About ONSET

Fred Khosravi

Founder, President and CEO
Access Closure, Inc.
Mountain View, CA
ONSET Ventures sponsors: Rob Kuhling and Leslie Bottorff

Fred Khosravi is one of a special breed of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs – people who are not content starting one company and are instead compelled to do it again and again. Access Closure, founded in 2002, is Fred's seventh start-up and his third with ONSET Ventures as a funding and business building partner. The company makes devices used to seal arterial punctures after vascular interventional procedures.

Part of what makes Fred's story remarkable is that his first start-up, as he puts it, "was not a rapid success. Everyone, including Rob Kuhling, hoped we'd make more progress, more quickly. But Rob saw something in me that wasn't obvious to many others and gave me a second chance."

Fred's second chance was Embolic Protection, Inc. (EPI). Founded in 1999, EPI developed devices for the prevention of embolic complications during interventional vascular procedures. In 2001, Boston Scientific acquired EPI, providing an excellent return for its founders and investors.

Despite his success, Fred still values the guidance he gets from ONSET. "One of the primary roles of a start-up company Board of Directors is to help management see the forest through the trees, while management is in the trenches running the day to day activities," says Fred. "Rob has been a real partner and has clearly played that role for me."

Today, Fred works most closely with Rob and Leslie Bottorff, routinely previewing ideas for new companies or new markets for existing companies with both of them before making a final decision. "Leslie worked in the medical device technology industry and is extremely knowledgeable about the business," says Fred.

And Rob, according to Fred, maintains a big picture view, anticipating problems before they occur. "Rob has a lot of operational experience," says Fred. "This gives him the ability to see things a little ahead of management. Rob tells you that the wall is coming."

But for now, there appear to be few walls in Access Closure's future – and Fred and ONSET are working hard to keep it that way.