Vinod Khosla

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To watch the video version of this episode, visit incumbentsandinsurgents.com.

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This podcast is presented by the TowerBrook Healthcare Institute.

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Incumbents and Insurgents in Healthcare with Eric Larsen.

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This presentation is for informational purposes only. Please review the full disclaimer at the end of the episode.

**Eric Larsen** (0:18)
Ian, good morning.

**Ian** (0:19)
Good morning. What, have you become a private equity guy with that vest or something?

**Eric Larsen** (0:22)
I guess, man. It's just like osmosis.

**Ian** (0:24)
Is that a designer vest, or does it have a logo on it?

**Eric Larsen** (0:27)
No logo, but it definitely, you know, at a distance, they're like, yeah, that's VC, that's PVE. Got it.

**Ian** (0:33)
Yeah. No, I understand the metamorphosis that you've gone through here.

**Eric Larsen** (0:36)
That's right. What are we doing? We are introducing our dear friend and colleague, Vinod Khosla. And look, I got to tell you, man, I have been looking forward to this for so long. I unapologetically love Vinod Khosla. I just think he's such, first off, I think he's like probably the most, no, I'm not going to qualify it. He is the most prescient technologist of the last 50 years. And he's one of the titans of Silicon Valley, one of the titans of, if there were a Mount Rushmore of venture capitalists, I think he'd be etched in maybe with the biggest sort of like sculpture. Because he's just had this deep clairvoyance about how technology is going to ricochet across society. And he's been present and really instrumental in each paradigmatic shift. Let's go back to Internet, right? I mean, his legendary investment was Juniper Networks, right? By the fact that he co-founded Sun Microsystems, right? But he put a $3 million investment into Juniper and then IPO-ed it with a $3 billion outcome. So a 7,000-fold return on his investment. But he was also the first outside investor into OpenAI and just has this deep intuition. But then he's also the techno-philosopher of Silicon Valley and has written some really seminal thought pieces that have framed the dialogue. But above that, and then I want you to, you've gotten to know him really well over the last few years too. I just love his insatiable learning.
I mean, the guy is 70, 71 years old. He's planning on his next 25 years. He's going to outlive both you and me. You and I have a lot of stress in our lives.

**Ian** (2:30)
Speak for yourself.

**Eric Larsen** (2:33)
So I'm super excited about this. What are your thoughts?

**Ian** (2:37)
Look, I agree with everything you've said. I'm thrilled that you guys were able to find the time to have this conversation. You know, early on in this journey, that you've provoked with us, with TowerBrook, with TowerBrook Health Institute. But I'll tell you, Vinod, I mean, just, you know, doer, doer, doer, doer, doer. And the fact that he has set his sights on healthcare after various industries that he has set his sights on, and he continues obviously to be involved in so many businesses, seen and unseen.
But his fearlessness in terms of attacking an industry, like he has attacked healthcare, the persistence from the time he wrote that paper in 2016 on the 80% doctor and-

**Eric Larsen** (3:27)
20% doctor.

**Ian** (3:28)
Sorry, 20% doctor, but that 80% of what physicians are going to be doing, you know, will be automated. And then to write, to have it be 100 pages long and go through almost every specialty, the insatiable appetite to learn, to challenge, to throw down meaningful statements like the 20% doctor, and like he's done in other areas, that he's attacked in healthcare, behavioral healthcare, various types of parts of business automation, various parts of primary care, with his son Neil and the business that they have started as well. It's just impressive with the fearlessness with which he's gone about it.
One, to hear him talk about each one of these businesses, it's not like any venture capitalists. It's almost as if he's talking about his family members and his children. The rolled-to-sleeves nature that he has, that you can see that he can get into the weeds and understand the details, and then he can fly high and see the forest. I mean, look, it's what makes him so special and what makes him so successful. Then lastly, what I'd say is, this understanding how fast things are beginning to move now, and his orientation towards the incumbents, towards working with the likes of TowerBrook, to working with the likes of our portfolio companies and co-investing with us, to seeing that accelerating the impact of things that he is working on in funding, could actually come through either the combination or co-investment in some larger businesses. I think we're going to see more of the mainstay venture firms. Look, they're already beginning to do that. I think we're going to see more of that. I think is incredibly prescient as well. So super, super fortunate for the ability to work and be exposed to his brain, and be able to work with him and his firm. Super fortunate that you've been able to have this conversation.