Threshold Venture Fellows
Develop leadership skills for the venture ecosystem
Handcrafted for twelve Stanford master’s and co-term students interested in entrepreneurial ventures, the Threshold Venture Fellows (TVF) program provides a front-row seat to the world of venture creation. Fellows meet weekly for classroom sessions, guest speakers, and in-depth discussions about launching and leading high growth, high impact organizations.
Current Cohort
Zainab Alali
Energy Resources Engineering
Simi Aluko
Sustainable Design and Construction
Caroline Gao
Computer Science
Ethan Goh
Clinical Informatics and Management
Simba Jonga
Management Science and Engineering
Shreyas Lakhtakia
Management Science & Engineering
Cheryl Mulor
Sustainable Design & Construction; Management Science & Engineering
Santiago Ossa
Sustainable Design and Construction
Axel Peytavin
Computational and Mathematical Engineering
Ashraf Sabkha
International Cyber Policy
Anna-Julia Storch
Education Data Science
Ann Wu
Electrical Engineering
Year-at-a-Glance
WINTER
Fellows are immersed in the entrepreneurial mindset through classroom discussions and building community. Fellows meet weekly, alternating between Tuesday sessions & Wednesday ETL Seminars (4:30 – 6:00 PM) followed by a discussion with the cohort.
SPRING
Fellows deepen understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem through workshops and relationship building. Fellows meet weekly, alternating between Tuesday sessions & Wednesday ETL Seminars (4:30 – 6:00 PM) followed by a discussion with the cohort.
Teaching Team
Program Information
The Threshold Venture Fellows (TVF) program was created to serve the specific needs of Stanford master’s students, who often have previous career experiences yet have limited time to pursue entrepreneurial activities while at Stanford. As the Fellowship is relationship and engagement driven, we seek to admit fellows who learn best from others and bring diverse perspectives to their cohort.
Fellows meet weekly during Winter and Spring quarters for in-depth discussions about launching and leading high growth, high impact organizations. Class guests, including Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, lawyers, and venture capitalists, will be invited to give talks about their personal experiences. Topics include raising venture capital, giving a pitch, risk taking and failure, ethical dilemmas, and work life balance. Fellows will also have the opportunity to participate in hands-on workshops – past workshops have been on topics like negotiation, public speaking, and storytelling.
A key focus of the fellowship is building relationships across both Stanford and Silicon Valley. Fellows gain access to rich mentorship opportunities from industry leaders and TVF alumni. Fellows will also have the opportunity to build community with students from across the Stanford ecosystem. A cohort retreat will take place early on in the program and fellows often form enduring friendships. Upon completion, fellows will join the highly active TVF alumni network.
Application Information
Enrollment is limited to 12 master’s and co-term students. The application consists of two rounds. The first round consists of completing the STVP Fellows Program Application and video submission. The second round of the application is a group interview and applicants will hear back in late November. All Stanford masters students are encouraged to apply, regardless of previous entrepreneurial experience. However, we prefer applicants with previous career experience. Additionally, we highly encourage applicants to attend one of the information sessions – dates and times are listed below. These sessions are an opportunity to learn more about the program and hear directly from past fellows.
This year we will not have a common application for all our available fellows programs, so if you are interested in applying for the Accel Leadership Program please follow the application link below. Students will be asked to provide their academic information, a resume/CV, and thoughtful responses to prompt questions, such as their experience with entrepreneurship as well as sharing challenges they’ve overcome as a leader. Select applicants will be asked to send in a video and attend an in-person interview November 7 – 10, which will allow applicants the chance to share their unique backgrounds with the selection committee. Interviews are conducted in groups.
The application for the 2023 – 2024 Threshold Venture Fellows Cohort is now open!
Application Deadline: Sunday, October 15
If you’re interested in learning more about the Threshold Venture Fellows Program please join us for an info session with the teaching team and Threshold alumni. The info session schedule is below. Please be sure to RSVP.
Info Session Dates
The Threshold Venture Fellows teaching team will hold a series of virtual and in-person info sessions during the 2023-2024 cohort application period. These info sessions are designed for prospective fellows to learn more about the program, commitment, application, interview process, etc. Those in attendance will also have an opportunity to ask questions directly to the teaching team. Please RSVP for our info sessions through the link below to receive a Zoom link and reminder email. If you have any issues with the Zoom link sent to you before the info session, please email Mandy Llerena-Weiks at allerena@stanford.edu.
(VIRTUAL) Thursday, August 31 @ 5:00 pm PT
(IN-PERSON) Wednesday, September 27 @ 12:00 pm PT
Please email Mandy Llerena-Weiks with any questions about applying to the Threshold Venture Fellows Program.
Testimonials
TVF is my home at Stanford. There is no group of people I trust more, whether that is on professional or personal matters. Through weekly (very honest!) conversations, mentorship and a field trip, TVF allows you to form deep connections with some of the most incredible people you meet in your life. On top of that, there is really no one better to learn from than Heidi and Aidan (+ the incredible guest speakers they bring in) who truly care about you. 11/10 experience
M.S. Education Data Science
TVF has given me my first entrepreneurial community and the amazing opportunity to learn from Heidi & Aidan (which gave me a healthy, foundational understanding of founder/investor relationships and more). Our 2023 cohort has been the defining experience of my Stanford journey, and I know the strong TVF network will be a continuing part of my entrepreneurial journey
M.S. Electrical Engineering
TVF is an amazing program that brings you together with other empathetic, determined, and really smart people who are equally as passionate as you are about making the world a better place. The energy and discussions that come out of these sessions are invaluable, and the relationships you build are forever.
B.S. Symbolic Systems, M.S. Computer Science
TVF was an incredible experience mainly for the connections – or I should rather say deep friendships – it allowed me to create. My peers are all incredible people, every single one of them in the cohort, and I can say all have become good friends. I should also say the same about Heidi and Aidan, whom I am very glad to count as mentors, along with my official tvf mentor andreas who is also amazing. Most importantly maybe to me, is that all these people are good people, who care about doing things right, and it really warmed my heart to learn some important ropes of entrepreneurship and VC from them. Please continue this program, it was a major highlight of my Stanford experience for sure.
M.S. Computational and Mathematical Engineering
My TVF experience was energizing, grounding and special. Central to this incredible journey were the remarkable individuals who formed the heart and soul of TVF: the fellows, mentors, teaching team, and the extended TVF family
M.S. Management Science and Engineering
Hands down, TVF has been a major highlight in my Stanford experience! The friendships that I was able to foster through the program are strong and I know will be long-lasting. Prior to TVF, I often felt that there were places for my engineering self, places for my entrepreneurial self, places for my ‘concerned about business practices’ self, and places for my silly and creative self…but I hadn’t found a place where my full self could not just exist but thrive all at once. This is what I found in my TVF cohort – a community of highly capable and multifaceted engineers and scientists with a common interest in making a difference through creating ventures or supporting the startup ecosystem.
Alumni
Acknowledgements
STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, offers sincere appreciation to Threshold for supporting this opportunity for Stanford Engineering students.
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