Khosla’s Keith Rabois: Here are the mobile apps I want to invest in

SAUSALITO, Calif. — While mobile applications have appeared in pretty much every industry you can think of, entrepreneurs have plenty of opportunities to introduce whole new experiences to consumers. Take e-commerce, for one thing.

“I don’t think there’s any fundamental change about commerce and mobile,” Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois said at VentureBeat’s Mobile Summit today.

Apps like Uber and Lyft have brought turned the mobile device into a remote control for the real world, Rabois said, but in retail, opportunities remain.

Commerce isn’t the only place where mobile developers can change the world. When it comes to improving productivity, for instance, there’s still more to do.

“If you take a step back in the software world, what’s the scarcest resource in the world? It’s time,” Rabois said. Last year, Khosla invested in a startup, the stealthy Timeful, that attempts to help in that department.

More generally, Khosla Ventures looks out for startups “using math and data to displace human judgment,” said Rabois, who has been an executive at PayPal, LinkedIn, and Square.

Fortunately for entrepreneurs, early-stage money is more abundant these days.

“There’s clearly, you know, more seed capital [for] very, very early stages of companies,” Rabois said.