Komisar warns against the concept of a deferred life plan, when people put off what they really want to do for what is expected of them. According to Komisar, this is when you are deferring your sense of excitement and passion for what you really care about. Working hard is not inconsistent with the deferred life plan, he adds, but doing so for a product that you do not have interest in is.

Transcript



The concept of deferred life, which is the notion of putting off today what you really want to do because you believe that what you need to do today is what's expected of you is not the notion of not paying your dues or not working hard to build a foundation for success. Those are two different ideas. It's important to understand that what's deferred is your sense of passion. What's deferred is your sense of excitement, your enthusiasm, the integration of what you're doing with what you believe, what you care about. I believe it is a deferred life plan to go off and sell a product you don't believe in or to study an area that is of no interest to you because you believe it's somehow going to prepare you for an opportunity yet to be determined. I think it is not a deferred life plan to work very very hard to get experience in an area that you care about or to work your way up through a business where there's a product or a principle or service that you truly believe in. So working hard is not inconsistent with deferred life plan. Paying dues is not inconsistent with the life plan, but simply failing to do what you believe in is the deferred life plan.

1. A Venture Capitalist Innovation Process
2. The TiVo Transformation
3. Innovation Advice from George Lucas
4. A Cautionary Word on the Deferred Life Plan
5. Necessity-Driven Entrepreneurship
6. Lessons Learned from Failures
7. A View On Industry Bubbles and Investment Partners
8. Optimizing Career and Life Opportunities
9. Different Entrepreneurs Excel in Various Company Stages
10. Skills Of Great Entrepreneurs
11. The Supportive Silicon Valley Ecosystem

Randy Komisar answer questions on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students on March 3, 2007. Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and author of the best-selling book The Monk and the Riddle, talks about how innovation occurs at Kleiner Perkins. Instead of giving projects a thumbs up or thumbs down, the firm uses a set of filters to review and improve these projects. Through this process of iteration, innovation and problem solving occurs between investors and entrepreneurs, he notes.