Vinod Khosla Quotes

Venture capital is about .02% of the U.S. economy invested, and it accounts for 11% of total U.S. jobs and 21% of U.S. economic output. And the reason why is because these companies can get very big, very quickly.

Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.

We want to nurture startups on our platform, just like we did in the old world.

The more activity around Chicago-based companies, and the more success that entrepreneurs have in Chicago, the better we as venture capitalists in Chicago will do.

When the venture capital industry invests, it's usually because they sense there is money in them hills. And often it takes a high-profile winner to wake everyone up in the category. SpaceX is that company.

It's a lot easier to gain traction when there is such a great proliferation of Internet access. The velocity at which some of these startups are gaining traction is mind-boggling. Companies like ShoeDazzle, Stella & Dot, Gilt, Groupon - these companies are going from zero to hundreds of millions in revenue in three years.

Startups should be - if you graph their financial performance, it should be what's called a J curve. You start out at zero. you're not making any money; you're not losing any money.

I've had a lot of help... from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, venture capitalists. They've helped me out a ton.

Venture-backed startups with billion dollar market caps are called 'unicorns' because they are supposed to be rare mythical creatures that few entrepreneurs will ever ride.

It is important that New York, in addition to its fashion, and finance, and tourism, and communications infrastructure, also begin developing venture infrastructure that's for real.

True innovation takes at least 10 to 15 years, whereas the longest that private venture capitalists are routinely willing to wait is five years. They don't join the game until all the riskiest plays have already been made - by governments.

A startup job is an investment, after all: Venture capitalists may wager money, but you're staking something more precious - your time. And unlike VCs, you can't spread your risk by betting on a bunch of companies at once. Start with TAM. That's 'total addressable market,' and if it's not big enough, there's no point in talking.

If you look at all the investments made during 'Dragons' Den,' the ratio of those that make it to those that don't is actually extremely high.

IndieBio's capital, facilities and deep mentoring by a network of biotech specific experts have the potential to spawn the Google's, Facebook's and Instagram's of biology.

It turns out that one of the biggest drivers of investors are both successful and non-successful startup founders.

Investors do not like losing money. They do not like companies that fail. They do not like entrepreneurs that fail. There is not a culture of celebrating failure in Silicon Valley or anyplace else. That is a myth. Recognize this, and if you start another business, get it to a successful point before approaching outside investors again.

One can make the case that the New York venture capital industry is rooted in the 21st century, not the 20th.

I aim to combine all the things I do in a comprehensive and holistic fashion that benefits startups and the people who make them grow.

Private equity firms working closely with venture capitalists and technologists may be able to unlock assets that others have not leveraged and build technology cultures to iterate on solutions that make these assets more productive.

I'm often asked what it takes to be 'Series A ready' in terms of metrics, progress, and traction. Unfortunately, there's no easy answer.

One of the things that's so interesting when talking to minority founders specifically is that there is really a knowledge gap in understanding what the risk-reward profile is for doing a startup.

So much of venture capital is pattern recognition.

The number of people who have successfully scaled a company from dream to post-IPO success - you could list them on the fingers of two hands.

In 'That Will Never Work,' I give readers a clear-eyed insider's look into how one of the least likely startups grew into one of the world's most successful companies.

Understand that VCs are simply a sophisticated form of financial investors who, in turn, need to satisfy their own investors.