Catherine Berman

Fintech entrepreneur Catherine Berman recounts an experience earlier in her career when businessmen at a meeting assumed she was there to serve them coffee. Instead of becoming offended or flustered, Berman says she stayed focused on her desired-outcome for the meeting and diffused the awkwardness by bluntly correcting the men and swiftly moving on to the matter at hand.

Confronting Sexism - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Catherine Berman, co-founder and CEO of CNote, discusses how fintech startups like hers are in a perfect position to compete against the large banks by taking advantaging of demographic shifts in the United States. Berman explains that women, minorities and young adults have been historically underserved by financial institutions, and that their incomes and percentages of the U.S. population overall are both on the rise.

Opportunities in FinTech - Catherine Berman (CNote)

CNote Co-Founder Catherine Berman discusses how listening carefully and understanding the needs of customers helped her redefine a service they didn’t want into a one they desperately needed. While working to get homeless people jobs at large companies earlier in her career, Berman found greater success by telling employers she could help address their diversity issues.

Pitch to Their Pain Points - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Catherine Berman, co-founder of fintech startup CNote, explains how extreme volatility as an AmeriCorps volunteer helped her develop the resilience that she relies on today as a business leader. Drawn to social causes at an early age, Berman says the year she spent in Puerto Rico taught her about overcoming challenges and resolving personal conflicts with compassion.

Weathering the Storms - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Fintech entrepreneur Catherine Berman describes how she began to see money as a proxy for energy and power to affect change while working as a venture capitalist. Watching the VC community amass capital to shape the future through startup investing, Berman says that gave her the idea to design financial-investment products that could turn money passively sitting in people’s bank accounts into a force for social impact.

Putting Passive Savings to Use - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Industry disruptors, it stands to reason, tend to be outsiders. But how comfortable are you not being an outlier? Serial entrepreneur Catherine Berman shares her story of coming to terms with the traits and experiences that set her apart from friends and colleagues throughout adolescence and early in her career. Embracing her uniqueness emboldened Berman to launch several social ventures, the latest being a social-impact startup in fintech called CNote.

Embrace Your Otherness [Entire Talk] - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Recalling her college days, entrepreneur Catherine Berman describes how each one of us knows what it feels like to not fit in. During her freshman year, she discovered that friends she thought had perfect lives because of family wealth and good looks were actually quite unhappy on the inside. Berman, now co-founder and CEO of CNote, says people have a choice to either hide or embrace what makes them different.

Forget About Fitting In - Catherine Berman (CNote)

Rich Barton, co-founder of Expedia, the Zillow Group of sites and Glassdoor, turns to the classic tale “The Wizard of Oz” for a lesson on team basics. The traits that the scarecrow, cowardly lion and the tin man sought are the exact ones to look for among members of any team you join. Intelligence, a sensible amount of courage, and genuine care for people are essential for a team, Barton says.

Wisdom via ‘The Wizard of Oz’ - Rich Barton (Zillow Group)

Zillow Group and Glassdoor Co-Founder Rich Barton explains how tech companies that hold engineers in higher regard than employees in other areas of the organization have an outdated understanding of the Internet. It’s no longer a place just for the tech savvy, and rising above the online chatter requires experts in marketing, finance and other facets of business, according to Barton.

Engineering Isn’t Everything - Rich Barton (Zillow Group)

Rich Barton, co-founder of popular sites such as Expedia, Zillow and Glassdoor, says the deluge of information and options confronting consumers have given rise to a major business opportunity: “smart assistants” that can sift through everything, make recommendations, and even anticipate what we want. Consumers have grown accustomed to immediacy in the digital age, Barton notes.

The Rise of ’Smart Assistants’ - Rich Barton (Zillow Group)

The DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar (ETL) is a weekly seminar series on entrepreneurship, co-sponsored by BASES (a student entrepreneurship group), Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and the Department of Management Science and Engineering.

Awesome podcasts.  Please fix for iPhone!!!

Please fix for iPhone.

Doesn't work on iPhone please fix

Stanford Entrepreneurship Videos

Shirzad Chamine

Before Shirzad Chamine found his calling as a coach to today’s top CEOs and executive teams, he was a charismatic entrepreneur who turned into a hyper-critical tyrant without even knowing it. That dark chapter ignited his journey to understand how to conquer our self-sabotaging sides and live in the light of “Positive Intelligence” — the approach Chamine developed for mastering the mind and finding true happiness and success.

The Enlightened Entrepreneur [Entire Talk] - Shirzad Chamine ( Positive Intelligence)

Tina Seelig

Kevin Weil

What motivates you to share a photo on Instagram — or not? Kevin Weil, head of product at the company, discusses everything from user behavior to business strategy with Stanford Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig. Weil describes how mission alignment helps teams succeed and allows Instagram to continue experimenting and thriving inside its parent company, Facebook.

Unfiltered Insights From Instagram [Entire Talk] - Kevin Weil, Tina Seelig (Instagram)

How often do entrepreneurs and corporate leaders think about issues like fairness, accessibility or unseen biases in the technologies they invent and advance? That’s the challenge for companies leading the digital transformation that’s disrupting every aspect of society, says Toni Townes-Whitley, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Public Sector and Industry at Microsoft, in this talk about innovating strategically and responsibly.

The Ethics of Innovation [Entire Talk] - Toni Townes-Whitley (Microsoft)

Sandy Jen

Honor

Entrepreneur Sandy Jen has lived with self-doubt and insecurities throughout her life: in college, at her first startup, and later as a working mother. But facing the risks she feared each time gave her confidence that a shy, little girl from the suburbs can grow up to improve people’s lives through technology and a passion for impact. She co-founded the senior-care startup Honor, and this is her story.

The Rewards of Taking Risks [Entire Talk] - Sandy Jen (Honor)

Di-Ann Eisnor, director of growth for Waze, explores whether authenticity can be preserved when a well-meaning startup scales to a workforce of hundreds and a user community of about a billion. Eisnor describes how the crowdsourced navigation and real-time traffic application has moved on from virtual cupcakes to encouraging carpooling in its quest to eliminate traffic congestion around the world.

Driving Growth + Authenticity [Entire Talk] - Di-Ann Eisnor (Waze)

Bob Sutton

Even as adults, we still have to deal with bullies, at work and otherwise. Stanford Professor Bob Sutton has devoted his career to studying organizational behavior and dysfunction, and lately, figuring out how we can avoid or deal with people who demean, disrespect and drain those around them. The professor of management science and engineering draws on academic research and anecdotes included in his new book, “The A*****e Survival Guide: How to Deal with People Who Treat You Like Dirt.”

How to Outwit Workplace Jerks [Entire Talk] - Bob Sutton (Stanford)

Adam Grant

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.

Six Ways to be an ‘Original’  [Entire Talk] - Adam Grant (University of Pennsylvania)

Dave Evans

Dave Evans, co-founder of the popular Life Design Lab at Stanford University, discusses the key concepts and exercises that guide students in their quest to figure out what they want to do in life. He underscores the importance of accepting who you are and connecting that to what you believe and do, while attacking dysfunctional notions like the one that dares you to be the “best version of yourself.” Can’t we have more than one?

Designing the Life You Really Want [Entire Talk] - Dave Evans (Stanford Life Design Lab)

Bob Tinker

Tech entrepreneur Bob Tinker was humbled when he stepped down as CEO of MobileIron, a leading provider of mobile security that went from being a three-man startup to a public company with nearly 1,000 employees, earning $150 million a year. Over those eight years, however, he learned how to position a business just right, how a CEO’s job and behavior must change over time, and how a leader can develop the self-awareness to adapt.

Evolving With Your Company [Entire Talk] - Bob Tinker (MobileIron)

Brendan Boyle

It may not be rocket science, but there’s still much to consider when inventing children's toys, starting with all the ideas for what to build. Within the famous design firm IDEO, a small team toils away in a toy lab founded by Brendan Boyle, who also teaches design thinking at Stanford University. In conversation with Professor of the Practice Tina Seelig, Boyle discusses the importance of playfulness, divergent thinking and creativity in making toys.

Playing With Purpose [Entire Talk] - Brendan Boyle, Tina Seelig (IDEO)

The best podcast episodes about true crime. For any thrill seeking podcast listeners who just can't get enough of the captivating stories of murderers and criminals. This topic has all the best episodes from many different true crime podcasts.  Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

Best True Crime Podcasts

The best podcast episodes on physical health. Episodes talk about your diet, sleep, exercise and all the things that people do to improve their physical health and live a healthier life. This topic is for everyone, with applications in all of our everyday lives. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!