Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar (MS&E 472)

About ETL

Stanford University's ETL is a weekly speaker series, co-hosted by BASES and the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), that brings innovation leaders from business, finance, technology, education, and philanthropy, to share their insights with aspiring entrepreneurs from all over the world. Sign up for the seminar by registering for MS&E 472.

Oct 5 NVIDIA Auditorium	David Friedberg ~ CEO, WeatherBill Prior to founding WeatherBill in 2006, David was with Google, where he joined as one of the founding members of the company's Corporate Development team. David managed a number of strategic projects for Google, including identifying and leading several of Google's largest acquisitions. David also served as a Business Product Manager for AdWords--Google's primary revenue source. Before Google, David spent several years working in private equity and investment banking. He has invested in and advised dozens of companies in the technology industry. Earlier, David worked at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he led several projects as a mathematical programmer. He has a degree in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley.
Oct 12 NVIDIA Auditorium	Phil Libin ~ CEO, Evernote Phil Libin the CEO of Evernote. He is an entrepreneur and executive who has led two Internet companies from the very beginning to proven commercial success, and helped three others through rapid growth. Prior to joining EverNote, Phil founded and served as president of CoreStreet, currently one of the top companies providing smart credential and identity management technologies to governments and large corporations throughout the world. Previously, Phil was founder and CEO of Engine 5, a leading Boston-based Internet software development company acquired by Vignette Corporation in early 2000, where he went on to serve as principal architect and chief technologist for applications.
Oct 19 NVIDIA Auditorium	Brad Feld ~ Managing Director, Foundry Group; Co-Founder, TechStars Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStars. Brad currently serves on the board of directors of BigDoor, Cheezburger Networks, Fitbit, Gnip, MakerBot, Oblong, Orbotix, Standing Cloud, and Zynga for Foundry Group. Previously, Brad served as chief technology officer of AmeriData Technologies. AmeriData acquired Feld Technologies, a firm he founded in 1987 that specialized in custom software applications. Brad had grown Feld Technologies into one of Boston's leading software consulting firms prior to the acquisition. He also directed the diversification into software consulting at AmeriData, a $1.5 billion publicly-traded company which was acquired by GE Capital in 1995.
Oct 26 NVIDIA Auditorium	Scott Summit ~ Co-Founder & CTO, Bespoke Innovations Scott Summit is a co-founder of Bespoke Innovations. Scott has been designing consumer products for more than 20 years, including innovations for Apple, Nike, Palm, and other major brands, many of which have earned patents, as well as IDEA and IDSA awards. Scott has held faculty positions teaching design and process at Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon, and Singularity University. Additionally, Scott writes for Time Compression Magazine on the art and technology enabled by additive fabrication. He lives in the mountains of Marin County, California.
Nov 2 NVIDIA Auditorium	Marten Mickos ~ CEO, Eucalyptus; Former CEO, MySQL AB Marten Mickos builds global disruptive businesses. As CEO of MySQL AB for seven years, Mickos grew that company from a garage start-up to the second largest open source company in the world. After the acquisition by Sun Microsystems of MySQL AB for $1bn, he served as Senior Vice President of Sun's Database Group. Previously, Mickos held multi-national CEO and senior executive positions in his native Finland. He is a member of the board of Electrosonic. Mickos holds a M.Sc. in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology. In 2006 he received the Audemars Piguet "Changing Times Award: European Entrepreneur of the Year 2006" and the Nokia Foundation Award.
Nov 9 NVIDIA Auditorium	Adam Lowry ~ Co-Founder & Chief Greenskeeper, Method Products Adam Lowry is the co-founder and Chief Greenskeeper of Method Products, Inc., the leading innovator in hip, healthy home care products. Adam believes that design is the most confusing word in the English language and that business is our greatest vehicle for positive social and environmental change. It is at the intersection of these beliefs that Adam has focused his work. As Chief Greenskeeper at Method, Adam's focus is bringing sustainable innovations to the Method business. He also directs the sustainability aspects of product design, sourcing, production, and marketing. Prior to founding Method, Adam worked as a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institiution, developing software products for the modeling of climate change. That public sector experience, combined with his earlier experience designing environmentally preferred automotive products, formed the nucleus of his unique approach of commercial environmentalism.
Nov 16 NVIDIA Auditorium	Dana Mead ~ Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Dana Mead joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as a partner in May 2005 to work in the firm's life sciences practice. He leverages experience accrued from his venture-funded, startup management roles and board participation to support entrepreneurs and innovators dedicated to making a real difference in the lives of millions suffering from life-limiting diseases. Dana serves on the boards of Apnicure, Awarepoint, Corventis, Inspire Medical Systems, Intersect ENT, Invuity, Navigenics, Pulmonx, Spinal Modulation, Spiracur and Voyage Medical. For the past 30 years, Dana's career has focused on identifying new medical technologies, developing new markets and therapies, and building world-class management teams. He has worked with physician thought leaders around the world representing 12 medical specialties. Before joining KPCB, Dana was president of Guidant Vascular Intervention, a fully integrated billion-dollar division with more than 4,500 employees. He joined Guidant in 1992 and held positions of increasing responsibility during his tenure, including vice president and general manager, Cardiac & Vascular Surgery; vice president and general manager, Stents, Vascular Intervention Group; president, Japan and A/P Operations based in Tokyo; and vice president, Corporate Relations and Policy, with responsibility for investor relations, corporate communications, corporate marketing and public policy initiatives. Earlier in his career, Dana worked in various sales and marketing roles at Allergan, Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.
Nov 30 NVIDIA Auditorium	Jessica Mah ~ Co-Founder, Architect & CEO, inDinero As co-founder and chief of inDinero, Jessica drives the development of inDinero's product strategy, software development, and design efforts. She and her partners built the core product over the Summer of 2009, and the company has since raised funding from investors such as Y Combinator. In her early life, Jessica was the founder and technical lead behind internshipIN.com, which helped match students with internships. She's been programming since age 9, building businesses since age 12, and finished high school at age 15. Jessica holds degrees from Simon's Rock the Early College, and from U.C. Berkeley, where she studied computer science and was president of the computer science undergraduate association. Jessica has been mentioned in publications ranging from Inc. magazine to the Wall Street Journal, and has been featured on PBS to encourage students to pursue science and entrepreneurship.