Each week, experienced entrepreneurs and innovators come to Stanford University to candidly share lessons they’ve learned while developing, launching and scaling disruptive ideas. The Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Series (ETL) is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) and published on eCorner by STVP.
Entrepreneur Sandy Jen has lived with self-doubt and insecurities throughout her life: in college, at her first startup, and later as a working mother. But facing the risks she feared each time gave her confidence that a shy, little girl from the suburbs can grow up to improve people's lives through technology and a passion for impact. She co-founded the senior-care startup Honor, and this is her story.
This special episode gives you a taste of eCorner's new podcast for the summer, FRICTION. Stanford Engineering Professor Bob Sutton interviews acclaimed leadership consultant Patty McCord. The former chief talent officer of Netflix speaks bluntly about how backstabbing, passive-aggressive behavior and overall coddling of employees are all bad for businesses — and how actual grown-ups can hear and handle the truth, even when they disagree. In other words, startups may want to downplay the free fo...
How often do entrepreneurs and corporate leaders think about issues like fairness, accessibility or unseen biases in the technologies they invent and advance? That’s the challenge for companies leading the digital transformation that’s disrupting every aspect of society, says Toni Townes-Whitley, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector and Industry at Microsoft, in this talk about innovating strategically and responsibly.
Renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman shares his passion for translating the complexities of cognition into mind-blowing inventions and educational material for the masses. The public-television host, bestselling author and Stanford adjunct professor speaks with Tina Seelig of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program about his decision to leave the lab and dedicate his life to bringing scientific discoveries into the world.
Carlos Watson, co-founder and CEO of Ozy Media, describes how its forward-focused digital news magazine, Ozy, looks more toward innovators in business sectors outside traditional media. The Emmy-winning journalist shares the unlikely origins of his entrepreneurial drive, and explains how his wide-ranging career has been fueled by family, curiosity and the thrill of starting fresh.
Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson, co-founders of autonomous-vehicle startup Zoox, detail a not-too-distant future when we’ll get into their cars and do nothing other than say where we need to go. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, the two entrepreneurs explain how self-driving cars work and how their fleet of electric vehicles could make owning a ride obsolete.
What motivates you to share a photo on Instagram — or not? Kevin Weil, head of product at the company, discusses everything from user behavior to business strategy with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig. Weil describes how mission alignment helps teams succeed and allows Instagram to continue experimenting and thriving inside its parent company, Facebook.
Olivia Fox Cabane and Judah Pollack, co-authors of the book “The Net and the Butterfly: The Art and Practice of Breakthrough Thinking,” share tips on how we can train ourselves to have more “eureka” moments with mental exercises that awaken more regions of our brains and build our comfort level with failure and uncertainty — two givens on the way to innovation.
Debbie Sterling, founder and CEO of GoldieBlox, shares her evolution from lonely inventor to inspiring entrepreneur with a vision to give young girls the confidence to become engineers through hands-on play. Sterling talks about overcoming gender stereotypes and her own fears, as well as the entrepreneurial challenges of embracing failure and succeeding despite scant resources.
Entrepreneur Tracy Young and Doug Leone, global managing partner at Sequoia, discuss the nature of a harmonious relationship between a startup’s founders and the VC firm investing in them. Young is co-founder and CEO of PlanGrid, which allows construction managers to oversee projects via their device. She and Leone speak with Toby Corey, a lecturer in Stanford University’s School of Engineering.
Before Shirzad Chamine found his calling as a coach to today’s top CEOs and executive teams, he was a charismatic entrepreneur who turned into a hyper-critical tyrant without even knowing it. That dark chapter ignited his journey to understand how to conquer our self-sabotaging sides and live in the light of “Positive Intelligence” — the approach Chamine developed for mastering the mind and finding true happiness and success.
Di-Ann Eisnor, director of growth for Waze, explores whether authenticity can be preserved when a well-meaning startup scales to a workforce of hundreds and a user community of about a billion. Eisnor describes how the crowdsourced navigation and real-time traffic application has moved on from virtual cupcakes to encouraging carpooling in its quest to eliminate traffic congestion around the world.
Dave Evans, co-founder of the popular Life Design Lab at Stanford University, discusses the key concepts and exercises that guide students in their quest to figure out what they want to do in life. He underscores the importance of accepting who you are and connecting that to what you believe and do, while attacking dysfunctional notions like the one that dares you to be the “best version of yourself.” Can’t we have more than one?
E-commerce entrepreneur Susan Feldman describes how she and her co-founder went from bootstrapping One Kings Lane in the midst of the Great Recession, standing out from competitors in the home-decor industry by carefully curating product and focusing on creative flair, and ultimately being acquired by Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2016. Feldman speaks with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig.
University of Pennsylvania Professor Adam Grant, one of today’s most influential management thinkers, shares the top six takeaways from his book “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World,” bringing his insights to life through amusing behavioral research and lively audience interaction. Grant explains why middle managers are notorious idea killers, why stress helps some rise to the occasion and how entrepreneurs and organizations can get what they want through unconventional means....
Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, describes how she learned to lead companies big and small to success by adjusting to different environments, building on what a business does best, and approaching work with urgency and initiative. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Whitman recounts the explosive growth during her time as president and CEO of eBay, the challenging turnaround of storied tech giant HP, and her 2010 run for California go...
Tech entrepreneur Bob Tinker was humbled when he stepped down as CEO of MobileIron, a leading provider of mobile security that went from being a three-man startup to a public company with nearly 1,000 employees, earning $150 million a year. Over those eight years, however, he learned how to position a business just right, how a CEO’s job and behavior must change over time, and how a leader can develop the self-awareness to adapt.
It may not be rocket science, but there’s still much to consider when inventing children's toys, starting with all the ideas for what to build. Within the famous design firm IDEO, a small team toils away in a toy lab founded by Brendan Boyle, who also teaches design thinking at Stanford University. In conversation with Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Boyle discusses the importance of playfulness, divergent thinking and creativity in making toys.
If you really want to win at negotiation, stop fighting and start listening. In this episode of Stanford Innovation Lab, host Tina Seelig speaks with Margaret “Maggie” Neale, professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, for answers to the burning questions about negotiating. Is emotion your most powerful tool? When does deference earn you more than dominance? Will setting a walk-away price decrease your drive to negotiate for more? Maggie also shares pro-tips on negotiating in all sett...
Entrepreneur Jay Kaplan, co-founder and CEO of Synack, describes how the idea of creating a cybersecurity service for enterprise businesses by crowdsourcing hackers went from sounding like a long shot to launching as a venture capital-backed startup. Kaplan, previously a senior analyst at the National Security Administration, talks about the virtues of government work and the nuances of “white hat” hacking.
Julie Zhuo, vice president of product design at Facebook, describes how the development of new features starts with three questions: What people problem are we solving? How do we know it’s a real problem? And how will we know if we’ve solved it? Zhuo explains how answering those fundamental questions at the outset reveals the most urgent problems to tackle — and yields features that truly enhance user satisfaction.
Michael Ackermann, CEO of a med-tech startup that created a tear-stimulation device for those with dry-eye disease, explains how acquisition by a global pharmaceutical giant is helping him achieve his goal of reaching as many patients as possible. Ackermann, a graduate of the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, also discusses why big tech companies have yet to disrupt healthcare and how that translates into big opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Retired serial entrepreneur Steve Blank, creator of the “Lean LaunchPad” methodology for startups, discusses Silicon Valley’s roots as the epicenter of electronic warfare in the mid-20th century and how the region’s innovation ecosystem formed. An adjunct professor in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, Blank also walks through the lean-startup movement and how its principles are now helping the U.S. government innovate faster in the areas of basic science, health, nationa...
Four alumni of entrepreneurship-education fellowships offered through the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) return to share what starting businesses in the fields of virtual reality, med-tech, renewable and solar energy have taught them about these industries. In conversation with STVP Faculty Co-Director Tina Seelig, the panel discusses strategic decision-making, defining success, facing failure and the traits needed to be a strong leader.
Jane Marie Chen, co-founder and CEO of Embrace Innovations, describes how her social-enterprise startup’s infant warmer for premature and low-birth-weight babies came into the world. She discusses how passion fuels the drive to overcome setbacks big and small, how Embrace has expanded into retail to support its humanitarian efforts, and explains why we should “choose to see the world through the lens of beauty.”
Go to a good college. Be in the Olympics. Work in TV and become a pilot. These were the goals of a 14-year-old girl who grew up in a town tucked into the mountains just east of Los Angeles. That girl went on to compete in three Olympics, become a sports commentator, an airplane pilot and three-time Stanford graduate. Here’s how Bonny Simi, now the president of JetBlue Technology Ventures, did it all.
Distinguished professor and serial entrepreneur Joseph DeSimone discusses the vibrant chemistry that takes place at the intersection of science and the humanities, academia and industry, and within the walls of his 3D manufacturing startup Carbon. He describes how on-demand parts manufacturing could one day eliminate the need for business inventory and even end up in hospitals.
What is the number one cause for failure in early-stage startups? Team issues! In this episode of Stanford Innovation Lab, Tina Seelig interviews executive coach Michael Terrell. Michael is the founder and managing partner of Terrell Leadership Group, and co-author of The Inside Out Effect, which focuses on effective leadership. In this conversation, Michael shares his insights on effective team dynamics, his process for diagnosing team issues, and examples of how he works through team challenge...
Richard Miller, president of Olin College, describes disruptive ideas about education and learning that universities should adopt to graduate more creative, entrepreneurial and impactful engineers. He explains how a focus on math and science alone won't result in more innovation, and that higher education must instill traits like grit and independent thinking.
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry recalls major chapters from his illustrious career with entrepreneurship educator Steve Blank in a discussion that spans Silicon Valley's evolution, digital technology's emergence and its adoption by the military, to Perry's time in Washington and his deep expertise in world affairs.
