The Investor Rebuilding Kleiner Perkins

A few years ago, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the storied venture capital firm known for blockbuster bets on Amazon and Google, was in a funk. The firm had lost some of its luster by missing out on early investments in social media, while its reputation was battered by a sexual discrimination lawsuit filed by a former partner.

To lead a turnaround, Kleiner in 2017 recruited Mamoon Hamid, a star Silicon Valley investor known for his early backing of Slack, Yammer, Box and other companies. At 40 years old, Mr. Hamid was a toddler when John Doerr, Kleiner’s chairman and iconic partner, started his career at the firm in 1980. Now Mr. Hamid is the partner Kleiner is counting on to carry on Mr. Doerr’s rainmaking legacy, according to many of the firm’s limited partners and other investors.  

“I needed someone who was completely unassailable in the community, someone who is a proven venture capitalist,” said Kleiner Perkins partner Ted Schlein, who played a key role in recruiting Mr. Hamid to the firm. “I could not afford to screw that up.”