Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Vinod Khosla: 'Only Interested In Shares of EEStor Inc.'

Vinod Khosla  Source
In late 2007 and 2008, one of the better ways to land a meeting with Vinod Khosla was to pitch a business plan that included almost any opportunity closely tied to EEStor Inc.   Khosla's keen interest in anything EEStor-related stems from his exposure to it during Kleiner Perkins' EEStor due diligence phase, a process that included Khosla's participation as a partner of KPCB.  Wikipedia points out that he started Khosla Ventures in 2004 but it was not a clean break as he was heavily involved in multiple investments beyond that date, according to SEC records.   Although he has publicly expressed doubts about EEStor Inc., insiders say Khosla is secretly one of EEStor's cadre of fanboys, and a rather frustrated one at that.

One of the firms in negotiations with EEStor to obtain a license in the early 2008 timeframe approached Khosla with their business plan and funding request.  He politely took the meeting but quickly cut to the chase:  was this firm offering any opportunity--now or in the future-- to obtain shares of EEStor?  No.  Khosla pointed out that the main reason he was willing to entertain the opportunity was on the chance that maybe the firm had positioned a deal with EEStor which would include an equity stake.   What he did not point out was that he very likely had access to more information about EEStor Inc. than the individuals making the pitch.