Robert C. Kagle

Robert C. Kagle has come a long way from his days growing up in the Rust Belt burg of Flint, Mich. The oldest child in a single-parent family, Kagle was always looking to make a quick buck. For a time, he pushed an ice cream cart around his neighborhood. He took a job in the spark-plug division of General Motors Corp. He even did a stint at a tuxedo shop just so he would have a tux to wear to his high school prom--complete with top hat and cane.

Today, Kagle, 43, can afford to buy a chain of tuxedo stores--and then some. Thanks to his skill at spotting future Internet headliners such as auction pioneer eBay Inc. and online-mortgage upstart E-loan Inc., the partner at venture-capital firm Benchmark Capital has emerged as one of the industry's elite investors. And, with Kagle as its spiritual leader, four-year-old Benchmark has become one of the hottest venture-capital firms in Silicon Valley.