Blog

  • Stanford Engineering Xfund Ethics Fellows Program Prepares Students to Be Principled Entrepreneurs

    Stanford Engineering Xfund Ethics Fellows Program Prepares Students to Be Principled Entrepreneurs

    The student-run program, formerly known as PEAK Fellows, teaches entrepreneurial students to develop and instill ethical principles in their personal and professional lives. A Stanford program that prepares entrepreneurial students to brave ethical dilemmas is now recruiting its fifth cohort, bolstered by new support and going by a new name.  Stanford’s Xfund Ethics Fellows, formerly ...read more

  • The Upsides of Bureaucracy

    The Upsides of Bureaucracy

    Bureaucracy gets a bad rap. Just the word conjures images of interminable meetings, endless lists of rules and annoying paperwork. But bureaucracy — or at least some aspects of it — may deserve a second look. Khonika Gope, a graduate student in Stanford University’s Department of Management Science & Engineering who is studying with STVP, ...read more

  • A Fresh Take on Revenue Models

    A Fresh Take on Revenue Models

    If you have a smartphone loaded with apps, you’ve probably observed that those apps can have wildly contrasting pricing schemes. Some products are free but stuffed with ads, while others charge a flat fee. Still others offer in-app purchases and upgrades. How would an entrepreneur building out an app decide which of these approaches to ...read more

  • The Double-Edged Sword of Government Funding

    The Double-Edged Sword of Government Funding

    Jason Rathje was an aeronautical engineer in the US Air Force when he began to notice something unusual. The Air Force regularly sought partnerships with private companies, but only a few were interested in applying—and those that were became regulars, seeking military contracts again and again. For certain projects, it wasn’t surprising to see the ...read more

  • What A Drone Industry Rivalry Teaches Us About Organizational Styles

    What A Drone Industry Rivalry Teaches Us About Organizational Styles

    Who would dominate the drone industry? It was an open question back in 2012, as two fierce rivals battled for market share: Berkeley, California–based 3D Robotics (3DR), and Dà-Jiāng Innovation Science and Technology Co. (DJI), of Shenzhen, China. Culturally and organizationally, the two ventures couldn’t have been more different. 3DR was flat and relied on ...read more

  • Entrepreneurial Artifacts: An Arch Major’s Perspective

    Entrepreneurial Artifacts: An Arch Major’s Perspective

    This project started as an idea for a scavenger hunt about the artifacts of entrepreneurship on Stanford University’s campus. I took this as an opportunity to introduce a variety of examples of entrepreneurship. In order to provide a well rounded perspective on entrepreneurship I made sure to include disciplines in the Humanities & Sciences. The ...read more

  • Entrepreneurship Will Steer Self-Driving Cars Forward

    Entrepreneurship Will Steer Self-Driving Cars Forward

    With the race to roll out autonomous vehicles thick with industry giants in the tech and traditional car-making sectors, why are Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms even investing in upstart entrepreneurs looking to get in the game? Bottom line: The market is huge – both in terms of the types of products and services ...read more

  • Amazon: The GMO that Swallowed Whole Foods Markets

    Amazon: The GMO that Swallowed Whole Foods Markets

    Amazon’s $13.7 billion purchase of the Whole Foods Market chain, which is now a done deal, has grocery shoppers salivating at the thought of never having to walk into a supermarket again. Likewise, entrepreneurs and artisans behind the upscale products that fill Whole Foods’ shelves see the upside of Amazon leveraging its constant growth and ...read more

  • Great Leaders Get Off the Couch

    Great Leaders Get Off the Couch

    A few months after her failed bid for California governor in 2010, veteran Silicon Valley CEO Meg Whitman found herself on the couch, completely deflated. The team she built for her campaign, the crowds who cheered her on, the 5 million California votes — not to mention the personal fortune she invested — all for ...read more

  • Five Tips for Original Thinking

    Five Tips for Original Thinking

    Why are the best ideas often the ones that don’t seem to make sense? Bestselling author Adam Grant, one of the most influential management thinkers in America, recently came to Stanford to give a talk that was chock-full of counterintuitive tips for anyone seeking to be a better business leader — citing scholarly research and ...read more






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