Vinod Khosla versus Stanford's business school
What do you do when people say you need more work experience?
Besides giving me a chance to spend time with my family, the holidays provide a space for me to pore through my notes, reflect on nuggets I've collected, and connect disparate ideas. So I thought I’d share something I’ve been thinking about recently.
I heard Vinod Khosla would give a small fireside chat at Stanford earlier this month, so I jumped on the opportunity.
By all measures, Khosla is a giant in Silicon Valley. He was one of the co-founders of the legendary Sun Microsystems and then transitioned to a career as a successful venture capitalist. And while the talk covered his entrepreneurial journey and lessons, the story that hit me the hardest was from a mere footnote in his biography.
Here's a story from a lesser-known part of Khosla's life — his indefatigable effort to enter the Stanford GSB.
"I looked at your bio, and I feel that there's an interesting unspoken story here: 'After three weeks at Carnegie Mellon, Khosla strategically convinced the admissions staff to accept him into the Stanford Graduate School of Business.' Could you tell us about that story?"
It was the last question asked to Khosla at the fireside chat. You could tell it was a good question because as the audience member read through their question, the grin across Khosla's face grew wider and wider.
Even before the audience member finished their question, Khosla leaned forward in his chair and interrupted, seizing the story:
Let me tell you about this story, because it's the essence of entrepreneurship.
Khosla arrived in the US from India, landing at Carnegie Mellon University to pursue a master's in biomedical engineering. CMU was merely a stop along the way for him since they had paid for his entire degree. His ultimate goal was to come to Silicon Valley to become an entrepreneur.
Two years of work experience
Khosla applied to the Stanford GSB and then was rejected. After he argued with the admissions department, the head of admissions finally told him that he needed "two years of work experience."
Khosla took that advice quite literally. He obtained two full-time jobs, which he worked simultaneously for a year. He had technically acquired two years of work experience and then re-applied to the MBA program at Stanford.
Another rejection from Stanford swiftly followed.
Khosla was understandably upset. At this point, he had already been accepted into the Carnegie Mellon business school, but Stanford was unwilling to accept him.
In recounting the story, Khosla locked eyes with the audience and said, "This is the persistence part." We already knew the story's ending, but we were enraptured by it and eagerly awaited to hear how it unfolded.
Waitlist
After his rejection, Khosla reached out to and was able to befriend every single person in the admissions department (all except for the admissions director). Through these conversations, he learned all the admissions statistics — how many people were accepted, how many people were rejected, how many people changed their minds, etc. — and then continued hounding the admissions director.
Upon seeing Khosla's sheer persistence, the admissions director put him on the waitlist. "This was his way to get rid of me," Khosla noted gleefully. But Khosla was unrelenting and continued to call the admissions director every few weeks.
When Labor Day rolled around that year, Khosla began classes at Carnegie Mellon’s business school. Carnegie Mellon started their school year in early September, and Stanford began theirs in late September. A few days before Stanford started classes, Khosla received a phone call from one of the admissions officers at the GSB: someone had dropped out of the GSB at the last moment and a spot was open.
Chance favors the prepared mind
Khosla immediately called the admissions director to tell him he was coming to Stanford to take that spot. He boarded a plane that same day and showed up on campus.
At this point, the director finally agreed and accepted Khosla. A woman in admissions helped find a couch for Khosla to stay on for the moment.
But his trial wasn't over yet. Khosla had already paid his rent and tuition at Carnegie Mellon, and he was virtually penniless. His part-time job at McDonalds wasn't enough to cover rent and tuition at Stanford.
His salvation came to him from a (minor) car crash.
Khosla was stopped at a traffic light near campus, and then he was rear-ended. After calling his car insurance company, Khosla negotiated for an immediate (but discounted) cash payout. Using these funds, he was able to scrape together enough money to make ends meet.
The rest, as they say, is history.