entrepreneurship zealot, grounded technology possibilist, believer in the power of ideas, passionate about sustainability & impact
Joined May 2009
- Tweets 9,551
- Following 645
- Followers 706,861
- Likes 66
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Pinned Tweet
Jan 5
At 70 I feel like I'm thirty backing exciting innovators/innovations making the impossible possible and from improbable ideas to world-changing socially impactful companies. Never had such a fast learning rate in my life or felt I could have so much impact, which is exciting.
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Vinod Khosla retweeted
Jun 11
We’re teaming up @Palmeiras, the first football club to meaningfully build upon TacticAI: our AI system that can help simulate field scenarios and predict open play dynamics up to 8 seconds in advance. ⚽
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Jun 11
I'm a technology optimist. I’ve spent four decades studying disruptive innovation, from the microprocessor, the internet, mobile phones to OpenAI. I'm certain AI will do 80% of the economically valuable work humans do today, for 80% of all jobs, faster than most believe. The question isn't whether mass underemployment arrives, but whether we have a policy framework ready. Right now we don't.
Jun 11
We will need a new tax code for the wealth AI creates ft.trib.al/999yn2u
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Jun 11
AI will make it easy for 50M Americans to be re-employed as micro-entrepreneurs by 2035, with AI handling finance, legal, marketing and taxes so each can pursue their craft. The human touch, provenance-rich and artisanal, will be valued over pure utility.
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Jun 11
None of this requires new institutions, just replacing a 1950s tax code with one designed for the 2030s. Capitalism operates by permission of democracy. The future utopia is ours to invent. The dystopia is ours to choose.
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Jun 11
AI is less popular than ICE or congress. We should wake up and address people's concern outside of tech or we will get @AOC for President instead of AI progress and adoption! And this will be amplified by Chinese government interference to fan the flames and slow US AI progress.
Jun 11
We will need a new tax code for the wealth AI creates ft.trib.al/999yn2u
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Jun 11
Lower capital gains tax rates is redistribution. Only upward redistribution. AI will capital juice returns further and compress labor share of income more. Why not equalize the two rates? $400B in tax savings that can be used to help people who are impacted by AI?
Jun 11
We will need a new tax code for the wealth AI creates ft.trib.al/999yn2u
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Jun 11
We favor capital gains at a lower rate when AI is helping capital and dis-advantaging labor. All income taxes should be at the same rate, capital gains or ordinary incomes. Generate hundreds of billions of dollars that help the people who are impacted by AI. Easy idea, a very populist idea.
Jun 11
We will need a new tax code for the wealth AI creates ft.trib.al/999yn2u
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Vinod Khosla retweeted
Jun 8
We can’t comment on conversations we weren’t part of, but we do want to share our own experience working with Vinod over the past year.
Vinod invested in us about a year ago, when we were five PhD students with a slide deck and an open-source repo.
Working with him, you immediately see how much he genuinely cares about helping founders build the most ambitious version of their company. He asks hard questions and doesn't sugarcoat feedback. It's not always comfortable, and we don't agree with every single piece of it, but it has consistently pushed us to think more clearly
Jun 7
I am often wrong but always give honest opinions. Some find this harsh but hypocritical politeness hurts founders. Brutal honesty gives them a chance to evaluate it and accept or reject. the opinion. Great founders elect for honesty. It is not fun to offer brutal honesty
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Jun 8
I try and help entrepreneurs if I have the time, even if the plan doesn't fit what we do. Maybe time to just make polite excuses as I have seen others do. I try and maintain the highest ethical standards, unlike nonsensical claims. Send me an actual example if you have it.
Okay, I will share a story about @vkhosla. I met Vinod Khosla at Chase Center last year, approached him, and talked to him. The weird thing is he doesn’t shake hands (where I’m from, we shake hands), but he was genuine. I sent him an email afterwards; he replied to my email and deck and gave me pointers on what to improve. @vkhosla was genuine to me when some no-name fund was acting like douches.
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Jun 7
I like the “kindness is clarity” mantra. Thanks
In 2019, @vkhosla led our seed round. He, and our board partner (@evancharles), stood out for this quality. I get the sense all the partners at KV are like this.
They never sugarcoated. They spoke harsh truths that we needed to hear. It was painful sometimes.
But, they stand out because the norm is for VCs to ghost, lie to your face, and sometimes undermine you. I think those folks think they’re preserving relationships. I think they think they’re being kind.
But my experience is that Vinod and team live the “kindness is clarity” mantra.
And trust in VC is not the same as trust in personal relationships. Investors are not your friends. This sounds obvious on the outside, but inside, it’s easy to forget. At the end of the day, the trust you want to have with your investors is that they are always, ALWAYS acting in what they believe to be the best interest of the company.
No doubt in my mind that’s true for Vinod.
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Jun 7
Thanks
Jun 7
If you are a founder and Vinod Khosla offers you money or advice, take it.
This is a no brainer.
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Jun 7
Thanks, Bipul. Deep, frank, honest conversation, pleasant or not, is the best way to derisk a startup.
Jun 7
In my VC days I competed with @vkhosla before starting Rubrik where Vinod was one of our earliest investors.
Vinod is one of those rare investors who always seeks truth and tells you as things are. I always came out of his meetings thinking that I am not thinking big enough especially how do I accelerate even faster and take bigger bets. He challenges you, makes you better, and adds non-consensus dimensions to your business.
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Jun 7
I am often wrong but always give honest opinions. Some find this harsh but hypocritical politeness hurts founders. Brutal honesty gives them a chance to evaluate it and accept or reject. the opinion. Great founders elect for honesty. It is not fun to offer brutal honesty
Jun 7
Apologies, I may sometimes be wrong, but I will always give entrepreneurs my best and honest opinion, popular or not.
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Jun 7
Agree. I am often wrong but always give honest opinions. Some find this harsh but hypocritical politeness hurts founders. Brutal honesty gives them a chance to evaluate it and accept or reject. the opinion. Great founders elect for honesty. It is not fun to offer brutal honesty
You’d want a savvy operator turned investor like @vkhosla on your side in the early days. If he privately suggests breaking up a founding team on the first meeting, might be worth asking why and address those dynamics even if you don’t fully agree with his take.
The expectation that investors should coddle founders and throw good money behind barely strung together category leader thesis is a hang over of the ZIRP era of food delivery unicorns and cheap capital. Might still work but Kleiner’s track record is arguably better than a SoftBank.
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