I require my students at Stanford to write a failure résumé. That is, to craft a résumé that summarizes all their biggest screw-ups — personal, professional, and academic. For every failure, each student must describe what he or she learned from that experience. Just imagine the looks of surprise this assignment inspires in students who ...read more
This article originally appeared in the Stanford Report. Downtown San Jose, Calif. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons) From humble beginnings known for its fruit orchards, Silicon Valley has transformed into the heartland of entrepreneurship and innovation in the United States. Each year hundreds of budding entrepreneurs from all over the world descend on Silicon Valley in search of ...read more
These days, organizations across the board claim to be focused on innovation. But when you look at how well different types of entities responsible for bringing new products and services into the world actually do so, some are better than others. The most obvious type of organization that helps launch new products is a venture ...read more
Terrorists rapidly leveraging today’s technology are threatening the safety of our country. So some of Stanford’s top entrepreneurship educators are turning their students’ eyes from the tech industry to national security. This spring, Stanford’s School of Engineering will offer the course Hacking for Defense: Solving National Security Issues with the Lean Launchpad. Its teaching team ...read more
This article is republished courtesy of INSEAD Knowledge. Copyright 2016. In the contest for competitive advantage, startups should use a very different playbook from their larger rivals. If the Fortune 500 had a motto, it could be “go big or go home”. Large companies excel at bold, expensive moves intended to intimidate the competition. After ...read more
If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that entrepreneurship is an uncertain and risky journey where surprising discoveries often lead to breakthrough progress. So, how do we set ourselves up to be open to these “aha” moments and learn from them? In our daily lives, we tend to have certain expectations about what ...read more
Too many of us use the terms “going to school” and “getting an education” interchangeably when, in fact, a formal education is just one part of it. The experience of classical schooling is multi-faceted and encompasses a mix of acquiring academic knowledge and softer, more abstract skills. Though fundamental knowledge serves as the foundation for any innovation, being an ...read more
Welcome to the future of healthcare, when startups in the field are in the market for the same technologists as Facebook and Pinterest, machine learning aids in drug discovery, and Big Brother will need more of a bedside manner. Members of the Stanford community joined health-tech entrepreneurs for a panel discussion titled “Precision Health: The ...read more
In a place as forward thinking and technology driven as Silicon Valley, what someone said just five years ago can seem ancient. New technologies continue to emerge at an ever-faster rate and our expectations are challenged time and again. To appreciate just how far we’ve come, let’s step back in time and see whether or ...read more
One way to find out what makes a good entrepreneur is to, well, ask a successful entrepreneur. And if that person has done well in your chosen field, then it’s highly likely what she says will be relevant to you. But if you want a more basic understanding, in terms of the right mindset and skills ...read more