BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : SEPTEMBER 27, 1999 ISSUE
COVER STORY -- E.BIZ -- THE E.BIZ 25 Robert C. Kagle ROBERT C. KAGLE BENCHMARK CAPITAL Position: General Partner Contribution:Used his consumer marketing expertise to help launch such Internet darlings as eBay, E-Loan, and Ariba. Ambition:To make Benchmark as dominant in venture capital as McKinsey is in management consulting. Robert C. Kagle has come a long way from his days growing up in the Rust Belt burg of Flint, Mich. The oldest child in a single-parent family, Kagle was always looking to make a quick buck. For a time, he pushed an ice cream cart around his neighborhood. He took a job in the spark-plug division of General Motors Corp. (GM) He even did a stint at a tuxedo shop just so he would have a tux to wear to his high school prom--complete with top hat and cane. Today, Kagle, 43, can afford to buy a chain of tuxedo stores--and then some. Thanks to his skill at spotting future Internet headliners such as auction pioneer eBay Inc. (EBAY) and online-mortgage upstart E-loan Inc. (EELN), the partner at venture-capital firm Benchmark Capital has emerged as one of the industry's elite investors. And, with Kagle as its spiritual leader, four-year-old Benchmark has become one of the hottest venture-capital firms in Silicon Valley. eBay was Kagle's first home run. Benchmark's $5 million is now worth some $3.2 billion. And Kagle's personal take: A cool $170 million. Another Kagle winner is business-to-business upstart Ariba Inc. (ARBA), a $4 million investment now worth almost $1 billion. Kagle believes tomorrow's online sensations will have chucked traditional marketing by demographics in favor of targeting individuals based on their up-to-the-minute purchasing habits. ''What's more valuable to know: that someone is a 35-to-45-year-old male who drives a Cadillac or that someone recently bought golf clubs and is going on a vacation?'' Kagle asks. The answer to that question is obvious. But it's quite another matter to pick companies that can do it. Fortunately for Benchmark, Kagle finds sharp entrepreneurs as readily as an ice cream cart jockey attracts kids on a summer afternoon. By Linda Himelstein _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS The e.biz 25: Masters of the Web Universe COVER IMAGE: The e.biz 25 Commentary: The Great Equalizer? Not by a Long Shot TABLE: Who's Lagging in the Net Age [empire builders] Jeffrey P. Bezos AMAZON.COM INC. Stephen M. Case AMERICA ONLINE INC. Timothy A. Koogle YAHOO! INC. [the innovators] Louis H. Borders WEBVAN GROUP INC. Jay S. Walker PRICELINE.COM Margaret C. Whitman EBAY INC. Glen Meakem FREE MARKETS ONLINE INC. James H. Clark MYCFO INC. Christos M. Cotsakos E*TRADE GROUP INC. [bankrollers] Masayoshi Son SOFTBANK CORP., JAPAN Robert C. Kagle BENCHMARK CAPITAL Lawton W. Fitt GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. L. John Doerr KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD & BYERS   Bernard Arnault LVMH MOET HENNESSY LOUIS VUITTON   [the visionaries] Mary G. Meeker MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER John Hagel III MCKINSEY & CO. William Joy SUN MICROSYSTEMS [the architects] Louis V. Gerstner Jr. IBM CORP. Pehong Chen BROADVISION INC. David C. Peterschmidt INKTOMI INC. Kevin J. O'Connor DOUBLECLICK Ellen M. Hancock EXODUS COMMUNICATIONS [the pace setters] David S. Pottruck CHARLES SCHWAB CORP. John T. Chambers CISCO SYSTEMS Michael S. Dell DELL COMPUTER INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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