Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL)

Lands' End CEO Federica Marchionni shares lessons from her career as a leader at some of the most recognizable luxury-lifestyle brands in retail, including Dolce&Gabbana and Ferrari. She emphasizes the importance of excellence over perfection and adopting a "360 degree" mindset that will allow you to embrace change, be adaptable and identify opportunities for personal growth.

James Freeman, CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, discusses his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of customer experience. He explores the concept of combining unrelated elements in art and how he transitioned from a musician to a coffee entrepreneur. Freeman also shares insights on Japanese coffee culture, improving the customer experience, embracing imperfection, and the challenges of implementing online reviews.

Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO at the marketing and sales software firm HubSpot, distills his 128-slide presentation on company culture down to its essence, describing it as a business's "operating system" that lets people do their best work. Shah says entrepreneurs must create a company culture they love, because one will eventually emerge no matter what.

Stanford University President John Hennessy discusses some of the most powerful lessons he's learned as leader of one of the world's most complex and dynamic institutions of higher education. In conversation with Tina Seelig, director at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Hennessy also shares insights from his entrepreneurial career in the high-tech industry.

Mike Maples Jr., co-founder of the venture capital firm Floodgate, explains what entrepreneurs can learn from the very few technology startups that achieve hyper-exceptional success and market disruption. The Silicon Valley veteran urges tomorrow's innovators to "only do things that you think have a chance to be legendary" – because it takes just as much work to do something mediocre.

Sequoia Capital Chairman Michael Moritz and Lisa Sugar, founder and president of Popsugar, describe the investor-entrepreneur dynamic based on their personal experiences. In conversation with Stanford University lecturer Emily Ma, they discuss how success starts with staying to true to yourself, following your instincts and interests, and doing what makes you happy.

Civic leader Michael Tubbs shares his story of growing up in the California Central Valley, attending Stanford and going on to become one of the youngest elected officials in U.S. history. The Stockton City Councilman calls on entrepreneurs behind today's biggest tech innovations to also focus on solving society's biggest problems, like poverty, illiteracy and inequality.

Brit Morin, founder and CEO of Brit + Co, describes her path and motivation for launching a platform that aims to inspire women and girls to be creative through compelling content such as videos, online classes and do-it-yourself kits. Morin explains how creativity is sparked by rekindling that playful spirit from our youth and stems from the primal instinct to make things.

Rebecca Lynn, partner and founder at Canvas Ventures, shares her unlikely journey from the humble farming town of her childhood to the hotbed of technology innovation, fueled by engineering talent, entrepreneurial drive and solid guidance from mentors. Lynn describes her strategy for investing and observations about the world of venture capital.

Intuit Co-Founder Scott Cook describes how the financial software company went from struggling startup to runaway market leader by staying focused on the customer and iterating and embracing surprises along the way. In a free-form talk guided by audience questions, Cook shares advice on leadership, perseverance and professional growth.