硅谷传奇投资人没打算退休

    英国女王伊丽莎白二世最近册封著名硅谷风险投资人迈克尔•莫里茨为爵士，以表彰他对英国经济和慈善事业的贡献，其中包括他为母校牛津大学（Oxford University）提供的一大笔资金。很久以前，莫里茨曾是《时代》（Times）杂志撰稿人，他撰写的《小王国》（The Little Kingdom）是迄今为止关于苹果公司（Apple）最精彩的著作之一。20年来，莫里茨领导着红杉（Sequoia）进行了一些最成功的投资，其中包括雅虎（Yahoo）、谷歌（Google）、贝宝（PayPal）和商务社交网站LinkedIn。莫里茨有时还会写作，偶尔也接受新闻媒体的采访【《财富》（Fortune）杂志在差不多10年前曾对他进行过介绍；两年前他曾为旧金山居民争取养老金改革的活动提供资金，同样引起过关注】。去年，莫里茨宣布，由于所患疾病尚未治愈（他没有说明是什么疾病），他正在远离红杉的管理层，消息震动了整个风险投资界。但他只是不再参与管理事务，投资活动并没有停止。7月份，莫里茨将赴科罗拉多州阿斯彭参加《财富》科技头脑风暴大会（Brainstorm Tech），并将在主舞台上接受采访。受封后，身在英国的莫里茨通过电话和本刊高级编辑亚当拉•辛斯基探讨了他所获得的荣誉以及其他一些问题，两人的谈话内容如下：

    问：你能给我介绍一下受封过程吗？有人提前通知你吗？还是说你看到名单才知道自己将要受封了？

    迈克尔•莫里茨：会有人给你打电话，他自称为女王陛下的政府代表，当然这确实也是他的职务。他会问你一个假设性问题。首先他会向你保证绝对保守秘密，然后他会问：“假设你将得到册封，”——不管是什么头衔——“你会接受吗？”显然，他们不希望出现册封对象拒绝受封的尴尬场面。然后你就要回答“接受”或者“不接受”。如果表示接受，你很快就会得到官方通知。这就表明你没有拒绝获得册封，他们也不会拒绝授予你这个头衔。

    问：我认识一些美国色彩比较明显的人，我把你视为他们中的一员。对于这项来自你出生国的荣誉，你有何反应？

    嗯，我知道了受封不需要佩剑或者骑白马。我松了一口气，因为我真的对骑马过敏，而且对我这副小身板来说，盔甲实在是太重了。的确，我感到极为荣幸，也有一些意外。我在英国长大，我人生的很大一部分都围绕着这一点展开。而且，就算长大了，一个人也永远无法彻底摆脱童年的影响。

    问：我想问一下你如何利用时间？过去一年中你扮演了一个不同的角色，但你仍在积极从事投资活动。你能谈谈这方面的情况吗？

    我确实参加了我们的所有投资活动，而且仍在代表红杉进行新的投资。我刚刚作为董事进入了一家由七个人组成的初创型公司——现在这些人的名字还不能正式记录在册。我还会继续做这样的工作。我深入参与红杉的投资活动，只是不再涉足管理事务。我觉得在这方面大家的理解稍有偏差。我愿意代表红杉开展新的投资，而且也迫切希望这样做。

    Michael Moritz, the renowned Silicon Valley venture capitalist, recently became Sir Michael, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his promotion of British economic interests and his philanthropy, including a large gift to his alma mater, Oxford University. Long ago a writer for Time magazine and author of what remains one of the finest books ever written about Apple, Moritz has led some of Sequoia's most successful investments of the last 20 years. These include Yahoo, Google, PayPal, and LinkedIn. Moritz still writes occasionally, but he infrequently sits for interviews with the press. (Fortune profiled him nearly a decade ago; he also drew attention more recently for his role in a San Francisco political campaign over pension reform.) Last year Moritz shocked Sand Hill Road (home of many VC firms) by announcing that he was stepping away from active management of Sequoia because of an unspecified and incurable ailment. He hasn't stopped investing, though, just managing. In the wake of his knighthood, Moritz, who will give a mainstage interview at Fortune Brainstorm Tech in July in Aspen, phoned from Britain to discuss his honor and a host of other subjects with Fortune's Adam Lashinsky. A transcript follows:

    Q: Can you explain to me the process of knighthood? Do you get advance warning or does your name just show up on the list?

    MICHAEL MORITZ: Someone calls you up pretending to be and actually being a representative of Her Majesty's government who asks you the hypothetical question -- swears you to the strictest of confidences and then poses the question, "In the hypothetical case, if you were offered an honor" -- whatever the honor is -- "would you accept it?" They obviously don't want the embarrassment of people bestowed an honor and then rejecting it. And you answer "yes" or "no" to that, and if you answer yes, a bit of time goes by, and then you get the official notification that seeing as you haven't rejected them, they're not going to reject you.

    Q: I think of you as being one of the more American people I know. What's your reaction to this honor from the country of your birth?

    Well, I discovered that there was no need for a sword or a white horse. And I was relieved because I have a real allergy to being on horseback and the weight of the armor was going to be too much for my frail frame anyway. I was immensely flattered actually and somewhat surprised. There's a big part of my life that revolves around having grown up here and being British and the fact that you can never get your boyhood out of your manhood.

    Q: I want to ask you about how you've been spending your time. You've taken on a different role over the last year, but you're still actively investing. Would you tell me about that?

    I'm very involved with all of our investments and continue on behalf of Sequoia to make new investments. I just happened to join the board of a seven-person startup -- and whose name needs to go unrecorded right now -- and will continue to do that. I'm deeply involved in the investment side of the business, just not involved in the management of the business. I think there was a bit of misconception about that. But I am eager and willing to work on Sequoia's behalf on new investments.