History

I first came to Silicon Valley in the mid 70’s as a graduate student at Stanford’s School of Engineering. I stayed in this region ever since because of its unique attributes: democratic freedoms, economic opportunities, a culture of entrepreneurship and meritocracy, diversity and tolerance, broad intellectual leadership, and a great climate. Creating and growing high technology businesses are amongst the most thrilling and fulfilling experiences I can imagine. These opportunities were presented to me at an early age. They gave me a chance to participate in the birthing stages and irresistible growth of high technology industries such as semiconductors, computers, networks, and handhelds.

For the past 30 years, I worked for technology companies ranging from young startups to Fortune 500s. I served as CEO of public companies such as 3Com and Palm, and as a board member of many private and public companies. I learned from what I did well, but even more so from what I didn’t do so well. Most of what I learned was self-taught. I had no mentor. Through luck, persistence, and skills, I reached a measure of success, and through this success, gained perspective on the path traveled.

Towards the end of 2003, I resolved to spend the next phase of my professional career helping entrepreneurs chart their own course to success. A keen observer of the high tech world will rapidly conclude that it probably has too many bankers, lawyers, venture capitalists, and consultants. This is why BGV is none of the above. On the other hand, there are still too few teachers, particularly for high tech CEOs and entrepreneurs. This is why BGV attempts to concentrate its value along this dimension.

Timeline

1955: Born in Tlemcen, a small village near the border of Algeria and Morocco, home to a thriving Sefardic community now extinct.

1960: Immigrated to France, as the Algerian’s independence war breaks out. Jews are no longer welcomed in North Africa.

1975: Married Illeana Amar, in Jerusalem.

1976: Graduated as Ingenieur Arts et Metiers in Paris. Attended Stanford’s graduate School of Engineering.

1977: Graduated with MS degree. Started work at Zilog as a software engineer.

1980: Birth of first child, Ori Michael.

1981: Birth of second child, David Emmanuel.
Left Zilog. Co-founded Bridge Communications.

1984: Became a US citizen.

1985: Bridge completed IPO on Nasdaq.

1987: Bridge merged with 3Com.

1990: Became president and CEO of 3Com. Signed up for up to 10 years. 3Com is a $380 million company.

1994: 3Com joins the Fortune 500. Joined the board of Cypress Semiconductors.

2000: Completed 3Com CEO tenure on 12/31/2000. 3Com revenues peak at $5.8B. Spun off Palm on Nasdaq. Became chairman of 3Com and Palm.

2001: Re-enlisted as interim CEO of Palm. Founded the Israel Venture Network,  http://www.israelventurenetwork.org/, a venture philanthropy organization of entrepreneurs focused on promoting positive social change in the state of Israel.

2003: Completed Palm CEO tenure on 11/1/2003. Acquired Handspring. Separated Palm into PalmSource and palmOne. Became chairman of palmOne.

2004: Founded BGV. Moved offices to Palo Alto. Joined the board of Real Networks.

2005: Completed 1st BGV portfolio exit (sale of Swan Labs to F5). Started teaching at INSEAD business school as visiting professor. The course is titled "From Start-Up to Fortune 500: lessons in management and governance". For a course outline, visit http://faculty.insead.edu/benhamou/fsf500/

2006: Engaged Anik Bose as Benhamou Global Ventures Partner

2007: Sold Palm minority investment to Elevation Partners and retires as Palm Chairman. Joined the board of Silicon Valley Bank. BGV portfolio company Voltaire completes its IPO on NASDAQ.

2008: Sold Go Networks to Nextwave. Sold Atrica to NSN. 

Illeana Benhamou meets a premature death on 9/10/2008

2009: Sold the operating company of Finjan to M86 in November 2009. Retained the IP company of Finjan. Announced the sale of 3Com to Hewlett Packard for an enterprise value of $2.7 Billion.

2010: Completed sale of 3Com to Hewlett-Packard on 4/12/2010.