How Indian-American Businessman Vinod Khosla Built $6 Billion Empire After Multiple Failed Ventures

Vinod Khosla is an Indian-American Silicon Valley venture capitalist who overcame multiple failed ventures to ultimately build a $6 billion (Rs. 50,000 crore) business empire.

Building a successful business is not everyone’s cup of tea as the road to success is often laden with hurdles and failures, hence most people quit after a failed endeavour. However, those who are determined to make it big overcome these obstacles, keep on trying after unsuccessful projects and eventually their perseverance leads to victory.

In today’s dose of inspiring success story we bring you the rousing journey of Vinod Khosla, an Indian-American Silicon Valley venture capitalist who overcame multiple failed ventures to ultimately build a $6 billion (Rs. 50,000 crore) business empire.

Who is Vinod Khosla?

Born in an upper middle-class family in Pune to an Army officer, Vinod Khosla always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur despite coming from a family with no connections in the business or technology sector. When Vinod was 16, he heard about the founding of tech-giant Intel and its migrant founder and this inspired him to one build his own business in the famed Silicon Valley.

Thus, Vinod Khosla started his long and hard roads towards building a successful venture; however, the path ahead was filled with hurdles. His first venture was a soy milk company which aimed to help solve the problems of people in India who did not own refrigerators. While a noble idea, Vinod failed to get the idea off the ground and the enterprise was shut without seeing the light of day.

However, Vinod remained unfazed and decided to migrate to the United States to pursue higher studies and earned a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. Later, his entrepreneurial ambitions led to him to the Silicon Valley where he earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Vinod’s second venture was Daisy Systems, which saw some degree of success and eventually led to the creation Sun Microsystems in 1982 as the Daisy software needed custom computer hardware to run. Vinod co-founded with his long-time friend John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB).

Vinod Khosla joined KPCB as a general partner in 1986 and helped build the semiconductor firm ‘Nexgen’, to take on Intel’s monopoly in the chip-making market. Nextgen was later acquired by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)—Intel’s main competitor in the semiconductor market.

After being involved in multiple ground-breaking ventures for nearly two decades, in 2004, Vinod founded Khosla Ventures, a venture capitalist firm which focuses on both for-profit and social impact investments. The investment firm skyrocketed his net worth which currently stands at a whopping Rs 49,206 crore ($6 billion).

Vinod Khosla house

Vinod Khosla is one biggest success stories to come out of the Silicon Valley and owns a 53-acre estate with a lavish mansion and a private beach. The property is valued at around $40 million.

Vinod Khosla education

Vinod Khosla is a alumnus of IIT Delhi where he earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. The Indian-American business magnate also holds a master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Vinod Khosla is a board member of the Breakthrough Energy Ventures and a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). He is also a founding board member of the Indian School of Business (ISB).

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