Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

Burnout is familiar to all entrepreneurs and takes its toll. Gabriel Parisi-Amon, founder of Nebia, which was acquired by Brondell, takes on the “perfect founder” myth and asks us to reconsider the system that inevitably leads to burnout. Parisi-Amon offers practical advice on priorities and perspectives for founders at any stage. Through examples from his own experience as a founder, he reminds us that failing to prioritize and personally understand what work you should be doing, will inevitably lead to burnout. This talk first aired on May 18, 2018 ---------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USX: https://x.com/ECorner  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechno

Andy Dunn, founder of the menswear line Bonobos, speaks frankly about his own struggles with bipolar disorder and how his mental illness didn’t define him but rather helped him innovate and become the creative founder his company needed. He challenges the field to transform the stigma attached to mental illness to better recognize the strengths of those who are living with one—the creativity, the drive, and the ability to overcome adversity.This talk includes discussions of suicide and self-harm. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information. The Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To text with a trained helper, text SAVE to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.This talk first aired on November 8, 2023. —-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by

Richard Miller was credited with reimagining undergraduate engineering education at Olin College, where he was the founding director. Miller challenged us to consider who we teach, what we teach, and how that teaching reaches students. He spoke about shifting the focus from showing up in class to learn, to learning 24/7; from learning in isolation to learning as part of a community; and to problem solving as the foundational mindset to design-centered thinking. Miller's vision has undoubtedly paved the way for a transformative approach to engineering education.This episode was originally published on May 25, 2016. —-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USX: https://x.com/ECorner  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanford

Jennifer Carolan is Co-Founder and Partner at Reach Capital. In 2014, while with the NewSchools Venture Fund, Carolan spoke with Steve Blank about the emergence of EdTech products – before technology was widely used in classrooms and many students had access to their own devices. Pulling from her experience as a science teacher, Carolan shared insights on how we can incorporate the venture model and mindset into education. Her future forward thinking emphasized the importance of involving the teachers who are leading the EdTech revolution.This episode was originally published on November 5, 2014.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USX: https://x.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram

While the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders speaker series is on pause, we’re excited to bring you ETL Looks Back, a series of timely gems from our archives. We’re kicking off the school year with some talks on education, starting with Sal Khan, Founder and CEO of the world-renowned Khan Academy. When he visited ETL in 2014, Khan offered a blueprint for individualized, technology-enhanced learning long before Covid and the explosion of EdTech products. Catch up with what he had to say about personalized learning, the role of technology in education, and how we should be thinking about developing the next generation of makers.This episode was originally published April 16, 2014.

The ETL series is currently taking a break, but don’t worry! We’ll keep your podcast feed flowing with a special ETL Looks Back series, highlighting some timely gems from our archives. They’ll be published right here in your regular ETL feed—there’s nothing you need to do. Be sure to stay subscribed for future announcements about the return of the series. We can't wait to bring you more new episodes! Until then, enjoy ETL Looks Back, and find more episodes from our archive at stvp.stanford.edu/eCorner. Thanks for tuning in!—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USX: https://x.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgra

Alexandra Zatarain is the co-founder and VP of brand and marketing of Eight Sleep, the world’s first sleep fitness company. A marketer and brand-builder, Zatarain has built the Eight Sleep brand and scaled the company’s revenue from $0 to current state. Eight Sleep was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2018 and was recognized two years in a row as a TIME Best Invention of the Year. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Zatarain digs deep into the process of finding product-market fit, using examples from Eight Sleep’s struggles and successes.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyV

Maria Barrera, a Stanford-educated engineer, is the founder and CEO of Clayful, a platform dedicated to providing essential mental health support for the TikTok generation. Today, Barrera’s company creates accessible resources for K-12 students and has already made a profound impact on thousands of students nationwide. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Barrera shares her journey to founding a mental health startup and how she incorporates strategies for mental wellbeing in her life and on her team.This talk includes references to trauma and suicide. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information. The Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To text with a trained helper, text SAVE to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.—---------------------------------

David Allemann co-leads the Swiss sports company On, one of the fastest-growing global sports brands. He puts a special focus on product, design, marketing, and the direct-to-consumer business of On. Previously, Allemann worked at the intersection of business and creativity at McKinsey & Company, as managing director of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, and as CMO of design brand Vitra. In this presentation, Allemann shares how he and his co-founders built their shoe company on a spirit of exploration, innovation, and positivity, and what aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from their experience.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sta

Ali Ghodsi is the CEO and co-founder of Databricks, a leader in data and AI. He pioneered the data intelligence platform built on a lakehouse architecture, revolutionizing analytics and AI for global organizations. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as the VP of engineering and product management. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Ghodsi Shares lessons he’s learned from being one of seven co-founders at Databricks and leading a company that began with open-source software.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecorner LEARN MOREeCorner We

Margo Georgiadis is a CEO-partner at Flagship Pioneering and co-founder and CEO of Montai Health, an AI platform company enabling the predictable discovery of breakthrough small molecule medicines to treat and preempt chronic disease. In these roles, Georgiadis brings extensive expertise in technological innovation and high-performance business transformation and leverages her artificial intelligence and machine learning experience to advance biotech innovation. In this presentation and conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Georgiadis shares frameworks that Flagship uses to develop deep tech companies and her approach to addressing the challenges of drug discovery.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/

Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, the AI research and deployment company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E. Altman was president of the early-stage startup accelerator Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019. In 2015, he co-founded OpenAI as a nonprofit research lab with the mission to build general-purpose artificial intelligence that benefits all humanity. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Altman gives advice for aspiring AI entrepreneurs and shares his insights about the opportunities and risks of AI tools and artificial general intelligence.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/&nbs

Qasar Younis is the co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition, which creates software solutions to help automakers, Tier 1 suppliers, and companies in the trucking, construction, and agriculture industries transition to next-generation vehicles. Before founding Applied Intuition, Younis was a partner and COO of Y Combinator. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Younis gives practical advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, especially students, and shares insights he’s gathered from his experience as an investor and founder.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtub

Sharon Prince is the CEO and founder of Grace Farms Foundation, a new kind of boundary-defying public space in New Canaan, Connecticut, that has become widely known as a global humanitarian and cultural center. Grace Farms is the platform for the Foundation and its interdisciplinary humanitarian mission to pursue peace through nature, arts, justice, community, faith, and Design for Freedom, a global new movement to eliminate forced labor from the building materials supply chain. In this presentation, Prince explains the origin and possibilities of the Design for Freedom movement and shares how she designed Grace Farms to embody her vision and values.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/

Sophia Edelstein and Nathan Kondamuri are co-founders and co-CEOs of Pair Eyewear. Since its inception, Pair Eyewear has put consumers at the center of the innovation process, ensuring that the brand is at the forefront of redefining the eyewear experience by offering continual customizability, freedom of choice, and affordability for glasses. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Emily Ma, Edelstein and Kondamuri share their journey from coming up with an idea as Stanford students, to finding their first employees, to building company culture through rapid growth.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgra

Clara Shih is CEO of Salesforce AI, the world’s most trusted enterprise AI for customer relationship management. A digital pioneer, Shih has been named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs, TIME’s Most Influential People in AI, and the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders. She is a member of the Starbucks board of directors and serves as executive chair of Hearsay Systems, a privately held digital software firm she founded in 2009. In this presentation, Shih shares unconventional advice for finding professional and personal success as an entrepreneur.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ 

Shiza Shahid is the co-founder and co-CEO of Our Place, a mission-driven startup reimagining kitchenware for the modern, multiethnic, global kitchen. Prior to Our Place, Shahid also co-founded the Malala Fund with Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. She led the organization as founding CEO, advocating for the rights of all girls to attend school. Shahid also launched NOW Ventures, an angel fund to invest in mission-driven startups. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Shahid shares how her life and career have shaped her view of entrepreneurship and offers advice for infusing mission and meaning into products and brands.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/&

Daniela Amodei is president and co-founder of Anthropic, an AI safety and research company. Amodei manages the senior leadership team, leveraging her people and management experience to further the company’s goal of building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Emily Ma, Amodei talks about how Anthropic’s team of co-founders have built values and ethical guardrails into their AI tools from day one, and how this can inform other AI companies.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecorner LEARN MOREeCorn

Ernestine Fu is managing general partner of venture capital firm Brave Capital. Over the past decade, Fu has worked across the startup ecosystem, including negotiating merger and acquisition agreements, organizing SPVs for later-stage companies, angel investing in and advising companies that have since been acquired, and advising banks on venture debt. Alongside her role at Brave Capital, she is also a Venture Partner at Alsop Louie Partners. In this presentation and conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Fu inspires students and aspiring entrepreneurs by sharing things she wished she knew before coming to Stanford as a student.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/&nbs

ETL is off this week, but in its place, we’re pleased to share the first episode of a new podcast from Stanford eCorner and STVP called Move Fast and Fix the Planet. It’s about climate and sustainability entrepreneurship, and this episode features ETL host Emily Ma, head of special projects in sustainability, real estate, and workplace services at Google. Delve into Emily's journey as an intrapreneur focusing on sustainability within Google's internal operations, particularly in the realm of food systems. Learn about the unique opportunities and obstacles she’s encountered in building a more sustainable future. Gain insights into the entrepreneurial mindset, the intersection of technology and agriculture, and the importance of holistic approaches in addressing global challenges. Move Fast and Fix the Planet is hosted by Mike Lepech, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford’s School of Engineering.-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by STVP, the Stanford