Ted Schlein: From Startup to Venture Capitalist and Beyond

Ted Schlein is a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist with a storied career spanning decades. He co-founded Kleiner Perkins, one of the most prestigious venture capital firms in the world.

Schlein's journey began in the 1980s, when he worked at a software startup called Sybase. He later joined Kleiner Perkins in 1989, where he would go on to make some of his most notable investments.

As a venture capitalist, Schlein has a keen eye for spotting emerging trends and technologies. His investments have included companies like Juniper Networks and ArcSight.

Ted Schlein was born in 1957 in the United States.

He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1978.

Schlein then went on to earn his MBA from the University of California, Berkeley in 1980.

This marked the beginning of his career in venture capital.

Ballistic's methods seem to be working, with a successful exit of portfolio company Talon Cyber Security being bought by Palo Alto Networks in a deal valued at $625 million.

This early success is likely due to Ballistic's unique approach of being the first institutional money on the cap table and taking a board seat, giving them more control over their investments.

They can protect their investments from terms that could hurt them, such as "liquidation preferences" that give another investor priority to the cash from an acquisition.

Ballistic is also incubating startup ideas internally, finding people to build and run their ideas, with two such startups in stealth from Fund 1 at the moment.

They expect to wrap up investing out of Fund 1 after two more startups, bringing their total Fund 1 portfolio to around 20 companies, and begin investing out of the second fund in another two months.

Joining Symantec as a startup right after college was a no-brainer for me. I think they were like three software startups back then.

It was a different world in a different time in the evolution of Silicon Valley and innovation. The entrepreneurs and ideas may be different now, but entrepreneurship remains pretty much the same.

I've had the privilege of being around it for over 30 years now, and it's as cool as ever.

Ted Schlein started his career at Symantec, where he designed and brought to market the first commercial antivirus software in the world.

He was a key player in the company, presenting to the board frequently and getting to know many of the prominent figures, including Kleiner Perkins partners John Doerr and Jim Lally.

After leaving Symantec, Ted Schlein joined Kleiner Perkins as a venture capitalist, where he leveraged his expertise in security to make his first investment in Internet Security Systems, the first intrusion detection system ever built.

He has since been involved in helping start numerous cybersecurity companies, making him a firm believer in the importance of picking a specific area of focus and becoming an expert in that field.

Ted Schlein's passion for security is rooted in his understanding of human nature, recognizing that people have a fundamental desire to be safe and secure.