I've known Khosla since his days as a recent immigrant from India more than two decades ago but hadn't seen him in years until we met in his office in Menlo Park, California, earlier this year. Khosla Ventures is tucked away in an unprepossessing corner of a redwood complex of small offices.
The decor is rental-furniture bland. The only reading set out for visitors is a four-month-old issue of National Geographic with a cover story on biofuels. Khosla's own office is spare, with 15 large black-and-white photographs of his four children on the walls.
For others in the firm, office dress is Silicon Valley casual -- jeans, fleece vests, and running shoes -- but Khosla arrives more elegantly attired, in taupe slacks; a chocolate long-sleeve, zip-neck knit shirt; and slip-ons in luggage tan with leather bows and kilties. He's 53, a slender 5-foot-10, genial and looking relaxed despite the prominent dark circles under his eyes.
Although he lives near his office, this morning he has already driven one of his daughters to school in San Francisco, a 90-minute round-trip that he makes every weekday in order to spend time alone with her. Later, he'll review several business proposals, prepare to announce three new investments and the hiring of an operational manager for his firm, and polish his remarks for an appearance at the United Nations.
Image: A sign announces biodiesel, or ethanol, at a gas station that sells gasoline as well as biofuels in Berlin, Germany. | Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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