Impressed by high-profile venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, the Silicon Valley venture capital icon Pierre Lamond has decided to join Khosla Ventures. Lamond, 78, associated with the early chip company National Semiconductor, intended retiring from Sequoia, but after conversing with Khosla - involved in financing bold, scientific companies - Lamond changed his mind.

Though Lamond will leave Sequoia, he will continue as a board-member for three of Sequoia's portfolio companies - namely, Luxim, Santur, and Achates Power. Reputed a hard-working venture capitalist, the self-effacing Lamond keeps a low profile, and mostly remains behind the scenes, compared to his assertive counterparts like Khosla or John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Lamond's decision to join hands with Khosla comes at a time when Khosla Ventures is making attempts to raise its first fund from institutional investors, and Lamond's presence will be a big addition to the proceedings. Till now, Khosla has largely used his money to fund companies.

Lamond is not new to Khosla Ventures - he is an angel investor with a Khosla group company, the lithium-ion battery start-up Seeo.

All praise for the Khosla Ventures' "going back to the source" funding policy, Lamond told the New York Times: "A focus on growing companies from scratch is what venture capital is all about - not just because this is exciting, but it is also the way to make money!"