Fall 1998

Erik Jansen enjoys 'picking things apart' in the world of venture investment

Listing job dismissals at the top of your resume probably is not a good career move, but being fired is an experience Erik Jansen recommends for everybody.

“Everybody gets fired in their life, if they’re lucky,” said Jansen, a 1978 electrical engineering graduate. “It’s important, because we’re all going to fail. Fail early, fail often and fail inexpensively. You don’t learn from your success.”

Apparently Jansen has learned well as he has become one of the most widely respected and best-known technology analysts in the country. Publications such as Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Business Week, and Investors Business Daily have quoted Jansen extensively. He also has appeared on several national television and radio programs, and technical industry publications frequently cite him as a source. A private venture investor and financial adviser, Jansen started his career with Texas Instruments, where he gained engineering and marketing experience in the semiconductor industry. In 1987, he answered a blind ad in The Wall Street Journal and moved to a major investment banking firm as an analyst. He put his technical background to use conducting financial research in the areas of semiconductor development, design, manufacturing and system applications.

Jansen then moved to Alex Brown & Sons, where he was in charge of semiconductor technology research. After working with that company, he decided to step out and co-found Jansen, Remmers, Nichols & Bernier.

Among the things Jansen does is help companies acquire, direct and put together whole new business plans. He has been involved in the start-up of three Silicon Valley companies, and in other companies throughout the nation.

Jansen brings an engineer’s heart to the world of investing and venture capital: “I love picking things apart and analyzing them.”
“I get to involve myself with the smartest, most capable people on the planet,” Jansen said. “The entrepreneurs, the investors, the politicians and the technologists are bright and socially savvy people, certainly more capable than me. I enjoy contributing where I can.”

Having a strong technical background and knowing if technology and markets are more or less likely to move in a certain direction is Jansen’s strength. He describes himself as an “idea and vision man, not an operating man.”

A change in Jansen’s personal vision came through two firings. He describes each as a “crushing defeat.”

“My work was my entire life both times, and the politics within the organizations made me leave,” Jansen recalled. “It’s a very hurtful thing. But I learned that work ethic is a wonderful thing until it gets in front of your respect for yourself and others.

“Respect for people and a deep committment to one’s ethics are more important than anything else. That sounds like a squishy, touchy-feely thing, but it is true. I also now have a greater appreciation for balance in my life. She is my safety net.”

A big part of that balance is Jansen’s wife, Gretchen. “She is my human resources department, my personnel consultant and my conscience when it comes to me respecting my own time.”

In addition to his work, Jansen is a self-described “adventurer”, an avid skier, runner, cyclist and backpacker. Other hobbies include travel and photography.

— by Bryan Taylor