Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Video Series

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 governor that revealed deep political insights that still resonate.

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.

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.

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 University’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, national defense and international diplomacy.

Four alumni of entrepreneurship-education fellowships offered through the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) return to share what startup life in the fields of virtual reality, med-tech, renewable and solar energy have taught them. In conversation with STVP Faculty Co-Director Tina Seelig, the panel discusses strategic decision-making, defining success, facing failure, the importance of culture and the necessary traits 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 optimism 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.

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.