Huge coup for Balderton: Bernard Liautaud !
Respect for what Barry Maloney is achieving with Balderton on the team side. Besides my friend Bonanzinga and Tim Bunting, the latest addition to the team is none other than the founder and CEO of Business Objects, Bernard Liautaud (per PE HUB).
Liautaud brought BO from startup to IPO (an Atlas Venture investment) then from IPO to acquisition by SAP for $6.7 billion. The original founder who took all the way, a rare animal. OK, don't quote me on my recent post :-)
Althouth Bernard is an Atlas alumni (from Philippe Claude's days), I don't know the man. I met him on the Eurostar once and we had a chat; I expressed my admiration because of what he represents to younger guys like me, and he was extremely gracious in receiving the compliment.
Balderton also recently added Dharmash Mistry, former EMAP.
I must admit I had some serious doubt after the inamicable split from Benchmark US and the departures of Ynon and George. But Maloney, Evans, Bunting, Bonanzinga et al and now Liautaud: what a line up! As with all new teams they will have to gel and get their momentum flowing, but with this list of ingredients I am sure the resulting venture feast will be worthy of the great Bras.
Bernard Liautaud @ LeWeb (courtesy here)
Great article. Very informative. I might suggest taking a look at John Assaraf's and Murray Smith's new book, "The Answer." It highlights cracking the entrepreneurial code - something you have experience with and are probably interested in. I'd highly suggest the read. http://www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?rta=blog
Posted by: Corey Blum | June 18, 2008 at 11:26 PM