The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Vinod Khosla on What Venture Assistance Really Means, Why Many VCs Are Not Qualified To Advise Founders & Why Startups Can Innovate So Much Faster Than Incumbents

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Feb 24, 2020

Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures and co-founder of Sun Microsystems, dives into the essence of venture assistance in the startup world. He questions the qualifications of many VCs in advising entrepreneurs and elaborates on how value often lies outside the boardroom. Khosla discusses his commitment to innovation and the significant impact of team recruitment on success. He emphasizes the need for alignment between founders and VCs, and the crucial balance between ambition, risk, and mission in driving startups forward.

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ANECDOTE

Early Inspiration

Vinod Khosla's entrepreneurial journey began at 15, inspired by Andy Grove's story.
Since then, he has dedicated his career to working with entrepreneurs.

INSIGHT

Building vs. Returns

Khosla Ventures prioritizes building successful companies over immediate returns.
Their focus is on providing venture assistance, supporting entrepreneurs in areas where they lack experience.

ADVICE

Venture Assistance Focus

Vinod Khosla spends significant time helping portfolio companies with talent acquisition.
He also challenges founders' conventional wisdom and helps them identify hidden risks.

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Vinod Khosla is the Founder @ Khosla Ventures, one of the valley’s most renowned firms of the last decade with a portfolio including Square, Affirm, DoorDash, Impossible Foods and OpenDoor just to name a few. As for Vinod, he started his career as a Founder, founding Daisy Systems, a company that went on to IPO. Then in 1982, Vinod founded Sun Microsystems where he pioneered open systems and commercial RISC processors. In 1986, Vinod joined his longtime friend, John Doerr and became a General Partner @ KPCB where he helped incubate Juniper Networks and helped transform the telecommunications business with Cerent Corporation, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1999 for $7.2 billion.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Vinod made his way into the world of startups with the founding of Daisy and Sun Microsystems and how that led to his entry into the world of venture with KPCB and ultimately founding Khosla Ventures?

2.) How does Vinod feel about the term "venture assistance" today? Where does Vinod believe VCs can really drive value? How does Vinod allocate his time to drive as much value for the portfolio as possible? How does Vinod get involved when it comes to talent acquisition for the portfolio?

3.) Why does Vinod believe that most board members are not qualified to advise entrepreneurs today? Why does Vinod believe that most value is driven outside of the board? What can founders to do make their boards as efficient as possible? How does Vinod advise founders to determine which advice to take vs which to disregard?

4.) How does Vinod assess his own approach and attitude to risk today? What does Vinod believe are acceptable vs unacceptable risks in startups? How does Vinod believe the very best founders think about risk management? Does Vinod agree time is the biggest killer of startups? Why does Vinod believe startups are so much quicker to innovate than incumbents?

5.) Why does Vinod believe that tolerance for failure has gone down in Silicon Valley? How does Vinod determine between the realism of when something is not work and to give up vs the visionary persistence to see a project through to the very end? What experience of his own have really led his thinking here?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Vinod’s Fave Book: Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology, The Third Pillar

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