Former Microsoft Exec Terry Myerson Talks New Venture Roles

Months ago, Terry Myerson announced that he was leaving his executive role at Microsoft. Now he’s rejoining the business world with the addition of two part-time positions to his resume: Venture Partner at Pacific Northwest-based Madrona Venture Group and Operating Executive 1 at the D.C.-based private equity firm Carlyle Group.

In an interview with Crunchbase News, Myerson spoke more in-depth about what he expects from his new roles.

On the industry front, Myerson said he’s excited to work with companies in the cloud, enterprise, and infrastructure industries in which he has a lot of experience. However, he also plans to use his skill set and the opportunity to learn more about other fields that interest him.

“I’m very intrigued by the work that’s going on at the intersection of computing and biology,” he said. “I plan on spending the next many months learning a whole heck of a lot about this frontier of genomics or bioinformatics. … I think computing and big data in the cloud can really transform a number of things in life sciences.”

Myerson, who ran multiple businesses with global branches while at Microsoft, also said that his work with Madrona and position at Carlyle will complement each other geographically.

“I’m excited by the fact that Carlyle is a global investor. I’m already working with them on an opportunity in the UK and talking to one of their portfolio companies on the east coast,” he said.

At the same time, with Seattle as his home base, Madrona’s Pacific-Northwest focus allows him to be available and supportive of its portfolio companies.

“When a company is very young it just resonates to me as true that being available and being here with them geographically actually can be very helpful,” he explained.

To that end, we asked Myerson how closely he’ll be working with companies at both Madrona and Carlyle and whether he’ll be taking board seats. He said he’s happy to work closely with companies on both teams.

“With both firms, there will be opportunities to be on boards, and if there’s a company that I generally love and champion investment in, I’ll be proud to be on the board and contribute in that way. It’s something that I’d love to do,” he said.

So far, he’s helped do due diligence about the differentiation, competitiveness, and durability of technologies, and Myerson has begun acting as a mentor and coach to teams. He also said there may be opportunities to connect his two roles, and has already facilitated introductions between a Madrona and a Carlyle company. However, with just a few weeks under his belt, he’s mostly focused on getting the ball rolling.

“Really it’s about getting started now and about finding those teams that I want to contribute to and helping find new teams that want to partner with us,” Myerson explained.

On whether or not he sees himself going back to a full time operating role in the future, Myerson said, over the next year, he’s concentrating on learning more about his current teams.