Vinod Khosla Mentors Entrepreneurs at SXSW on Risk and Fear in Startups

Fear of failure is natural. For startups, entrepreneurs, and company founders, fear of failure and our response to that fear can be critical to our success. Indeed, when viewed from the inside, startups can be scary: They are, by definition, journeys into the unknown. Startups deal with unknown products that solve problems at an unknown price point for largely unpredictable customers. What could go wrong?

When you combine that kind of uncertainty with large amounts of invested capital, your personal reputation, and months or years of your life, it can be uncomfortable to say the least.  In an on-stage dialog between Dave McClure and investor Vinod Khosla at SXSW Interactive, Khosla shared some of his views on the importance of fear and being uncomfortable in the startup world. As a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, former partner at Kleiner Perkins, and founder at Khosla Ventures,  Khosla shared some of his insights into how successful startups should approach their work. Primary amongst these observations is his approach to uncertainty and risk.

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