Stanford eCorner

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 provide...

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.

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.

We all hear that having professional mentors is critical to career success. So how do you identify a mentor and sustain the relationship? In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Tania Abedian Coke, founder of TellUs, and Lauren Ottinger of Intercom say successful mentorships are characterized by gratitude and...

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...

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...the best skills and qualities you bring to a team! In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Steve Garrity of Hearsay Systems and Juliet Rothenberg of DeepMind talk superpowers. We all have them—we just have to identify them and apply them to the right problems. Your superpower...

When it comes to building teams, it’s all about the blend. You need optimists and realists, dreamers and doers, yes-idents and CE-nos. In this episode, Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig and guests Justin Rosenstein of Asana and Elizabeth Weil of 137 Ventures compare notes on finding the right balance of backgrounds and personalities. It’s not enough to say you want diverse perspective...

Negotiation—whether it’s over a job offer or a merger—is a dance. Each partner must be attentive to the other, and they’ve got to agree on style and tempo. In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Andrew Scheuermann, CEO and cofounder of Arch Systems, and Jessica Verrilli, general partner at GV, explain what ma...

Employers aren’t expecting perfection. They want authentic candidates who are excited about the company’s mission and brimming with curiosity about the role. In this episode, Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Tess Hatch of Bessemer Venture Partners, and Josh Reeves, CEO and founder of Gusto, explain how to convey those qualities in the interview—without coming off like a braggart, a...

You can’t win at office politics, but you can get better at playing the game. In this episode, Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, along with Kit Rogers of Cryptography Research and Lauren Isford of Facebook share how they’ve navigated the intricate systems of power that shape every workplace. It’s a lot like team sports: you’ve got to know when to pass the ball and let someone else sh...

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...

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 f...

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. In this episode, Tina Seelig, Professor of the Practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, and guests Konstantine Buhler of Meritech Capital Par...

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...

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 professor Pedram Mokrian to discuss opportunities for innovation in the field of transportation, particularly in the context of sustainability concerns and accelerating urbanization. Innovators...

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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 i...

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...

Coming soon from Stanford eCorner, a new podcast with Tina Seelig.

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.

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.

Emily Melton, partner at the venture capital firm 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.

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.

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...

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.