfolio company to provide his or her functional expertise. In this scenario, the EIR will sometimes enter the company as a full time executive (typically CEO os some “C” level role) if the company and the executive feel there is a good fit.

I have also seen the model where the EIR enters the position as the individual is interested in the venture business as a career option either immediately or after leading another company or two. In many cases, the EIR is invited to partner’s meetings and asked to comment on deals. If an EIR is interested in being a VC full time, VCs have some time to evaluate the individual. I have a friend that entered a large venture fund as an EIR and received an offer to be the CEO of a company with a huge opportunity and the partners recently asked him to be a partner in their next fund instead – a high class problem!

It is rare that a venture fund will place a job listing for an EIR position. Typically, these positions are filled based on existing personal relationships that develop over long periods of time. An EIR may be an entrepreneur from a past portfolio company of the fund or a well know CEO that has delivered solid returns for the investment community. Sometimes EIRs are chosen from large public companies such as eBay, Yahoo, Google, AOL, etc. Most often the individuals chosen are at the Vice President level and up, but it is not unheard of for someone at the Director level to be chosen (although it is rare). As a rule, the EIR positions are so coveted that they are only available for “brand name” entrepreneurs, highly visible public company executives or the very well connected.

Typically, an EIR is a contract position with a venture firm where the entrepreneur is paid a monthly rate (back in the late 90s that rate was about $10,000 per month and I can see it being at least $12,500/month in today’s market). The agreement between the entrepreneur and the VC is usually for six months to one year with some additional terms which are negotiable. Additional terms might include the ability for a venture fund to have the ability to place a minimum investment into the new venture.

Overall, the EIR position is a great role – if you can get one take it…

 

Sequoia is great..congrats to Jason… we got same experience..haha…I used to founded my site and then joined the VC who invested us…and now…I am the entrepreneur again….

http://www.ezecho.com

 

Thanks Lo Toney for the detailed information on what and how great a EIR role translates to.

Jason - congrats++ to you.

Still looking for some entrepreneurs who have done this kind of thing in the past ?

 

Will Jason be the entrepreneur again in the coming future?

http://www.ezecho.com

 

Mr. Calacanis posesses a nearly unrivaled ability to compress the most words into the smallest of ideas of almost anybody in the tech space.

 

Jason made interesting commenst at the Search forum and was biting towards Valleywag as usual.

http://mediavidea.blogspot.com.....-bite.html

 

It’s always nice when our work is recognized and rewarded. I’m sure we will keep reading news about his achievements for many years :)

 

Jason,
Congratulations on the new home and the new job…best of luck…I know you do something amazing.
Maureen

 
 

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