From developing a brand identity to cultivating the right conditions for musical exploration, successful recording artists are masters of the creative process. Hosted by Stanford professor Bob Sutton, Sickamore, a hip-hop artist, photographer and the creative director at Interscope Records, joins Sam Seidel, director of K-12 strategy and research at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, for an intimate conversation about what entrepreneurs can learn from the music industry, how to navig...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 28 min•Season 14Ep. 26
Honeycomb co-founder and CEO Christine Yen spent a decade as a software engineer before creating her own company. She describes how her deep domain knowledge and relationships with like-minded software developers propelled her startup’s launch, and shares how she built an energetic human architecture around a highly technical B2B product.
Jun 05, 2019•47 min•Season 14Ep. 25
The podcast market was growing rapidly when Luminary Media was founded at the beginning of 2018, and it was even bigger by the time the company launched its podcasting service on April 23, 2019. Just a month after that launch, CEO Matthew Sacks and co-founder/head of talent Lauren Perkins step back to assess how they identified an opportunity in the podcasting space, built a team and launched a product with a library of exclusive content in a little over a year. They also address the negative he...
May 29, 2019•53 min•Season 14Ep. 24
At age 26, Chip Conley founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality and grew the company into the second largest boutique hotel brand in the United States. After he sold the business, he accepted a strategy role at Airbnb, and his interactions with a predominantly millennial workforce led him to found the Modern Elder Academy, a “midlife wisdom school” in Baja that encourages individuals with a lifetime of experience to carve a purposeful path through the modern workplace. Here, he shares the insights that...
May 22, 2019•44 min•Season 14Ep. 23
In the 1990s, Toby Corey co-founded the world’s largest web development company. Since then, he’s started other companies; held senior management positions at SolarCity, Tesla and most recently PlanGrid; and lectured in Stanford's Department of Management Science & Engineering. Now, he finds himself as concerned by social and environmental problems as with building companies. In response to global crises of climate change and inequality, he advises an approach that he calls “zentrepreneurshi...
May 15, 2019•51 min•Season 14Ep. 22
When Capella Space’s first prototype satellite launched in December 2018, it was the culmination of over three years of nonstop effort. Capella Space founder and CEO Payam Banazadeh explains how he fused experienced gained at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Stanford’s Management Science and Engineering masters program to build the satellite imaging company. As an early-stage CEO, he provides insights into the many risks and strategic decisions that precede product roll-out....
May 08, 2019•50 min•Season 14Ep. 21
Nicole Hu and her two co-founders created One Concern to help communities prepare for and mitigate natural disasters by harnessing the power of AI. She explains how they use machine intelligence as a predictive tool, and shares strategies for identifying a central problem, securing investment and growing a mission-driven team.
May 01, 2019•47 min•Season 14Ep. 20
Ritu Narayan founded Zūm in 2014 to solve a problem that working parents (herself included) face every day: transporting and caring for children before and after school. She describes her journey from the Delhi Institute of Technology to Silicon Valley and unpacks three factors that catalyze sustained growth: passion, perseverance and people.
Apr 24, 2019•42 min•Season 14Ep. 19
From high school computer science classes all the way up to VC partner meetings, women and people of color remain underrepresented in the technology ecosystem. Even so, diversity-focused social scientist and venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein is hopeful about the future of technology and entrepreneurship. As a partner at Kapor Capital, she provides seed-stage funding to technology startups that make a positive social impact on low-income communities and communities of color. Drawing on her wo...
Apr 17, 2019•50 min•Season 14Ep. 18
You can’t do it all, no matter what our crazed culture tells you—and there’s no shame in walking away from a commitment that isn’t working out, as long as you do it thoughtfully, respectfully, and with plenty of advance warning. On this episode of LEAP!, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Konstantine Buhler of Meritech Capital Partners and John Melas-Kyriazi of Spark Capital embrace the negative, exploring when, why...
Mar 20, 2019•22 min•Season 14Ep. 17
As Google’s first engineering director, Alberto Savoia led the team that launched Google’s revolutionary AdWords project. After founding two startups, he returned to Google in 2008 and he assumed the role of “Innovation Agitator,” developing trainings and workshops to catalyze smart, impactful creation within the company. Drawing on his book " The Right It ," he begins with the premise that at least 80 percent of innovations fail, even if competently executed. He discusses how to reframe the cen...
Mar 13, 2019•46 min•Season 14Ep. 16
Navin Chaddha, managing director at the venture capital firm Mayfield, describes the firm’s core values and examines the drivers behind several of the firm’s most successful investments. Mayfield’s investment strategy, he explains, is to focus on the founder rather than the company. He describes how impactful founders identify their mission early and pivot when necessary, all while maintaining a firmly people-centered mindset.
Mar 06, 2019•43 min•Season 14Ep. 15
Midway through a M.D./Ph.D program at UCLA, Alice Zhang made a discovery that she felt could reverberate far beyond the halls of academia. So she shifted directions, leaving her Ph.D program to found Verge Genomics, a biomedical firm that aims to unite genetic research and artificial intelligence in service of drug discovery. She describes how AI can revolutionize the drug discovery process, and reframes risk-taking as a simple series of optimistic next steps.
Feb 27, 2019•51 min•Season 14Ep. 14
Cars can be much more than just boxes that get their owners around. John Viera, a former director and sustainability lead at Ford Motor Company, and Raj Kapoor, chief strategy officer at Lyft, join Stanford adjunct professor Pedram Mokrian to discuss opportunities for innovation in the field of transportation, particularly in the context of sustainability concerns and accelerating urbanization. Innovators, they suggest, need to think of transportation as a converging ecosystem, rather than as a ...
Feb 20, 2019•45 min•Season 14Ep. 13
Opportunities in the cryptocurrency sector extend well beyond simply investing in Bitcoin or Ethereum, says Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan. He compares the digital currency landscape to the early days of mobile—a space poised to create an entirely new set of innovations and business models. For entrepreneurs looking to make a play in everything from social networking and banking to collectibles markets and real estate, he suggests, crypto’s underlying blockchain technology is worth investigating...
Feb 13, 2019•46 min•Season 14Ep. 12
Roles expand and shift at a breakneck pace in a high-growth startup, says Meebo co-founder Elaine Wherry. Interns find themselves in charge of massive, mission-critical projects. Engineers are suddenly tasked with hiring and managing multiple teams. Wherry shares her insights on how to thrive in a rapidly expanding technology venture, drawing on the heady years between developing Meebo’s initial instant messaging platform in 2005 and landing the company at Google seven years later.
Feb 06, 2019•49 min•Season 14Ep. 11
Global trade has existed for centuries, but hasn’t evolved with technology. Ryan Petersen, CEO and founder of Flexport, learned this the hard way as an entrepreneur managing the supply chain of his brother’s motorcycle sales business, and took it as an opportunity to update the industry. Petersen shares his insights on how entrepreneurs can solve some of the world’s biggest challenges and how the Internet can be a force for good. -------------------- Stanford eCorner content is produced by the S...
Jan 23, 2019•55 min•Season 14Ep. 9
Dan Widmaier, co-founder and CEO at Bolt Threads, is on a mission to disrupt the garment industry through technology and science. He shares his perspective on sustainability, the future of the environment and how to focus on the task at hand instead of distractions.
Dec 05, 2018•49 min•Season 14Ep. 8
Brad Bao, co-founder and executive chairman of Lime, shares his mission to create close-knit neighborhoods through mobility. Highlighting Lime’s achievements, he challenges the notion that companies cannot succeed if they are socially responsible.
Nov 28, 2018•44 min•Season 14Ep. 7
Emily Melton, partner at the venture capital firm Threshold (formerly DFJ), shares her experience growing from a humanities student to tech investor. Melton shares advice for how to sustain startup momentum, navigate uncertainty and forge the honest, supportive relationships that lead to success.
Nov 14, 2018•48 min•Season 14Ep. 6
Adam Pisoni, founder and CEO of Abl Schools, shares how he tackles complex challenges, like modernizing the education system. Pisoni describes how he listens first, addresses today’s known issues and builds pathways to new possibilities. He breaks down how to identify scalable solutions, validate ideas and prioritize needs.
Nov 07, 2018•47 min•Season 14Ep. 5
Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig sits down with Steve Garrity, founder of Hearsay Systems and Juliet Rothenberg, product manager at DeepMind for a new podcast called LEAP!. This series will take a deep dive into how to grow your career by unpacking some of the often overlooked and under-taught soft skills critical to the success of every entrepreneur. Each episode invites alumni at different stages in their career to discuss real-life scenarios, focused around a particular skill. In this ep...
Oct 31, 2018•52 min•Season 14Ep. 4
Puneet Agarwal, partner at True Ventures, describes the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) within venture capital and its implications on the business functions of companies. He shares scenarios where EQ sets the tone for open communication, helping to build a community of safety for their founders and investors.
Oct 24, 2018•45 min•Season 14Ep. 3
Throughout his career, Manish Chandra, founder and CEO at Poshmark, learned to evolve, grow and adapt to the economical and career changes he faced. His vision for a mobile shopping platform was ahead of its time. Chandra shares his thoughts on how to persevere in the face of doubt, how to partner with founders that share a common goal and why focusing on engagement and community is critical for scaling successfully.
Oct 17, 2018•48 min•Season 14Ep. 2
Maureen Fan, co-founder and CEO at Baobab Studios, shares how she blended her creativity and technical savvy in founding her virtual reality animation company. Undeterred by naysayers and an unforged path ahead, she encourages those with big imaginations to buck traditional career paths and to be persistent in asking for what you want.
Oct 10, 2018•46 min•Season 14Ep. 1
Get a taste of season 2 of the FRICTION podcast. The best leaders cultivate empathy, patience and an awareness of their own vulnerabilities, says Nancy F. Koehn, a historian at the Harvard Business School. She’s the author of Forged in Crisis: The Power of Courageous Leadership in Turbulent Times, about the zigzagging paths of five historical figures, from Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass to environmentalist Rachel Carson. In this episode, Koehn speaks with Stanford Professor Bob Sutton ab...
Jun 13, 2018•24 min•Season 14Ep. 1
Throughout life, Steve Vassallo has advanced his career through design thinking, from the slick flyer he created on his parents' computer to get him more work as a boy, to his five years at IDEO, and now as a startup investor at Foundation Capital. Vassallo explains how strategies like user observation and asking the right questions will get you to the heart of any problem that needs solving.
Jun 06, 2018•55 min•Season 13Ep. 24
Serial entrepreneur Lisa Alderson, co-founder and CEO of Genome Medical, shares her vision for the future of medicine, along with real-world advice for those seeking to start their own company: Discover and follow your passion to ensure you stay driven through the highs and lows. Above all, venture into unfamiliar territory in order to build the confidence to embrace change.
May 30, 2018•57 min•Season 13Ep. 23
Gabriel Parisi-Amon, co-founder, CTO and COO of environmentally conscious shower startup, Nebia, bravely challenges the myth of “the perfect startup founder.” Parisi-Amon takes us on a journey through the seven stages of burnout he experienced in the early years of his startup, sharing how he’s emerged a more conscious and balanced leader. He offers tips and exercises for identifying the symptoms of burnout, urging us to prevent the fire before we’re consumed.
May 23, 2018•53 min•Season 13Ep. 22
Joshua Hoffman, co-founder and CEO of industrial-chemicals maker Zymergen, details how his intellectual dabbling in college and the courage to work on his weaknesses prepared him to be a broadminded business leader. He urges aspiring entrepreneurs to become good storytellers and build strong teams of divergent thinkers, even if they drive you nuts. Hoffman explains why it's all worth the pain.
May 16, 2018•48 min•Season 13Ep. 21
