By JP Mangalindan, writer @FortuneMagazine July 25, 2013: 7:13 AM ET
(Fortune)
Jeff Jordan has his hands full. He's balancing an empty serving platter in one hand and an oven tray with salmon -- adapted from a Chez Panisse recipe -- in the other as he makes dinner in the expansive kitchen of his Portola Valley, Calif., home. Cooking comes easily to the 54-year-old Jordan. As a teen, he became a brunch chef in his native Philadelphia, serving up eggs Benedict and steamed monkfish. ("I was hiring and firing at 17 -- a good skill to learn early on," he jokes.) He even thought about culinary school before going for his MBA at Stanford instead.
Many in Silicon Valley are glad he did. Jordan was an eBay executive and the CEO of the online-reservations-focused OpenTable before becoming a partner at venture capitalists Andreessen Horowitz two years ago. "Really good operators don't necessarily make good VCs, but he does," explains eBay CEO John Donahoe of his technical, data-loving ex-colleague. Marc Andreessen puts it more simply: "He's working out extremely well." Many of the firm's consumer-startup deals flow through Jordan, and his investment portfolio already includes hot properties Airbnb, Fab, Lookout, and Pinterest.
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