Episode 76: Kelly Kinnard - Operating Partner & Head of Talent at Khosla Ventures - Building Winning Startup Teams

In this episode, we catch up with Kelly Kinnard, Operating Partner and Head of Talent at Khosla Ventures, one of the absolute top venture capital firms in the world. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Khosla Ventures was founded by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems and twenty-year veteran of Kleiner Perkins. They have $19B in AUM, 100+ M&A exits, 25 IPOs, and 35+ unicorns over Khosla Ventures' history.

Khosla Ventures' portfolio includes OpenAI, Affirm, DoorDash, Instacart, Stripe, Okta, Square, and 400 other companies. They focus on a broad range of areas where technology can drive economic disruption and ​positively impact society, create new markets and serve existing ones better through radical new approaches. They invest in AI, consumer, enterprise, FinTech, healthcare, space, the future of food, manufacturing/robotics, sustainability, and frontier technologies.

Kelly shares her insights on talent acquisition and building successful startup teams. She talks about the importance of finding the right fit for each company and shares her personal, practical tips on developing and managing relationships with the best and brightest people. Kelly emphasizes the need for personalization and authenticity in reaching out to candidates and building genuine, strong relationships with founders. She also highlights the significance of managing stress and prioritizing self-care in the fast-paced startup environment. Kelly looks forward to the impact of AI on the talent landscape and shares her interest in longevity and healthcare innovation.

Takeaways

1.Finding the right fit for each company is an absolute must for building winning startup teams.
2.Personalization and authenticity are key in building and managing strong relationships with founders.
3.The biggest mistake you can make when reaching out to people is to be generic. Make sure to be very specific and clear on your message
4.How you manage stress and take care of your mental health is the most important factor for leaders to thrive in the fast-paced startup environment. Everyone on your team is looking at you.
5.Working with the best and brightest people who change the world changes the way you think. Skeptics never did the impossible...

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