Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders (ETL)

Sarah Lamaison, co-founder and CEO of Dioxycle, discusses pioneering sustainable chemistry by converting carbon emissions into everyday chemicals. Topics include decarbonizing industries, avoiding pitfalls in startup founding, developing carbon dioxide conversion tech, overcoming challenges in complex technology, the importance of public-private partnerships and private capital, and goals in the climate tech space.

Michelle Lee, Founder and CEO of Medra, with previous experience at NVIDIA, SpaceX, and McKinsey, talks about starting her deep tech company and giving advice to aspiring founders. She discusses the decision between academia and starting a company, the moment of conviction in entrepreneurship, the importance of optimism, growth mindset, and social support, the importance of building a network and seeking help, and the decision between horizontal and vertical focus and the potential of biology.

Andy Dunn, entrepreneur and author of "Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind", shares his experiences with bipolar disorder and highlights the importance of acknowledging mental health challenges in the world of entrepreneurs. He discusses neurodiversity in entrepreneurship, the mental health challenges of bipolar disorder, and the power of disclosure and vulnerability in improving mental health. Dunn also emphasizes the need to recognize and respond to bids for help and embrace neurodiversity in society.

Kathleen Eisenhardt, Stanford professor, shares strategies for founders of new companies in disrupted markets. Topics include coherent strategy, strategic timing, successful internationalization, growth strategies in ridesharing, impact of AI on strategy, and early strategy and acquisition in new companies.

Andrew Ng, managing general partner at AI Fund and founder of DeepLearning.AI, discusses the near future of AI and its potential opportunities for entrepreneurs. Topics covered include: the power of prompting in AI development, AI startup for smart routing in ocean-going vessels, advice for students interested in AI, the debate on responsible AI, the next big shift in AI, and potential opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Garry Tan, President and CEO of Y Combinator, shares unconventional advice for founders. He discusses believing in yourself, managing teams and resolving conflict, addressing mental health, the startup process, the power of human connection, and balancing academics with entrepreneurship.

Cody Coleman, CEO of Coactive AI, discusses overcoming fear of public speaking, building a vision of humans and machines working together, achieving product-market fit, leveraging content's power and challenges, and balancing company culture.

Josh Wolfe co-founded Lux Capital to support scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time in order to lead us into a brighter future. The more ambitious the project, the better—like, say, creating matter from light. Wolfe is a director at Shapeways, Strateos, Lux Research, Kallyope, CTRL-labs, Variant, and Varda, and helped lead Lux Capital’s investments in Anduril, Planet, Echodyne, Clarifai, Authorea, Resilience, and Hadrian. He is a founding investor and board member with Bill Gates in Kymeta, which makes cutting-edge antennas for high-speed global satellite and space communications. In this presentation, Wolfe shares the principles that guide his entrepreneurship and investments, giving examples from companies he has founded and funded.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecorner LEARN MOREeCorner Website: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/STVP Website: https://stvp.stanford.edu/Support our mission of providing students and educators around the world with free access to Stanford University’s network of entrepreneurial thought leaders: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/give.

Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, CEO of Grammarly, discusses responsible AI innovation and building ethical AI tools. Topics include the future of AI, balancing benefits and harms, intentional development and deployment of technology, challenges of communication, trust and security, and the importance of user control and empathy in AI innovation.

Claire Hughes Johnson is a corporate officer and advisor for Stripe, a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet. From 2014 to 2021, Claire served as Stripe’s Chief Operating Officer, responsible for scaling the company’s worldwide operations to meet the needs of its rapidly growing user base. During her tenure as COO, Stripe grew from less than 200 employees to more than 6,000. She is also the author of Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building. In this presentation, Hughes Johnson shares her experiences as an operator and her advice for building effective systems and teams as a company scales.—-----------------------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecorner LEARN MOREeCorner Website: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/STVP Website: https://stvp.stanford.edu/Support our mission of providing students and educators around the world with free access to Stanford University’s network of entrepreneurial thought leaders: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/give.