Venture Assistance: A philosophical view of what boards should & should not do

Vinod Khosla argues that venture capitalists should advise startups only after they have earned the right through their own company-building experience, and that boards should challenge teams without making their decisions. He says Khosla Ventures measures its value by whether it helps a team expand its opportunity by 2x or more, and he cites reference checks from entrepreneurs as the basis for recruiting Keith Rabois, a former operator at PayPal, LinkedIn, Slide and Square. Khosla also states that in almost three decades on boards he has never voted against a team's wishes, except on hiring and firing the CEO, and he describes a board that failed to voice doubts about a well-funded company that was later sold for $3 million.