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You have to realize that Vinod Khosla is one of those people who is used to people just following his orders. He was successful, he owns Khosla Ventures (KV) a

You have to realize that Vinod Khosla is one of those people who is used to people just following his orders. He was successful, he owns Khosla Ventures (KV) and probably never gets called on his shit. Suddenly locals, surfers, and The Surfrider Foundation starts to push back and he thinks he can just squash them, because /s obviously he's better than them. Let's be real, he was never in that house. I'd venture to say he spent maybe 30 days per year in that house? Like any other rich asshole with a vacation house in prime territory he bought it and wanted to keep any riffraff away. He thinks he deserves it and not for one second did he think about his public image.

pmiller2 7y ago
Well, I, for one, have tried to avoid companies funded by Khosla Ventures since this story initially broke. I doubt a lot of people feel strongly enough to do that, but there are some.
- bscphil 7y ago
  Given that I had never heard of the company until this post, I was surprised by how many companies I've heard of that they funded. From their portfolio page[1]: Academia.edu, AppNexus, Arista Networks, DoorDash, GitLab, HackerRank, Impossible Foods, Instacart, "Just, Inc.", Scribd, Square, Stripe, Teespring, Vox Media https://www.khoslaventures.com/portfolio/all-companies https://www.khoslaventures.com/portfolio/all-companies
  - pmiller2 7y ago
    Indeed. Square and Stripe are tough to avoid if you want to do payments, and I'm not terribly happy that my current company pays money to HackerRank (also GitLab, I think). Other than that, I've done a pretty good job avoiding KV.
jdross 7y ago
Just to be clear, this is not Vinod's mindset. It's more like Vinod is extremely stubborn, especially when he believes something is a matter of principle. From his POV, the principle here is around free enterprise. He believes the state is requiring him to pay to maintain an unprofitable business (a private road and parking lot), which he doesn't believe they have the right to do. As far as I know, he doesn't care much about restricting beach access.
- vernie 7y ago
  What a psycho
- OpieCunningham 7y ago
  Parent comment could be his mindset. You’re just stating his mindset is what he has claimed his mindset is. I see no reason to take his word for it.
  - chipotle_coyote 7y ago
    I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt about their own state of mind when they declare it. Sure, he could absolutely be lying, but I don't see any reason not to take his word for it. The issue is just whether his interpretation of the law is correct. (My reading of it is that the law does not require him to maintain a parking lot and other facilities, it just requires him not to block access to the beach.)
    - OpieCunningham 7y ago
      I tend not to give strangers with significant financial incentives the benefit of the doubt.
bananabreakfast 7y ago
Haha, no. Vinod has never, ever visited this property and even brags about that fact quite often.
FireBeyond 7y ago
> and wanted to keep any riffraff away Right. It's just like David Geffen's fake driveway to stop people parking near his house on the street. That he had painted with yellow and red lines too, to "imply" (mislead) into thinking other areas were Fire Lanes. People would park there because they knew that it was a sham. They would get towed by police / security because "how did they 'know' it was a scam". To the point where people would park there posting articles in their windshield saying that they know it's not actually a driveway, not actually a fire lane, etc., etc. They still get towed. And even if you get your money back, there's the repeated issue of coming back from the beach to find your car gone. Because a rich asshole doesn't want the riff raff to use the public street he built a house on.
- Darkphibre 7y ago
  Denoting inaccurate street markings is a prosecutable offense in most jurisdictions.
  - FireBeyond 7y ago
    I'm sure it is in Malibu, too. Unless you're a billionaire...
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    That's why you buy (sorry, "donate heavily to the campaign of") the local prosecutor.

pmiller2 7y ago

Well, I, for one, have tried to avoid companies funded by Khosla Ventures since this story initially broke. I doubt a lot of people feel strongly enough to do that, but there are some.

bscphil 7y ago
Given that I had never heard of the company until this post, I was surprised by how many companies I've heard of that they funded. From their portfolio page[1]: Academia.edu, AppNexus, Arista Networks, DoorDash, GitLab, HackerRank, Impossible Foods, Instacart, "Just, Inc.", Scribd, Square, Stripe, Teespring, Vox Media https://www.khoslaventures.com/portfolio/all-companies https://www.khoslaventures.com/portfolio/all-companies
- pmiller2 7y ago
  Indeed. Square and Stripe are tough to avoid if you want to do payments, and I'm not terribly happy that my current company pays money to HackerRank (also GitLab, I think). Other than that, I've done a pretty good job avoiding KV.

jdross 7y ago

Just to be clear, this is not Vinod's mindset. It's more like Vinod is extremely stubborn, especially when he believes something is a matter of principle. From his POV, the principle here is around free enterprise. He believes the state is requiring him to pay to maintain an unprofitable business (a private road and parking lot), which he doesn't believe they have the right to do. As far as I know, he doesn't care much about restricting beach access.

vernie 7y ago
What a psycho
OpieCunningham 7y ago
Parent comment could be his mindset. You’re just stating his mindset is what he has claimed his mindset is. I see no reason to take his word for it.
- chipotle_coyote 7y ago
  I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt about their own state of mind when they declare it. Sure, he could absolutely be lying, but I don't see any reason not to take his word for it. The issue is just whether his interpretation of the law is correct. (My reading of it is that the law does not require him to maintain a parking lot and other facilities, it just requires him not to block access to the beach.)
  - OpieCunningham 7y ago
    I tend not to give strangers with significant financial incentives the benefit of the doubt.

bananabreakfast 7y ago

Haha, no. Vinod has never, ever visited this property and even brags about that fact quite often.

FireBeyond 7y ago

> and wanted to keep any riffraff away Right. It's just like David Geffen's fake driveway to stop people parking near his house on the street. That he had painted with yellow and red lines too, to "imply" (mislead) into thinking other areas were Fire Lanes. People would park there because they knew that it was a sham. They would get towed by police / security because "how did they 'know' it was a scam". To the point where people would park there posting articles in their windshield saying that they know it's not actually a driveway, not actually a fire lane, etc., etc. They still get towed. And even if you get your money back, there's the repeated issue of coming back from the beach to find your car gone. Because a rich asshole doesn't want the riff raff to use the public street he built a house on.

Darkphibre 7y ago
Denoting inaccurate street markings is a prosecutable offense in most jurisdictions.
- FireBeyond 7y ago
  I'm sure it is in Malibu, too. Unless you're a billionaire...
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  That's why you buy (sorry, "donate heavily to the campaign of") the local prosecutor.