"On Wednesday, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, perhaps Silicon Valley's most famous venture firm, will announce that former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is joining the firm as a part-time partner. Powell acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that he has had any number of tempting job offers since leaving the State Department in January, but that the chance to work as a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins seemed too enticing to turn down.

Yet, the looming question is what the 68-year-old Powell, who served in the military for 35 years and rose to the rank of four-star general, can offer a venture capital firm that specializes in the financing of biotechnology start-ups and technology companies like Google and Netscape Communications, to name two of its more successful investments.

The answer, several Kleiner Perkins partners said, is that he will serve as a coach to its entrepreneurs and an in-house expert on international affairs, a valuable skill when even fledgling technology companies are increasingly international, employing programmers abroad and sell into overseas markets. Kleiner Perkins, based in Menlo Park, Calif., also anticipates more investments outside the United States.

Powell will meet with his partners once every three months--and be available by phone and e-mail message when necessary--to offer advice on prospective investments.

"There are any number of coaches who would happily sign up with Kleiner in a limited role given the payoff," Kedrosky said. "But it sure helps if you've got a coach who can pick up a phone and get Donald Rumsfield on the line." Security is currently a hot area for venture investing, Kedrosky noted--and one in which Kleiner Perkins "has been underinvested in relative to other large venture firms."