Vinod Khosla

As a boy growing up in India, Vinod Khosla dreamed of becoming a new technology entrepreneur, although his family had no business or technology connections. After graduating with a bachelor's in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, he moved to the United States, where he earned a master's in biomedical engineering at Carnegie-Mellon University, and an MBA at Stanford. In 1982, he co-founded Sun Microsystems, where he pioneered "open systems" and RISC processors. In 1986, he joined the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, where he nurtured a series of innovative computer and communications start-ups. In 2004, he founded khoslaventures, to fund experimental ventures in science and social entrepreneurship. He supports numerous microfinance organizations in India and Africa and is now exploring new approaches in education, housing and alternative energy. In this podcast, recorded at a 2000 gathering of the Academy of Achievement in Scottsdale, Arizona, he recalls his youth in India and his love of reading. He shares his passion for enterprise with the Academy's student delegates, and describes the impact of emerging technologies on global culture.