Mayfield Fellows Program
The application for the 2025-2026 cohort is now closed.
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From Stanford classroom to global influence: A 9-month intensive that transforms 12 exceptional students into a cohesive community of entrepreneurs and leaders who define the next decade and shape the world.
Founded in 1996, the Mayfield Fellows Program transforms 12 exceptional Stanford students annually into the entrepreneurs and leaders who shape the world. Our alumni have founded and built billion-dollar businesses, such as Instagram and Gusto, claimed seats on Fortune 500 boards at Starbucks and Disney, and even captured Olympic gold for Team USA in women’s soccer. Through exclusive mentorship from top venture capitalists, immersive startup internships, and expert-guided leadership development, you’ll earn academic credit while forging the relationships and skills that launch extraordinary careers. Join a lifelong network of 360+ accomplished leaders who’ve proven that ambition, properly channeled, knows no limits.
Current Cohort
Year-at-a-glance
Spring
ENGR 140A: LEADERSHIP OF TECHNOLOGY VENTURES
Learn the essentials of venture-scale startups and financing, product and market strategy, team building, ethics, and leadership.
Summer
ENGR 140B: LEADERSHIP OF TECHNOLOGY VENTURES + PAID INTERNSHIP
Complete a startup internship with executive mentorship, write about and analyze your experience, share experiences across the cohort, and visit other startups to compound learnings.
Autumn
ENGR 140C: LEADERSHIP OF TECHNOLOGY VENTURES
Reflect on your learnings, teach a case study on your experience to other fellows and faculty, write and exchange insights about current inflections we are observing in the world that will lead to the next generation of startups, and learn from your peers to complete your program experience.
PLEASE NOTE: MFP class days and times are subject to change depending on the needs of the selected cohort.
Teaching Team
Program Information
The Mayfield Fellows Program represents Stanford’s premier entrepreneurial leadership opportunity, selecting just 12 exceptional undergraduates and co-terminal students annually to join an intensive nine-month journey in technology venture creation. Regardless of academic background or major, Fellows engage in rigorous coursework designed to develop the strategic thinking, innovation capabilities, and leadership acumen essential for building transformative companies.
The program’s distinctive three-course sequence provides comprehensive training in understanding the underpinnings of inflecting venture startups, while a paid summer internship at a leading startup offers invaluable real-world application of theoretical frameworks. Fellows will create a cohesive community especially through the summer where many choose to live together in a house in San Francisco. Fellows benefit from direct mentorship by distinguished industry leaders, including startup founders, venture capitalists, and accomplished faculty members. The program’s academic rigor is exemplified through instruction by seed stage venture firm Floodgate co-founding partner Ann Miura-Ko and renowned entrepreneurship professor Tom Byers, who bring both scholarly expertise and practical industry insight to the classroom.
Upon completion, Fellows emerge equipped with the knowledge, networks, and mindset necessary to establish and lead principled technology ventures that address society’s most pressing challenges.
Eligibility:
- Must be an active undergraduate and co-terminal Stanford student during the program
- Must secure a paid internship and reside in the San Francisco Bay Area for the Summer.
- If you are already committed to working somewhere in the Summer of 2026 upon applying, please ensure the company meets the criteria for our Mayfield Summer Employers.
Who Should Apply?
- Students from any discipline or major are encouraged to apply
- Note: This is not an incubator or accelerator. Students are expected to work at a early stage venture backed startup and not on their own idea
Curriculum Highlights:
- Culture in Startups (Josh Reeves, Founder and CEO of Gusto, MFP ’05)
- Importance of Teamwork (Naomi Girma, US National Women’s Soccer Team, Gold Medalist, MFP ’21)
- Decision-Making at the Top (Condoleezza Rice – US Secretary of State and Jonathan Levin – President of Stanford University)
- Live Seed Stage Startup Pitches
Testimonials
Mayfield fellows gave me a strong community of mentors that I can lean on to help me through early career decisions and lasting friendships that bring out the best in me and challenge me to be my better self every day.
MFP created an incredibly unique environment where I could learn from teachers and fellow students, put ideas into action, and then teach others what I had learned. MFP enabled me to combine my love for engineering with my desire to solve meaningful problems in the world. MFP taught me that entrepreneurship is not about business or start-ups; it’s a mindset to understand a problem, think about solutions, and then do something about it. This could be a problem affecting millions of people, or a small community. Entrepreneurship is a call to action to change the world around us. MFP taught me the importance of staying authentic to my values and living life in a way I’m proud of.
MFP provides you robust foundations in community and curriculum to enter the always-changing startup environment. In curriculum, you learn how to identify startups destined for success and step up to intern at one. Importantly, you are given a chance to find a new community of the brightest minds later on in your undergraduate experience.”
MFP was a formative experience. The MFP program is an entrepreneurship engine, pulling together the perfect balance of curriculum, experience, mentorship, and a diverse set of students and leaders that inspires us all to think bigger and bolder than ever before. It was the pinnacle of my time at Stanford, and I eagerly await the announcement of the new class of MFPers and opportunity to give back to the people and the program that made such a big contribution to my Stanford experience.
Mayfield was the single most impactful piece of my Stanford career. Through academic frameworks, scintillating conversations, and amazing introductions, MFP forced me to think deeply about the most non-obvious of the non-obvious aspects of the tech industry, and my professional and academic career. I remain inspired by my incredible Mayfield family and think back to the lessons I learned when evaluating everything from products, professional choices, and personal development opportunities.
Lessons, experiences and friendships from the Mayfield Fellows Program have proven to be some of the most lasting and impactful from my Stanford experience. The business frameworks and strategic thought processes were a great compliment to my coursework, and imparted me with tools and confidence that have helped me significantly in my career
The Mayfield Fellows Program has given me a new perspective on my life and my career – it has taught me that when you have a dash of entrepreneurial boldness, a dedication to critical thinking, and a fellowship of likeminded adventurers, the world will reveal all of its undiscovered and wild possibilities.
The Mayfield Fellows Program brought the principle of action into my academics. By that, I mean it empowered me to take everything I’d learned at Stanford and feel confident about acting on it: making hard decisions, launching new initiatives, etc. Moreover, the Mayfield Fellowship Program’s case-based coursework and in-field experience taught (and trained) me to think and act with agility.
Summer Employer Info & Application
Mayfield fellows take paid internships with organizations during the summer session, allowing each fellow to demonstrate their entrepreneurial skills on high-impact projects. As part of the internship experience, we require each fellow to be assigned a senior-level mentor within the organization (e.g., CEO, VP, or founder). Although another employee may supervise a fellow, it is critical that each fellow also have a senior internal sponsor concerned with the fellow’s welfare who is willing to meet one-on-one with the student to discuss progress and goals. Participating companies also engage in MFP-sponsored activities during the program. For example, each organization hosts a virtual visit during the summer for the other fellows in the cohort, and during the autumn quarter, employers may participate as guest speakers or case participants in the course.
In all aspects of these activities, STVP honors the organization’s intellectual property in a professional manner. Our mission is to expose Stanford students to the reality of the entrepreneurial process in a variety of different organizations, not to put participating organizations at risk. We expect mentor organizations to operate in a highly ethical manner and demonstrate a commitment to the growth of the fellows they employ.
Interested organizations may apply by completing a short online application, which will be available through early June. Organizations that apply to be MFP employers are not guaranteed to have their offers of employment accepted by a fellow. MFP urges employers to provide compensation during the duration of the summer internship.
Your startup must meet the following criteria in order to host a Mayfield Fellow:
- Series B or earlier are preferred
- Remote position or based in the Bay Area
- At least 8 weeks total, must be a paid internship
- Must report to and or receive mentorship from C-suite/VPs
Summer employer testimonials
Last summer, we had the pleasure of hosting Mayfield Fellow Nahome Hagos. Nahome joined us as a Data Scientist and we could not imagine a better representative for demonstrating the value of hosting a fellow. The professionalism, independence and integrity that Nahome brought to our organization coupled with access to the broader Mayfield Fellows network provided Pendulum with both tangible and intangible benefits at the team and organization level. We would absolutely recommend the program to other organizations looking for early access to some of the best and brightest students as they begin to enter the workforce.
Being part of the Mayfield Fellows Program was a game changer – hosting Moritz last summer was a truly enriching experience for the Trunk Tools team. Moritz’s ability to blend technical expertise with entrepreneurial thinking made him the perfect product manager on our generative AI product, TrunkText. Moritz was able to leverage the rapidly-changing technology, empathize with our customers, and serve as a mentor to other engineers. I highly recommend the Mayfield Fellows Program to any employer looking for brilliant and talented individuals who can deliver impactful contributions.
Working with Montanna has been an absolute pleasure and a tremendous accelerator on a wide variety of projects for us at FarmWise in marketing, market research, and operations. Her ability and eagerness to jump on any kind of challenge we would throw at her and figure out a way to tackle them was remarkable and extremely helpful. Our team has been continuously impressed with her maturity and skillset.
Last summer, we had the pleasure of hosting Mayfield Fellow Nadine Fattah as a Product Management intern. Nadine was an absolute joy to work with. She jumped in and within a short time was conducting customer interviews and synthesizing important feedback for our team. She quickly picked up not only on our workflows and tools, but brought so much thought and care into tackling our businesses challenges. I would highly recommend the Mayfield Fellows program to other startups and companies looking to engage a group of ambitious problem solvers early in their career.
I found that Chan was an extremely valuable member of the supply chain team during her summer internship with Living Carbon. The scope of work that Chan was able to contribute spanned from ordering to design and we found that her background in product design was such an asset to moving several of our projects along. Some of the work that Chan completed ended up in a physical product that we sent to clients! Overall, we were super happy to have Chan last summer and are excited to see what she does next!
Having Aaron as Cache’s Mayfield Fellow was instrumental across-the-board for our early-stage efforts—he was a pleasure to have as part of the team last summer! Aaron excelled in his core focus of unit economics, engaging with several customers to pressure-test and validate assumptions in the market. From furnishing the office to quantifying our processes, no task was too small to roll up his sleeves and move our organization forward. As technologies continue accelerating industries forward, Mayfield Fellows act as an innovative link to best practices for culture and entrepreneurship in an evolving workforce.
Working with Muhammad Umar Nadeem (“Umar”) as our summer software engineering intern at Roon was a wonderful experience. He blended deep compassion for the patient journey with an understanding of the AI toolchain, communicated with nuance and clarity about the product we were building together, and wrote proof-of-concept code that helped us get a feature launched. He quickly picked up our workflows, and infused everything he did last summer with joy, empathy, and clarity. We’re looking forward to seeing what he does next!
Alumni
View over 360+ Mayfield Fellows Program alumni.
Acknowledgements
STVP offers sincere appreciation to the Mayfield Fund for supporting this opportunity for Stanford students. Special thanks goes to Navin Chaddha.
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