As a venture capitalist who had hand in the success of DataGravity, Inc. and Docker, Inc., Dr. Steve Herrod has an eye for start ups. The managing partner at General Catalyst Partners sat down with theCUBE hosts Dave Vellante and John Furrier during a live broadcast from VMware, Inc.’s annual VMworld conference to discuss his investment tactics, as well as his predictions for the future.

Dr. Steve Herrod of General Catalyst Partners, at theCUBE VMworld 2014

Look for a team that attack problems

One ability that’s served him best, Herrod said, is the ability to spot a team with potential. He looks for “#1 tech teams investing in hard IT problems.”

When he encountered DataGravity, he recognized the potential that data-aware storage could have, the insights it would provide into data, making storage smarter. The decision to support DataGravity was easy, Herrod remarked, because “they knew what they were doing.” Furthermore, the DataGravity team had proven their smarts while working with General Catalyst Partners teams on projects in the past.

Part of Herrod’s investing strategy also has to do with looking for for “the things companies are going to need for different clouds.” Things like security and mobile applications.

Permiterless security makes sense for new business needs

Security in IT vastly important, said Herrod, both to the safety of the company and, depending on the type of business, the security of their customers.”Robbers rob banks because that’s where the money is. That’s why people rob these databases.” The world is ripe for solutions, Herrod observed.

Perimeterless security is an emerging security method that Herrod called out as particularly worthy of consideration. Insider threats, he explained, mean that danger can come from inside the perimeter, while mobile connectivity means that employees are now being productive outside of the perimeter. Security can no longer function as a permeable wall, it “should wrap apps and go wherever the app goes.”

Read more on Docker and VMware, as well as Herrod’s investment strategy, after the video.

On Docker and VMware

While permieterless security would certainly replace older forms of security, not all of Herrod’s investments require a massive shift in user interaction.

The tech world, he reflected, is “comprised of yesterday’s apps and cloud-scale web apps, which are largely stateless.” Docker was for stateless apps, while VMware used to be for stateful apps. “It makes good sense,” Herrod said, “to be able to approach both types of applications.” Furthermore, he added that the combined value of VMware and Docker may well result in something new and exciting.

Predictions for mobile

“Mobile will be everything,” Herrod said, but infrastructure needs to come first. He anticipates that bringing mobile to the enterprise will deeply impact developers and security.

Despite Herrod’s multiple successful investment ventures, when Furrier asked him to relay the “coolest” thing he’d done as a venture capitalist, Herrod responded by describing how he created his Palo Alto office. “It’s a house on University Avenue,” he said, with a laid-back atmosphere, whiteboards, coffee, and even a porch.