Stanford Entrepreneurship Videos

Stanford lecturer Dave Evans, co-author of the New York Times bestseller “Designing Your Life,” goes through the basic steps for decision-making: gathering all options, narrowing down the choices and picking one. But instead of doubting or regretting that choice afterward, which people often do, Evans cites leading psychologists who assert that our intuitions can equate with intelligence, and that happiness “is not getting what you want. It’s wanting what you got.”

E-commerce entrepreneur Susan Feldman describes how she and her co-founder went from bootstrapping One Kings Lane in the midst of the Great Recession, standing out from competitors in the home-decor industry by carefully curating product and focusing on creative flair, and ultimately being acquired by Bed, Bath & Beyond in 2016. Feldman speaks with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig.

Susan Feldman, co-founder of home-decor site One Kings Lane, explains why she and her fellow co-founder Alison Pincus decided to accept venture capital funding after successfully bootstrapping their startup. In conversation with Stanford’s Tina Seelig, Feldman says confidence that the business was thriving and could continue to grow prompted her and Pincus to say yes to outside money from investors.

Susan Feldman, co-founder of One Kings Lane, recalls a tough turning point when the home-decor business had to turn its focus away from unfettered growth and toward bottom-line profitability. Speaking with Tina Seelig, professor of the practice in Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, Feldman contrasts the freedom that came with bootstrapping versus the obligations to investors once they became stakeholders.

One Kings Lane Co-Founder Susan Feldman reflects on the downside of raising excess capital for the home-decor startup: It led to a false sense of security and made fiscal responsibility less of a priority. In conversation with Tina Seelig, faculty co-director at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, Feldman discusses how a startup’s valuation is a fleeting figure that only signals the beginning of a new chapter.

Adam Grant, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about how the energy of nervous anticipation allows “defensive pessimists” to perform just as well as those who calmly prepare for a looming challenge and visualize success in advance. He adds that efforts to reduce stress in such instances can even be counterproductive. “The great thing about both anxiety and excitement is they both involve uncertainty,” Grant observes.

Management scholar Adam Grant discusses research showing how firms that hire candidates based on how well they will fit into the company’s culture perform differently depending on the stage of the business. Grant, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, also presents another question for businesses to consider when hiring: What can this person contribute to the company’s culture?

Adam Grant, author of the 2016 bestseller “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World,” critiques the familiar manager’s mantra, “Don’t bring me problems. Bring me solutions.” He explains how that suppresses an organization’s toughest problems and discourages inquiry. The Wharton School professor also shares an exercise that businesses can do to uncover new opportunities — where, ironically, teams imagine all the ways competitors might kill the company.

University of Pennsylvania Professor Adam Grant, one of today’s most influential management thinkers, shares the top six takeaways from his book “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World,” bringing his insights to life through amusing behavioral research and lively audience interaction. Grant explains why middle managers are notorious idea killers, why stress helps some rise to the occasion and how entrepreneurs and organizations can get what they want through unconventional means.

Wharton School Professor Adam Grant discusses the concept behind his 2016 bestseller “Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World.” Describing “originals” as people who are driven to stand up and speak out in the name of innovation, Grant says his goal was to understand how we can better champion original thinkers, and how organizations can embrace non-conformists. “Most originality dies in the idea-selection process,” he explains.

Adam Grant, one of today’s most influential management thinkers, talks about the biases and skewed incentives that can cause middle managers to resist new ideas. Too often, mid-level managers use intuition, which Grant says is based mostly on past experiences and is therefore useless in evaluating truly novel ideas. He explains how middle managers can be punished for endorsing a bad idea, but not rejecting a good one.

Bestselling author Adam Grant describes a simple exercise that helped managers get out of an overly critical mindset and into a more creative headspace: Before evaluating a work-related idea, brainstorm for five minutes about something in a completely different domain. The exercise primes managers to be more open-minded and receptive to new ideas, according to Grant, a professor of management at The Wharton School.

Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, describes how she learned to lead companies big and small to success by adjusting to different environments, building on what a business does best, and approaching work with urgency and initiative. In conversation with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Whitman recounts the explosive growth during her time as president and CEO of eBay, the challenging turnaround of storied tech giant HP, and her 2010 run for California governor that revealed deep political insights that still resonate.

Meg Whitman, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, recalls how HP’s turnaround back in 2011 began with a return to the company’s founding corporate values and business objectives. She also discusses how leaders can take advantage of certain opportunities to carry out actions that can convey a symbolic message throughout an organization and get people’s attention.

Meg Whitman contrasts her 2010 campaign for California governor with her career as a tech executive. She explains how politicians must endure intense public scrutiny and have a much wider constituency to keep in mind when they speak. While she lost the race, Whitman says the experience made her tougher and deepened her understanding of government: “What the government does is it sets the environment for the rest of us to be successful.”