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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

There's a huge difference between a zero-million-dollar company and a zero-billion-dollar company; your mindset determines who you bring on board and how you approach building the company.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

A company becomes the people it hires, not the plan it makes; this is often underappreciated and is the biggest difference between a zero-million-dollar and a zero-billion-dollar company.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

When you have a large vision, like climbing Mount Everest, it's important to be obstinate about your vision but flexible about your tactics as circumstances change.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

Investors matter significantly because they influence short-term versus long-term trade-offs; in my view, 90% of investors add no value, and 70% add negative value to a company.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

It's unfair for junior investors to advise entrepreneurs without having earned the right through experience; true understanding comes from having built a large company and faced its challenges.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

The hardest decision for entrepreneurs is figuring out whose advice to trust; it's crucial to seek advice from those who have relevant experience and have dealt with ambiguity.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

When hiring, the most important question is not just whether a candidate can do the job, but how they will improve the performance of other team members through their questioning and thinking.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

A business plan is irrelevant for predicting future actions; it serves only to gauge how well someone has thought about a problem, not what they will do.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

Founders should be ambitious; if they aren't, they'll hire a team to build a zero-million-dollar company instead of a billion-dollar one.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

The best decision I ever made was giving half the equity to my co-founder to join the team, which ultimately led to our success. I believe that being super generous with early employee equity and attracting founder-quality people is crucial for the first ten employees.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

The way to maximize your chances of success is by following a process I call 'gene pool engineering', which minimizes risks by building the right team.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

When hiring, focus on how a VP of Marketing can improve the quality of your VP of Engineering; this nonlinear thinking is essential.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

Investors are like employees you can't fire, so it's vital to choose those who care about your vision and will support you through challenges.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

Achieving a large vision requires both a giant vision and a good step-by-step plan; you need both to succeed.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

I love doers and prefer surrounding myself with people who take action rather than just talk about ideas.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

I aim to work on reinventing societal infrastructure with technology, focusing on making significant improvements in various sectors.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

There's no part of the GDP that is immune to innovation, and I believe we can achieve massive improvements in resource efficiency.

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Vinod Khosla

01/09/19

@ Y Combinator

I'm excited about the potential of 3D printed buildings and other technologies that can drastically reduce material usage.

Vinod Khosla : How to Build the Future

Takeaways