How to Build the Future

Khosla says a founder’s long-term ambition shapes the people they hire, their tactics, and the investors they choose. He compares the journey to climbing Everest: hold to the vision while adjusting the route. Revenue can provide a useful base camp, but only if it helps the company continue toward that vision.

Khosla says many investors add little or negative value, especially when they advise without having faced the difficult trade-offs of building a company. Founders should seek advice from people who understand uncertainty and know when to steady a team under pressure. He says the hardest decision is whose advice to trust on each topic.

Khosla values learning speed and first-principles thinking over experience in a familiar role. He looks at how a founder approaches a new problem and how quickly they revise their plan. In interviews, he asks candidates to reason through decisions they have not faced before.

Khosla favors ambitious founders who recruit people capable of challenging and improving one another’s decisions. At Sun, he offered Andy Bechtolsheim half the equity to join, and says recruiting standout people such as Bill Joy took months. He argues for reserving substantial equity for early hires, since strong teammates can attract others and help the company grow.

Khosla advises founders to choose investors for their advice, patience, and commitment to the company’s vision, not just their money. He recommends asking founders how investors responded when ambitious plans hit setbacks. A large vision needs practical early steps that help reveal the risks, and he says he wants to spend the coming decades applying technology to major areas of the economy.