Everything Samir Kaul said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Samir Kaul: Exercising default pro rata rights is a total cop-out
“So to me, I think pro rata is a total cop-out.”
Kaul: VCs are judged on net returns above 20% IRR, not win rates
“In this business, being conservative is a real problem, because we're in the business of returning 20% or greater net IRR to our investors, and we don't get judged by how many companies succeed out of the number of companies we invest in.”
Khosla Ventures has never had a partner deal veto in 17 years
“In my 17 years being here, I can't remember a veto. We don't really even have a number for a veto.”
Kaul: A CEO who blindly follows board advice is unfit for the role
“If a CEO, if he or she just listens to everything I say, then they're definitely not the right entrepreneur. They're definitely not the right CEO.”
Venture capitalists fleeing the sector killed the early cleantech industry
“It's what really killed the cleantech industry. And there are a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons was that all my fellow brethren in the venture industry ran for the hills.”
Khosla Ventures' cleantech portfolio will generate a positive overall return
“We will end up positive, and there's a number of companies that are worth north of a few billion dollars there that are making real impacts.”
Kaul: Consumers refuse to pay price premiums for green energy or fuel
“And we learned that consumers won't pay more for power. Consumers won't pay more for fuel for their cars.”
Khosla Ventures allocates one-third of capital to non-traditional tech sectors
“And I think one of the things I really love about our firm is that though we do invest half or more in traditional venture areas. We also spend about a third or so of our allocation in areas that have yet to be disrupted by technology, don't have venture there…”
Samir Kaul: Double down aggressively when positive startup signals emerge
“The odds of one of our initial investments being successful is lower than 50%. Sometimes it's 10%. And so when you get a signal that it might be better, you've got to really push your chips to the table and have the courage to do that.”
Kaul: Khosla's biggest wins came from regulated sectors like healthcare and food
“Square is in the banking industry. Gardent and Oscar have been in the healthcare industry. Impossible Foods is in the food industry. These are, you know, very, very regulated markets, and they've been some of our biggest wins.”
Kaul: Consumers will pay premium prices for healthier food and alternative protein
“People will pay more for food. They'll pay more for what they put in their bodies. They'll certainly pay more for what they put in their kid's body.”
Kaul: Shortening clinical trials saves $1M per day to healthcare
“Every day you shorten clinical trials is a million dollars that is saved to the healthcare system.”
Khosla Ventures invested in Square's Series A at a $30M valuation
“You know, I think when we invested in the Series A of Square, I think it was around a thirty million dollar valuation. It was Jack and Jim in a PowerPoint.”
Founders should start board meetings with one slide on key concerns
“Make sure at least 48 hours before the board meeting, you've sent a pre-read. And for goodness sake, please don't just read us those slides. You've got three to four hours with six or eight busy, intelligent people, hopefully, and you've got us in a room toget…”
Fully loaded deep tech R&D costs $250,000 per scientist annually
“R&D is 250 K fully loaded per scientist, per engineer, per year.”
Khosla Ventures provided Impossible Foods' initial $3M seed check
“Nine years ago in our office, we gave Pat the first three million bucks.”
Kaul: I would have taken wilder venture bets earlier in my career
“That you can only lose one time your money and that you can make infinite amounts. I would have taken even wilder bets earlier in my career.”
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