Khosla Ventures Co-Founder Talks Reevo

Summary

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Bloomberg Talks — "Khosla Ventures Co-Founder Talks Reevo"

Episode Date: November 5, 2025
Host: Bloomberg
Guests: David Zhu (CEO, Reevo), Vinod Khosla (Co-Founder, Khosla Ventures)

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Episode Overview

This episode spotlights Reevo, a new AI-driven enterprise software startup emerging from stealth with a substantial $80 million funding round co-led by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Host Bloomberg interviews Reevo CEO David Zhu and influential investor Vinod Khosla about the company’s vision to replace the complicated “Frankenstack” of disconnected revenue tools, their approach to building a world-class team, and their perspectives on the current AI investment landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Reevo’s Mission — Tackling the “Frankenstack” Problem

• Definition of the Frankenstack ([00:22]–[01:39]):
  • David Zhu: Explains that revenue teams today juggle a disconnected mess (“Frankenstack”) of software tools, leading to wasted time and inefficiency.
  • Quote:

    “...revenue teams are still stuck in, like you said, what we call the Frankenstein, which is a dozen different tools that don't really talk to each other, causing sellers to waste over 70% of their time wrangling software instead of talking to their customers.” ([01:08] – David Zhu)

  • Reevo’s Goal: Develop a unified, AI-built revenue operating system to streamline these tools and maximize productivity.

2. Origins of Reevo and Investment Philosophy

• Incubation and Founder Track Record ([01:39]–[03:12]):
  • Vinod Khosla: Discusses the atypical investment journey — the relationship with David Zhu predates Reevo, having previously collaborated across various startups.
  • Quote:

    “We've known David for a long time, from doordash to open door to open store... we cooked up the concept, brainstormed it and thought it was important enough to do in the age of AI...” ([02:13] – Vinod Khosla)

  • Backing Founders over Ideas:

    “When we invested the idea wasn't clear, that was a year and a half or two years ago. But the founder was very careful.” ([03:00] – Vinod Khosla)

3. Building a High-Caliber Team

• Approach to Hiring & Talent Density ([03:12]–[04:17]):
  • David Zhu: Describes aggressively recruiting talent globally and emphasizes the direct link between team quality and company success.
  • Quote:

    “The team you build is the company you build, not the plans you make.” ([03:39] – David Zhu)

  • Strategic Talent: Focused on blending deep technical skills with go-to-market expertise, leveraging both domain knowledge and data access to realize Reevo’s vision.

4. Utilizing the $80 Million Raise

• Product Vision & AI Integration ([04:17]–[05:05]):
  • David Zhu: Funds are earmarked for product roadmap acceleration, ensuring both breadth (serving diverse customer needs) and depth (high-quality functionalities).
  • Emphasis on seamless AI operating system integration across multiple modules to avoid “another Frankenstein” in the future.

5. The AI Opportunity & The Changing Application Stack

• Revolutionizing the User Experience ([05:05]–[06:36]):
  • Vinod Khosla: Argues that AI allows startups to do more with fewer engineers and enables a shift in software — from users adapting to software, to software adapting to users.
  • Quote:

    “In the old world of applications, users had to learn an application... In the new world of AI, the application learns the human and responds the way it should. It's my favorite way to think about the transition AI makes possible.” ([05:58] – Vinod Khosla)

  • Software will become increasingly attuned to user workflow and collaboration.

6. Raising in a Heated, Uncertain AI Market

• Reflections on Fundraising & Market Sentiment ([06:36]–[07:50]):

  • David Zhu: Highlights Reevo’s edge—purpose-built for revenue teams, contrasting with older players bolting AI onto legacy systems.
  • Quote:

    “What we're building with Revo is akin to, to how Tesla built its cars, vertically integrated with AI at its core. This way our AI is able to see and act across the full customer journey.” ([07:12] – David Zhu)

  • Reevo combines domain expertise with access to essential first-party data—making their approach both hard to execute and defensible.

• VC Perspective on Valuations and Opportunity ([07:50]–[09:19]):

  • Vinod Khosla: Details their funding timeline (unannounced $10M seed, $70M Series A) and notes the importance of founder quality over hyped valuations.
  • Quote:

    “Most valuations won't hold up in the space, but the ones that are really high quality companies will return disproportionate returns.” ([08:21] – Vinod Khosla)

  • Provides perspective with historical examples (OpenAI’s rising valuations), stressing that fewer than 5% of companies will deliver massive returns.

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On Efficiency:

  “AI is the biggest shift in enterprise software since the cloud.” ([01:05] – David Zhu)

• On Building the Right Team:

  “The company you build is the team you build, not the plans you make.” ([03:39] – David Zhu)

• On the AI Paradigm Shift:

  “In the new world of AI, the application learns the human and responds the way it should.” ([05:58] – Vinod Khosla)

• On Sustainable Business Building:

  “What we're building with Revo is akin to, to how Tesla built its cars, vertically integrated with AI at its core.” ([07:12] – David Zhu)

• On VC Investment Mentality:

  “A small percentage of the companies, I suspect much less than 5%, will actually do extremely well and return 10, 50, 100 times their money invested.” ([08:47] – Vinod Khosla)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:22] — Introduction of Revo and the Frankenstack concept
• [01:02] — David Zhu explains Revo’s mission
• [02:09] — Vinod Khosla on the investment process and founder relationship
• [03:36] — David Zhu on hiring and building the company culture
• [04:22] — Usage of the $80 million funding
• [05:32] — Vinod Khosla on the reality of Frankenstack and the AI-driven future
• [06:36] — David Zhu on market differentiation and the AI fundraising climate
• [08:07] — Vinod Khosla on venture returns and the importance of backing founders

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Final Thoughts

This episode offers a robust dive into the founding philosophy behind Reevo, drawing back the curtain on both the practical challenges of modern enterprise software and the unique conditions of today’s AI investment landscape. Zhu and Khosla emphasize founder pedigree, deep integration of AI, and the importance of holistic, well-rounded teams for building category-defining companies in a turbulent yet opportunity-rich market.

Transcript

[Indiana University Announcer]

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[Bloomberg Audio Studios Announcer]

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[Interviewer / Host]

News AI startup Revo is emerging from stealth with the aim of unifying the steps and data necessary for businesses to develop and execute go to market market strategies. The company has $80 million from a combination seed and Series A funding round co led by Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins. Rivo CEO David Zhu and investor Vinno Khoisla are with us now. David, I would love to start with you. You're trying to tackle the concept that you have labeled the Franken stack. Even though the term is new to me, the concept is something that's been discussed on this program a lot. Just explain what Revo wants to achieve it.

[David Zhu]

Sure. Well, first off, thanks for having me. It's a big day for us. Look, AI is the biggest shift in enterprise software since the cloud. But the reality is revenue teams are still stuck in, like you said, what we call the Frankenstein, which is a dozen different tools that don't really talk to each other, causing sellers to waste over 70% of their time wrangling software instead of talking to their customers. And that's really painful. Revo is looking to fix that via one unified revenue operating system built from the ground up with at its core. And with this 80 million raise, we're scaling quickly to help all companies win in the age of AI.

[Interviewer / Host]

Vinod, I was talking with my team this morning about the structure of this round. And so it's basically a combined seed and series A, and Revo is coming out and kind of announcing itself to the world. Would you kind of give us the back story? You know, you are an experienced investor in the world of technology. When this crossed your desk, how did you know that you needed to get in involved and how did you determine at this very early stage the potential that Revo had?

[Vinod Khosla]

The opportunity didn't actually cross our desk in a traditional way. We've known David for a long time, from doordash to open door to open store. Sorry. And now Revo, we've been incubating ventures with him. My partner Samir has worked closely with him on Revo and we cooked up the concept, brainstormed it and thought it was important enough to do in the age of AI. I think most applications and application stacks need to be rethought. And this is David, just a superstar entrepreneur. So it was Pretty easy.

[Interviewer / Host]

Is this an example of you investing in the known quantity founder then rather than the idea?

[Vinod Khosla]

Absolutely. When we invested the idea wasn't clear, that was a year and a half or two years ago. But the founder was very careful.

[Interviewer / Host]

David, I trying to track the growth that you've had. So spring of 2024 you kind of come up with the idea, I guess incorporate a business and you've hired, I guess aggressively. You know, you're sub 100 people still, but you've basically gone to companies that are well known globally, not just here in the valley and taking the best people you can. What was that like?

[David Zhu]

Well yeah, that's, that's you're spot on there. The company you build taking a page out of the notes book. But the company you build is the team you build is a company you build, not the plans you make. And when we thought about tackling the space of unifying all of go to market tech in one system spanning marketing, sales, sales and success, we really needed to make sure that we had the talent density both from a technical perspective but also from a go to market to really bring together the combination of the depth of domain knowledge plus the ability to access the first party data to really pull this vision off. So global talent is necessary for us to make this a reality.

[Interviewer / Host]

David, what else do you need the $80 million for?

[David Zhu]

Yeah, well, over the next few months and quarters and years our vision is clear. We need to continue accelerating our product roadmap to build out both the breadth of the surface area to serve our customers, but also making sure that every single capability is the best possible from a depth perspective. But more importantly, in the age of AI, context matters and it's very important for us to double down on making sure that our AI operating system is able to work seamlessly across every single one of these modules. Capabilities, jobs to be done. So we're not replicating another Frankenstein for the future world. So that's what we're going to use the proceeds to to do.

[Interviewer / Host]

Vinod, I go back to you with the concept of the Frankenstein. You know you're invested everywhere. One of the first checks into open air. The world has changed a lot since then. You know we had yesterday Sridhar from Snowflake on the program talking about the problems right now in the data lay. What do you make of the Franken stack? Is that a real thing or this is just a marketing opportunity around this round?

[Vinod Khosla]

No, I think it's a real thing. First, AI enables each startup to do a lot more than it could do. 20 engineers can do the work of 60 engineers. If you use the productivity tools AI enables. But more than that, the user experience can be dramatically different with the help of AI. As I like to say, in the old world of applications, users had to learn an application and they learned each vertical stack. In the new world of AI, the application learns the human and responds the way it should. It's my favorite way to think about the transition AI makes possible. You don't have to be trained on. On an application like SAP or Hubstack, the application gets to know you and other humans on your team and so it facilitates not only the function but also workflow across people and across applications. I think pretty important shift in software to both you.

[Interviewer / Host]

I kind of like to end the conversation by, by going a little bit bigger on the world that we're in right now. You know, David, if you could reflect on what it was like doing this round. There is a lot of energy behind AI right now, but at the other end the spectrum there is valuation concern. You know, there's no difficulty in open air, anthropic, those kinds of frontier labs gaining capital. But there is a lot going on right now. Would you just reflect on what the last few weeks has been like in trying to close this?

[David Zhu]

Well, you know, the fundamental difference is clear with our approach. We are native and purpose built for revenue teams and so, you know, when you talk about the old players that are trying to bow AI onto a legacy stack, it just doesn't work. What we're building with Revo is akin to, to how Tesla built its cars, vertically integrated with AI at its core. This way our AI is able to see and act across the full customer journey. So the old players are held back by their past. And the new players, to your point, you know, don't have the depth of domain knowledge nor the access to the full suite of first party data to pull this vision off. So Revo is building with both and yes, it's hard, but that's really what makes it defensible and worth doing.

[Interviewer / Host]

Vinod, you know you're co leading this round with your friends at Kleiner Perkins. Again, the same question, like what does the environment look like to you right now? This is a very sizable debut round. You had the conviction to do that.

[Vinod Khosla]

Well, it was a while ago we did the seed round of 10 million that wasn't announced and now we just participate in the $70 million round. Obviously we think highly of the, but I think it's the magnitude of the opportunity this opens up for native companies. I like to say most valuations won't hold up in the space, but the ones that are really high quality companies will return disproportionate returns. In 2018, people said to me $1 billion valuation for open Air was too high. Then they said 26 billion was too high and then 100 billion, then 300 billion, and then hundred billion were all too high. So a small percentage of the companies, I suspect much less than 5%, will actually do extremely well and return 10, 50, 100 times their money invested. Most companies will still lose money, and I think that's why you want to back quality founders like David. David's a superstar. I'd back him in almost anything he did.

[Interviewer / Host]

David Zhu, CEO of Revo AI Vino Coast Co founder of Coastal Ventures and as we just discussed, co led that round. Great to have you both on the program. Thank you.

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