Keith Rabois on Rejoining Khosla Ventures | E1102

On Wednesday, Keith Raboy broke some groundbreaking news. (computer trilling) He would be leaving Founders Fund (graphic whooshing) to rejoin Khosla Ventures. Today, we have the exclusive of why Keith decided to move back to Khosla and the plans ahead. Talk to me, Keith. Moving back to Khosla. (screen whooshing)

There's certain things about, you know, KB that I kinda miss, (computer trilling) and then there's (censored) . And so the combination made a lot of sense.

Ten years out, is Keith at KV then? Is Keith doing his own fund?

I think the two most obvious components to answer are... (screen whooshing)

Keith, I am so excited for this. My word, you decided to save some of the biggest VC news for the start of the year. So thank you so much for joining me today first.

It's a pleasure to be with you again.

So, uh, (laughs) talk to me, Keith, moving back to Khosla, um, I- I guess the first question is, why did you decide to make the move back from Founders Fund to Khosla again?

Well, you know, in some ways, so I spent six years, just so everybody has some context, I spent six years from 2013 to 2019 as an MD at Khosla Ventures, and we had a really successful run together. Uh, KB4, KB5, and KB6 were the funds I was a partner in. And we produced, you know, really stellar returns working as a collaboration team between Vinod, Sameer, Kool, David Weiden, and Sven. And, um, I never really left in some senses, because after I left, I stayed in really significant contacts with Vinod, Sameer, and David particularly. We co-invested almost every quarter together. So Sameer invested and led a financing round in the company I run as CEO named OpenStor. Sameer led the series A for a company that you're familiar with, Trauma. Um, you know, he led the series A for Mike's company. So we worked together, we worked, we worked together there. Uh, I led a growth round for one of Sameer's favorite companies called, uh, Ultima, Ultima Genomics. Um, so, you know, it, it's a company I learned a lot about, a founder I knew really well from my days at KB. Sameer also led, you know, an investment round in Varda, uh, Delian's company. I worked very closely with David Weiden on a bunch of companies, including Fair, Bungalow, um, so I felt like I was actually seeing more of Sameer and David than I did when I was at KB for six years and the last five years at Founders Fund. I, because in, in basically when I was at KB, I would see them every Monday for hours at a time, but I didn't really see them Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 'cause we were all go- going meeting with founders, doing one-on-one with founders, attending board meetings, you know, uh, taking pitches, et cetera. Um, whereas over the last five years, actually I was working with Sameer and David basically every single week. Um, and so in some ways, you know, the bridging and bonding got stronger, um, over the last five years than the six years where we were just debating at partner meetings. There's certain things about, you know, KB that led to that successful track record, uh, at, uh, in KB4, 5, and 6 that I kinda missed. And then there's several personal things that just were more appealing to me as a human, you know, a- aside from my professional aspirations and goals and ambitions. And so the combination made a lot of sense, the recombination made a lot of sense. Um, I even spoke at the KB CEO summit, you know, last May, um, so, you know, I- I've stayed in quite close contact with all of the partners at KB. I even helped recruit Nikita originally to KB, so I'm extremely excited to be able to work with them.