The Matt Cohler Exit Interview

Early Facebook executive Matt Cohler announced his departure today to join top tier venture fund Benchmark Capital. I spent nearly half an hour this afternoon talking to him about his decision to join Benchmark Capital, his predictions for Facebook and a variety of topics that we touched on via various non sequiturs. Joining us was Benchmark Capital General Partner Bill Gurley as well.

This was a surprising move in many ways. Cohler was definitely one of the “inside guys” at Facebook, gets along well with new COO Sheryl Sandberg, and wasn’t generally expected to leave. But as he says below, he’s always had an itch to be a venture captialist, and frankly there is no better place to be for a young partner than Benchmark. They are top tier, but unlike their peers Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, each partner shares the profits equally. A junior partner at a competing firm is unlikely to get much of the pie for many years. Cohler, though, will now bring home the same paycheck as the other Benchmark partners.

I’ll also highlight Gurley’s comments around the 4:20 mark talking about Benchmark’s strategy for hiring new blood periodically to keep things fresh. The firm has unorthodox hiring and compensation practices that seem to work.

At one point in the interview we talk extensively about the future of Facebook, and whether the Zuckerberg/Sandberg duo can take the company to the next level (meaning, frankly, IPO). Cohler seems optimistic, and clearly remains a fan of both executives.