Indian puts sizzle in Silicon Valley

Khosla, son of an Indian military officer, nurtured the dreams of starting companies when he was 15 and came to the US for graduate studies at Carnegie-Mellon University and later joined Stanford University in California for an MBA. As his dream came true in the Silicon Valley two decades ago, Khosla founded Delsy Systems Corp, a maker of computers and software for computer-assisted engineering, the Journal said. Two years later, he helped found Sun Microsystems Inc,whose workstations drove down prices and shook up the computing establishment, the Journal said.

Khosla, now a venture capitalist, is currently a partner with John Doerr and appears frequently on magazine covers for his accomplishments. As a partner in venture firm Klelner Perkins Caulfield and Byers, the Journal said, he was the driving force behind Cerent Corp, a telecommunications equipment start-up slated to be purchased by Cisco Systems Inc. In a $ 6.9 billion deal, Kleiner Perkin paid $ 8 million for a 30 per cent stake in the company. It is now worth $ 2 billion as a result of the deal.

Khosla, father of four children, conceived Cerent in late 1996 and recruited the first engineers and served as its chief executive and later as chairman. Cerent, said the Journal, is only Khosla’s second biggest hit of the summer. He was also a key supporter in the creation of Juniper Networks, another maker of telecom gear, whose shares have skyrocketed since going public in June, givingKleiner Perkins another $ 2 bn stake from an even smaller initial investment.

Khosla, an avowed risk-taker, was an early backer of internet portal Excite Inc, acquired in May by at Home Corp for $ 6.7 billion. "Khosla is having a heck of a year," the Journal said. And Khosla told the Journal: "I have the smartest people in the world educating me every day. The only thing I really do is filter and modify to arrive at my own opinions." Khosla’s hobby used to be hang-gliding and skydiving.

Another Indian who created waves in the US computer sector is Sabeer Bhatia who founded popular e-mail firm Hotmail. However, this company was later sold to Microsoft.