Vinod Khosla

Vinod Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and later became a partner at Kleiner Perkins before founding Khosla Ventures in 2004. He is known for making bold, concentrated bets on technologies that could be "world-changing" if they work — even if the probability of success is low. His portfolio includes investments in clean energy, advanced materials, health care diagnostics, and AI. Khosla is known for investing in founders with unconventional approaches and is willing to back companies with long development timelines that other VCs avoid. His bet on nuclear fusion — through investments in companies including TAE Technologies — reflects his willingness to fund technologies on decade-long development timelines, accepting near-term binary risk in exchange for the possibility of energy technologies that would be genuinely transformative if they achieve commercial viability.