How to pitch Khosla Ventures
Aim the pitch at a partner, and arrive through someone that partner already trusts. The email is the small part of the job; the person who carries it is the large one.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 31, 2026.
The short version
Write to a single partner at Khosla Ventures, and let a person that partner already trusts carry you in. Firms back what comes to them through people they know, and nobody they know counts for more than a founder they've funded, which is why the best opening email is one such a founder forwards with their own line on top. So the work before the pitch is a search: which founder in your network raised from Khosla, who else has a tie to the firm, and which of your friends can introduce you to either. Happenstance runs that search over the accounts you've already connected, in one question.
Write to a partner, not to the firm
Khosla Ventures backs companies from seed through later rounds, with a long record in deep technology, climate and health, and like most firms it decides partner by partner. It publishes one address for the whole firm, kv@khoslaventures.com, and asks anyone writing there what they want from Khosla and why they sought the firm out specifically. Answer both questions, and still write with a particular partner in mind, because an email that names the investor whose companies resemble yours reaches somebody who can say yes, and it reaches them best when a founder they've backed is the one sending it on.
The person a partner listens to first is a founder they've funded. After that come former colleagues from the firm, investors who've co-led a round with them and the friends of any of those people. Some of them are in your network right now, a step or two removed, and what you need to find out is which ones you can get to before the week is out.
Finding your path to Khosla Ventures
Founders Khosla has backed. A former teammate who went on to raise from Khosla, a founder you met on a panel, or a supplier whose company took Khosla's money. When one of them forwards you, the email gets read for reasons no cold subject line can supply.
People at or around the firm. The investment team counts, and so do people who've left it, the operators the firm keeps close and any friend of yours who knows one of them.
Happenstance. Happenstance searches all the accounts you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and the networks of any friends you've added, then answers in plain English. Ask who you know who's raised from Khosla, or who you know at the firm, and you'll see each person, how well you know them, which account the tie came from and, where a friend knows them, the friend who can introduce you. Happenstance is free. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and web searches beyond your network. Pro raises the limits: unlimited web searches and results, higher chat limits, and CSV export. Running a whole raise this way, from first search to signed term sheet, is written up on Happenstance for fundraising.
The ask
Go to the founder first and to the investor second. Ask for a single forward and say which partner you've got in mind, then hand over the paragraph you'd like passed on, so that agreeing takes them about thirty seconds.
Subject: Intro to [partner] at Khosla Ventures
What Happenstance can see
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
Should I email Khosla Ventures directly or go through a partner?
Khosla publishes kv@khoslaventures.com and asks what you want from the firm and why you chose it, so a direct email has somewhere to go. Even so, write it with a partner in mind and try to get it there through a person that partner knows: a forward from a founder they've funded arrives with a reason to be read, and a cold email to a shared inbox arrives with none. Pick the investor whose companies resemble yours and find the shortest route to them.
What if I don't know anyone connected to Khosla Ventures?
Somebody you know probably does. Founders in your circle who've taken Khosla money are one introduction away, and so are people who've worked at the firm and the friends of both. Happenstance searches your own accounts and your friends' networks together, so asking "who do I know who's raised from Khosla Ventures" brings back those people alongside the mutual who can introduce you.
What should the first email to a Khosla Ventures partner contain?
One paragraph a founder could forward as written: the company in a sentence, the number that proves it's working, what you're raising and who's committed so far, plus why this investor is the right reader. At Khosla, say plainly what you want from the firm and why you chose it, since it asks for both. Under a hundred and fifty words, nothing attached; the deck follows when they ask.
How does Happenstance help me reach Khosla Ventures?
Link the accounts you already use, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and ask who you know who's raised from Khosla Ventures, or who you know at the firm. Each result comes with how well you know the person and which account the tie was found in, and where the path runs through a friend, the friend who can introduce you. Happenstance is free, and Pro raises the limits if you hit them.
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