Annual power lists are about as ubiquitous as the magazines -- Forbes, the Economist, Time, Newsweek, and so on and on -- that indulge in the exercise, and just as idiosyncratic.
Yet, being listed entitles the listee to bragging rights -- the more upmarket the publication, the louder the megaphone.
By that yardstick, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has earned a year's worth of bragging rights -- he is the only person of Indian origin to feature in Vanity Fair's annual power list of 100 most influential people.
Khosla comes in at number 82, marking his debut in a list that is headed by Rupert Murdoch and features, in the top 10, the likes of Sergei Brin and Larry Page of Google; Stephen Schwarzman and Pete Perterson of private equity giant Blackstone; investment icon Warren Buffet; former US President Bill Clinton; film-maker Stephen Spielberg; luxury retailer Bernard Arnault; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Bill and Melinda Gates of the eponymous foundation.
The web version of the Vanity Fair listing does not give the citation for Khosla; elaboration of the reasons for his being picked is reserved for the print publication.
However, a glance at the Khosla resume is enough to understand why he is named to this rarefied circle: the former co-founder of Sun Microsystems and partner of the investing firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfied and Byers has since gone on to found in 2004 his own venture capital outfit, Khosla Ventures.
Even before venturing on his own, Khosla's influence as a prescient investor was sufficient to put him in top position on the annual Forbes 'Midas List' of venture capitalists as early as 2003; since then, he has been at or near the top of the Forbes' listing each year.
There is a reason Khosla is the investor's investor: as Forbes pointed out while citing him in 2003, the Woodside, California-based Khosla is one of those rare investors who does not believe in rapid turnovers, and quick returns.
Khosla has repeatedly said his preferred mode of operation is to invest small sums early, in order to give start ups the necessary operating capital during the period of initial struggle, and to maintain the investment in order to build companies, as opposed to merely turning over personal profits.
It is perhaps this mindset, plus Khosla's ability to buck the trend and invest in sound companies even when business is on a downward spiral, that gets him into the Vanity Fair listing.
