Google's Board, Every Big Tech Board

Kevin Maney shrugs: My Portfolio colleagues are making hay about potential conflicts of interest among Google's board members, but, really, that's the reality at most significant Silicon Valley companies. The industry, particularly around San Francisco's Bay Area, is as insular and inter-related as the court at Versailles. The same venture capitalists fund multiple companies (and thus get seats on their boards), and they don't know which ones are going to grow up to be major players that then cross over into the territories of other companies they funded. And then the Silicon Valley crowd at various times works with each other, socializes together, gets comfortable with one another, and the next thing you know Facebook's Mark Zuckerman is asking Marc Andreessen to be on his board because Andreessen has been a friend and mentor, even while Andreessen has a company, Ning, that somewhat shades into Facebook's social networking territory.

Just look at John Doerr, one of Google's board members and a partner at VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Doerr is also on Amazon.com's board, which has cross purposes with Google these days in cloud computing. He helped fund Frontline Wireless, which is involved in wireless spectrum, and could create a conflict at some point. He's funded energy companies and biotech companies, both industries that Google or Google's founders have gotten into.

Or look at Cisco's board. It includes Carol Bartz, CEO of software company Autodesk; Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang, and National Semiconductor Chairman Brian Halla. All could potentially wind up with some sort of conflict, either because of their own companies or other companies they've invested in or have relationships with.

For better or worse, this is just how it is. And when a particular conflict gets too intense, most of these board members do the right thing and resign. If indeed Google's Android cell phone operating system becomes a major flashpoint between Google and Apple, Schmidt will either leave or be politely asked to leave Apple's board.