E37: The Vinod Khosla Interview

**Erik Torenberg** (0:00)
We have a new show at Turpentine that's been in the works for a long time, Company Breakdowns. We dive into S1s and series B and beyond companies, interviewing founders and investors to break down the companies. First episode is on Rubrik, which I PO'd this week. Upcoming episodes cover Reddit, Databricks, and more. Subscribe at the link in the description or search for Company Breakdowns on YouTube or in the podcast platform of your choice.
Welcome back to Turpentine VC, a podcast where we discuss the art and science of building successful venture firms VC to VC.
Today's guest likely needs no introduction to a listener of this podcast. Vinod talks about why Khosla's approach is different than most funds and discusses his contrarian thesis in AI, biotech, robotics, crypto, and more. Without further ado, let's dive in. Vinod, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

**Vinod Khosla** (0:55)
Sure. Happy to be here.

**Erik Torenberg** (0:57)
Vinod, this has been a big year for you.
OpenAI has done tremendously well.
You've rehired Keith Raboi at Khosla and you've done a massive fundraise. But before talking about where we are today and where we're going in the future, first I just want to have you reflect a little bit. It's 20 years since you founded the firm. Can you tell us a little bit about the evolution of the firm? Is this something you could have predicted where you are today? Talk a bit about the different phases that the firm has undergone.

**Vinod Khosla** (1:28)
You know, the firm hasn't changed very much.
So the two people who joined me in 2006, David Wyden and Samir Kaul as senior people have been there since then. And since the very, you know, other than the first two years when I was operating as a sole investor, the people are the same, David and Samir. Swain joined about a dozen years ago. He's still there and Keith joined recently.
But he joined before. So the team has been roughly the same team for a very long time. Our mission is the same. We are a little bit different. And I think this is why I think we are a little bit resilient.
We are less in the investing business. I always say we are not investors. We are much more venture assistance to companies helping build companies. And frankly, it sort of pains me when entrepreneurs don't realize the difference. Just yesterday, I had two meetings. The CEO of one of our companies showed. Four people in Portugal trying to implement his PhD thesis.
I forget if I remember the right numbers, like 22 was 27 million in revenue, 20 was like less than one, 22 was 27, 23 was like 75, and these are just rough. And this year expects 165 And we had dinner and a strategic conversation about 2027 and 2028 And we had these dinners and he flew out from Portugal just for the dinner. Poor guy landed it just before the dinner and left on a red-eye to customer meetings in Boston. But he said he just would fly out anytime I'm willing to have dinner because the discussion is so different than with his other investors. And they're not like bad investors, just it's different. And the kind of strategic thinking about the future, strategic thinking about staffing. So that's what we focus on at one end, which is how we operate, why we call it venture assistance. I've had so many companies change strategies or hire a pivotal person or build a strategic relationship. That's different than what most venture people do. And frankly, most venture people haven't built enough companies themselves to earn the right to advise and entrepreneur on these things. So I don't go to board meetings because I see such terrible advice being dispensed mostly, that I don't even go to board meetings. So that's one aspect. The other aspect, which is also very different, is everybody in the firm is there because they care about the mission we are on. Much more care about, you know, if you look at 2004 when I left Kleiner, and I stayed in the Kleiner offices for two years. So I operated my venture firm from within the Kleiner offices. They were kind enough. In fact, when Samir joined me and then later David joined me, they gave them all offices. So then we got too big and they kicked us out. But our focus was science experiments, science and technology making a large impact, not the highest IRR. You know, we have to earn enough of an IRR, but it lets us do these really fun things. And a similar or a swan will say they're here for life, whether I pay them or not.