Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Video Series

As tech companies come under fire for mishandling our data, with one blog post, a young software engineer forced these firms to share some of the most damning information they keep: the demographics of their workforce. Tracy Chou turned concepts familiar to her profession — like open sourcing, metrics reporting and benchmarking — to push for more diversity and inclusion throughout her industry. She discusses how the uphill battle continues through Project Include and why, in this case, a top-down approach from tech leaders is needed now.

Julayne Virgil, CEO of Girls Inc. of Alameda County, describes how her organization provides youth with the confidence to overcome systemic gender bias, and hopefully, realize their full potential. Girls in the program are given the types of experiences that help them break through their fears and build strength for the challenges ahead. Virgil also talks about how innovation means improving what exists, not just creating something new.

Tech entrepreneur David Baszucki explains how Roblox is essentially the YouTube for online games, a platform that derives immense value entirely from the millions of content creators and players who come together to build and be immersed in virtual worlds for fun. He discusses how the company dictates strategy and product roadmap, while depending on its users for growth.

Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne tells students that life is long and lived in chapters. Some of his include being a pioneering neuroscientist, head of research at Genentech, a co-founder of two startups, and president of two leading research universities. He shares what he's learned about how to lead organizations that turn discovery into real-world impact.

How do you know when it’s time to start a company? Or when to begin fundraising, and how much? And, as you grow, how do you recruit the best executives and build a culture centered on employees? Venture capitalist Josh McFarland of the firm Greylock Partners answers these questions and more through his experiences as founder and CEO of tech startup TellApart, which Twitter acquired for nearly half a billion dollars.

Actor Harrison Ford shares his longstanding commitment to preserving nature through Conservation International, joined by the organization’s CEO, M. Sanjayan. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, the environmental leaders urge entrepreneurs and engineers to build disruptive innovations, while describing how strategic thinking is at the heart of the self-sustaining solutions they launch around the world.

The key is understanding your own tolerance for risk in what you do for work, and how you pay the bills at home. At the firm Forerunner Ventures, founders must have three traits in spades to get funding: magnetism, discipline and vision. Eurie Kim, general partner at the firm, explains what it’s like to work at companies of different sizes, and what skills and strengths make you best suited for each.

The tale of 3D Robotics starts in the garage of a teenager in Tijuana, Mexico, who launched a drone-making factory with a $500 check from entrepreneur Chris Anderson, who then flooded the American market with their unmanned aerial vehicles and disrupted the aerospace industry through grassroots, open innovation. Then, China caught on and drove U.S. drone makers into the ground. Anderson, 3DR's CEO, shares his hard-won insights.

Choose co-founders based on their core values. Pick investors who will be there in your darkest hour. Make hiring the best people your top priority, and treat them like owners — not employees. Sameer Dholakia, CEO of business email service SendGrid, discusses the most important strategies for a startup's success, including the concept of "servant leadership."

Entrepreneur Leila Janah describes how her social enterprise Samasource allows people in Africa and elsewhere to lift themselves out of poverty through dignified, fair-wage digital work like photo tagging for companies in Silicon Valley. She celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit in those who survive on next to nothing and explains how giving work is more effective than charity.

On the racetrack, the checkered flag goes to the car that’s driven to its limits and maneuvered decisively in the moment. On a two-lane road, the split-second act of passing a vehicle stopped in front of you becomes a way more complicated call when algorithms are in control. Autonomous-vehicle maker and Stanford Professor Chris Gerdes applies these findings and more to business and life.

Make beef out of plants instead of cows and you can begin to save the planet. That's what inspired award-winning scientist Patrick Brown to leave his professorship at Stanford University and found Impossible Foods. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Brown describes how his singular passion for impact prompted him to leave academia and become a food-tech entrepreneur.

Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and CEO of the popular DNA-testing company 23andMe, discusses how providing people with their own genetic data empowers consumers to make better health decisions and advances science. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Wojcicki explains how the intense scrutiny that the DNA-testing company has received is a sign that it is disrupting the status quo.

Amy Chang had accomplished a lot in her eight years at Google, helping launch and then lead Google Analytics to 70 percent market share. But then she left to launch her own tech startup, a relationship-intelligence platform called Accompany. In conversation with Matt Harvey of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Chang talks about getting out of one's comfort zone and laying the groundwork for a successful career.

How good are you at limiting your screen time? Because of the way humans evolved, our brains are no match for the engineers, designers and companies that collectively create the devices and apps that demand our attention all day long, according to technology ethicist Tristan Harris. A former tech entrepreneur himself, Harris is now co-founder of Time Well Spent, a nonprofit movement to create an ecosystem that aligns technology with our humanity.