Stanford Entrepreneurship Videos

Rothenberg Ventures Founder and CEO Mike Rothenberg discourages the practice of businesses putting off philanthropy until they have achieved success over time. Immediately and authentically supporting causes that help those in the world who need it most will define a company's values and attract the best people to work there, Rothenberg explains.

Mike Rothenberg, founder and CEO of Rothenberg Ventures, describes the entrepreneurial approach he took in starting his firm and how failures along the way were actually opportunities to reset. He also explains the business concept of red versus blue ocean, where the latter represents an uncharted market that entrepreneurs should swim toward at all costs.

Mike Rothenberg, founder and CEO of Rothenberg Ventures, cautions against pursuing career opportunities based solely on how they would look on a resume. Drawing from experiences in his own life, Rothenberg also explains that the silver lining in failure is that it gives you permission to start anew.

Mike Rothenberg discusses the importance of letting others know that you want to hear their brutally honest feedback. The founder and CEO of Rothenberg Ventures says listening carefully can reveal the kernel of truth couched in politeness, adding that his decision to be a venture capitalist was largely based on feedback from a trusted acquaintance.

Kathleen Eisenhardt, co-author of "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World," talks about how simple rules can be based on timing to dictate when to act, especially in situations when getting things done matter, when getting started is difficult or when it's easy to lose momentum. Eisenhardt is a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford.

Stanford Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt discusses the power of simple rules to coordinate the actions of a widely dispersed community and have participants conform to shared norms. Co-author of "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World," Eisenhardt shares examples from the book of how such rules allowed organizations like Zipcar and Wikipedia to scale and succeed.

Kathleen Eisenhardt, a professor of management science and engineering at Stanford, explains the advantages of developing simple rules for business and life, sharing examples from industries ranging from startups to sports and entertainment. Eisenhardt, who teaches in Stanford's School of Engineering, co-wrote the 2015 book "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World."

Stanford Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt, co-author of "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World," outlines the basic commonalities of the simple rules that worked for the individuals and organizations she and MIT Senior Lecturer Donald Sull write about in their book: They are specific to a person or situation, but go beyond platitudes, and are limited to a few so they are easy to remember.

Stanford Management Science and Engineering Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt discusses how a multinational company developed a set of rules that greatly simplified how to evaluate and choose new businesses with which it should partner. Eisenhardt draws the example from her book "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World," which she co-wrote with MIT Senior Lecturer Donald Sull.

Stanford Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt, co-author of "Simple Rules: How to Thrive in a Complex World," describes the concept of "boundary rules," which aid decision-making in situations requiring a "yes" or "no," when options are mutually exclusive or too many alternatives exist. She shows how burglars and moviemakers alike use boundary rules to guide their decisions.

Big Switch Network's Kyle Forster explains how his experience with successfully introducing new products into the market mirrors lessons from the highly acclaimed book "Crossing the Chasm," by Geoffrey Moore, who asserts that the key to launching a disruptive technology is to win over customers known as "visionaries" before approaching the "early adopters."

Kyle Forster, co-founder of Big Switch Networks, discusses the immense effort involved in refining a mission statement from its initial form to one that is neither too vague and lacks meaning, nor is too detailed and fails to resonate widely. Even though the most poignant leadership statements are concise, Forster says significant time and commitment are needed to get it right.

"You have to quit a lot of things, and you have to quit a lot of them early, in order to find one thing you want to stick with," explains Kyle Forster, co-founder of Big Switch Networks. The challenge isn't determining what you want to excel at, but deciding what you have to give up along the way, he explains.

Kyle Forster, co-founder of Big Switch Networks, discusses pivotal moments from his career in Silicon Valley when expertise in early stage technologies propelled him into leadership roles. Forster also shares insights from several of his favorite books and the powerful lessons all aspiring entrepreneurs should heed.

Kyle Forster, co-founder of Big Switch Networks, describes how becoming an expert in lesser known technologies can put one in a position to become a manager or leader within an organization. Seeking out those opportunities may pave a "non-linear" path into leadership, but mastery of an arcane area could increase your value exponentially, Forster says.