Perkins Caufield & Byers
Position:
General partner
Contribution:
Khosla was among the first venture capitalists to spot the potential of companies that sell gear for high-speed optical networks.
Challenge:
Can Khosla find the next big thing? He's betting on companies
that provide software as a service delivered via the Net. He has two in the
stable right now: BigVine.com, which provides e-commerce capabilities to small
business, and FireDrop Inc., which helps people collaborate over the Net.
Vinod Khosla is, very
simply, revolutionizing communications. The venture capitalist at Silicon
Valley's Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers was among the first to understand
that Internet technology and fiber optics could make communications so fast,
cheap, and easy to install that it would unleash a tsunami of productivity
growth. He placed his bets on a handful of now-hot telecom-gear companies.
Khosla doesn't just spread cash, though. He nurtures startups. Then good things
happen. Khosla ducklings Cerent and Siara Systems, for instance, sold last year
for $11.2 billion combined. ''He wants to win, and he wants to win big,'' says
Bippy Siegal, CEO of BigVine.com, a startup Khosla backed.
Khosla is just as determined to get home for dinner. The father of four only
misses a handful each month. Of course, it's easier to leave the office when
you're one of the Valley's hottest VC hands.
BW MALL
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2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
