元マイクロソフトのエヴァンジェリスト、ドン・ダッジがグーグル対マイクロソフトを語る(Q&A)

VB: You also said you’re going to spend 20 percent of your time on Google Ventures. Can you say what you’re going to be focusing on there?

DD: Yeah, I can say a little bit about that. Being able to work with Google Ventures was really the thing that made this the ultimate dream job for me. I got to do all the same evangelism things, working with startups, businesses, and VCs I had been doing, but there’s a lot of natural synergy between the startups and companies that I work with and Google Ventures making investments in startups and fast-growing companies. It’s just the best of both worlds.

In terms of specifics, this is only my fourth week, so I can’t offer a lot of insight into the kinds of things Google Ventures is investing in. I’ve attended the partner meetings every Monday, and they have a very open and aggressive style. They’ll look at anything, they look at things on the merits, and they are financial investors not necessarily strategic investors. They’re looking to make investments in great startups and great teams. And they’re looking for things where Google can add value to the investments they make.