Startups

John Collison grew up in Ireland and started building websites when he was 14. He was studying physics at Harvard University when he dropped out to work on Stripe full time. Along with his older brother Patrick, John Collison started Stripe in 2010 to make accepting payments online simpler and more inclusive. John Collison serves as president of the San Francisco-based company, which offers a "developer-friendly way" to accept payments online and in mobile apps, and processes billions of dollars a year for thousands of companies of all sizes.

Kathryn Gould started her career as a scientist, before turning to high-tech entrepreneurship. After earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, Gould worked as a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, just outside Chicago. She earned her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1978 and went on to join Oracle in its early days as its first vice president of marketing. She then went on to become one of the first women venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, serving as general partner at Merrill, Pickard, Anderson & Eyre. In 1995, she became one of the first women in the valley to found a VC firm, Foundation Capital.

Shah Selbe is a National Geographic Explorer, spacecraft propulsion engineer, ocean conservation technologist and the Southern California region representative of Engineers Without Borders. For an independent graduate study program at Stanford with the university's Center for Ocean Solutions, Selbe created FishNET, a platform approach harnessing technology to detect and track illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing worldwide. At Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, he works as a satellite propulsion systems engineer. On behalf of Engineers Without Borders, Selbe has built homes in Mexico, solar energy projects in Mali, water distribution systems in Malawi, and a rainwater catch system in Tanzania that lets students spend time in school instead of fetching water.

Alon Cohen is co-founder and president of Houzz, a leading platform for home remodeling and design, where users can browse millions of professional home photos, find products, save images, share and collaborate. More than 25 million unique users visit Houzz monthly, via computer or mobile device, viewing over 4 million photos of professionally designed home interiors and exteriors. Cohen co-founded Houzz with his wife, Adi Tatarko.

Jennifer Pahlka is the founder and executive director of Code for America. She recently served as the U.S. Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She is known for her TED talk, "Coding a Better Government," and is the recipient of several awards, including MIT's Kevin Lynch Award, the Oxford Internet Institute's Internet and Society Award, and the National Democratic Institute's Democracy Award. Pahlka spent eight years at CMP Media, where she ran the Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com and the Independent Games Festival.

Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm's investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously, he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly 10 million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. Horowitz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Felicia.

Jennifer Carolan is Managing Director of the NewSchools Seed Fund, which she co-founded to make investments in early-stage education technology companies with potential for big impact in K-12 education. Carolan began her career as a teacher in traditional district schools where she became interested in differentiated learning. After studying master teachers at Stanford School of Education, she published her research on differentiation in Education Leadership. She is most interested in the intersection of technology, differentiated instruction and access. Carolan is on the Boards of: BetterLesson, Education Elements, EdSurge, Equal Opportunity Schools and FreshGrade. She still teaches sometimes, most recently Innovations in Teaching 338 at Stanford's School of Education/d.school and a home math camp for her kids and their friends. She has three children who attend a charter school in Los Altos, California.

Lew Cirne is the founder and CEO of New Relic. Cirne discovered the joy of building software in 1982 when he received his first computer as a Christmas gift from his parents. Three decades later, Cirne has been recognized as the creator of the multi-billion dollar Application Performance Management (APM) market, and the founder of two companies that have realized an aggregate enterprise value of over $1 billion. A developer at heart, Cirne still devotes time each week to building software alongside the world class engineers at New Relic. He's also a guest lecturer at Harvard and Stanford, and is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study, used each year to teach students the principles of successful entrepreneurship. Cirne has an AB in Computer Science from Dartmouth College and serves on the boards of New Relic and the Thrive Foundation for Youth.

Matt Rogers is founder and VP of Engineering at Nest Labs, creator of the Nest Learning Thermostat. By applying modern design and technology, Nest has made the thermostat sexy and revitalized a stagnant - yet very important - industry. Rogers is responsible for all product development at Nest, ranging from mechanical design to software to web services, and everything in between. Prior to Nest, Rogers was responsible for iPod software development at Apple, from concept to production. He was one of the first engineers on the original iPhone, and involved in the development of 10 generations of iPod, five generations of iPhone, and the first iPad. He earned his BS and MS degrees from Carnegie Mellon University.

Susan Koger is the co-founder and chief creative officer of ModCloth, an online retailer known for its innovative social shopping experience, unique apparel and decor, and wide range of styles sourced from independent designers around the world. As ModCloth's CCO, Koger employs her creative edge and love for vintage to inform all things ModCloth: from its careful curation of goods to the look and feel of the site and mobile apps. In 2013, ModCloth was recognized as one of Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies," and Koger was listed in Forbes' "30 Under 30" and Refinery29's "30 Under 30: San Francisco."

Julia Hartz hopes to inspire people to live more by building the world's largest marketplace of live experiences. Since founding Eventbrite in 2006 with Kevin Hartz and Renaud Visage, the company has generated over $3 billion in gross ticket sales, with more than $200 million tickets processed to events and experiences around the globe. A key to this growth and success is the people of Eventbrite (fondly referred to as The Britelings), which has grown to nearly 400 employees in six offices around the world. Hartz cultivates and advocates for Eventbrite's award-winning culture (voted "Best Places to Work in the San Francisco Bay Area" five years running). She has been honored as one of Inc.'s 35 under 35 in 2014 and Fortune's Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2013. Hartz is also a frequent speaker on live experiences, consumer trends and entrepreneurship, and has been recently featured in Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine. Previous to Eventbrite, she was a TV development executive at MTV and FX Networks.

Kevin Hartz is co-founder & CEO of Eventbrite, the self-service ticketing platform that has issued nearly 60 million tickets worldwide. He was previously co-founder and CEO of Xoom Corporation, an international money transfer company, servicing more than 30 countries worldwide; and co-founder of ConnectGroup, a startup providing high-speed Internet access to the hotel industry. ConnectGroup was acquired by Lodgenet (NASDAQ: LNET). Hartz holds a BAS from Stanford University, as well as an MA from Oxford University. He is an early stage investor and advisor/mentor to startups including PayPal, Pinterest, Lookout, Milo (acquired:eBay), TripIt (acquired:Concur) Airbnb, and Yammer. Kevin lives in San Francisco with his wife and two young daughters.

Leah Busque is founder and CEO of TaskRabbit. A vision for revolutionizing the way people work led Leah Busque to pioneer the concept of "service networking." Her passion for product innovation and devotion to user experience have propelled TaskRabbit into a leading role in the collaborative consumption movement. Since bootstrapping TaskRabbit in 2008, Busque has expanded the company nationally, grown the team to more than 60 employees, raised nearly $40 million in venture funding from venerated investors like Shasta Ventures, Lightspeed Ventures, and Founders Fund, and inspired legions of startups to launch in the collaborative and service networking space. Fast Company named her one of the "100 Most Creative People in Business," and her achievements have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Time. Under her leadership, TaskRabbit has gathered accolades as a finalist in the Crunchies and Mashable Awards, and was named "The Next Big Thing in Tech" by the New York Times. Prior to founding TaskRabbit, Busque was a Software Engineer at IBM, working in the Messaging and Collaboration Software Development Group. Busque lives in San Mateo with her husband, TaskRabbit's VP of Technology Kevin Busque, and a cuddly black lab named Emerson. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Sweet Briar College, where she earned a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science.

Geoff Donaker joined Yelp in 2005 to head business development and has been COO since 2006. In his current role, Donaker oversees the company's business operations including sales, marketing and administration. Prior to Yelp, he held several roles at eBay, most recently as Director of International Categories. He was previously a manager at Excite, Classifieds2000, Voter.com and Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman). Donaker holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and one of TIME's 100 "Innovators for the 21st century," Linda Rottenberg is considered one of the world's most dynamic experts on entrepreneurship, emerging markets, innovation, and leadership. A frequent lecturer at Fortune 500 companies, Rottenberg has been the subject of four case studies by Harvard Business School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Dell featured her in its "Take Your Own Path" advertising campaign; Veuve Clicquot named her Businesswoman of the Year; and Tom Friedman dubbed her the world's "mentor capitalist" in The World Is Flat. The CEO and co-founder of Endeavor, Linda Rottenberg pioneered the field of "high-impact entrepreneurship" - a strategy to identify, mentor and invest in the fastest growing businesses to transform communities. Headquartered in New York with 350 employees and 20 affiliates throughout Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Europe, Endeavor supports and co-invests in business innovators demonstrating the greatest potential to go big. Since 1997, Endeavor has screened 37,000 candidates and handpicked nearly 1,000 entrepreneurs who've created 225,000 high-wage jobs and generate more than $6 billion annually. In 2013 Endeavor brought its pioneering model to the U.S. A graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, Rottenberg is a member of YPO, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the World Economic Forum. She serves on the advisory council of ABRAAJ Capital, an $8 billion global private equity firm. Rottenberg has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, The Economist, Strategy + Business, People, and the Financial Times, and has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, NPR, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and Bloomberg. In 2011, Business Insider dubbed her "Ms. Davos." A native of Newton, Massachusetts Rottenberg lives in Brooklyn with her husband, best-selling author and New York Times columnist Bruce Feiler, and their identical twin daughters, Tybee and Eden. Her book, Crazy Is a Compliment: Choosing Your Own Path to Success, will be published by Penguin Random House in October 2014. - See more at: http://www.endeavor.org/network/endeavorglobal/boardofdirectors/linda-rottenberg/637#sthash.DJbKAjHr.dpuf

Ed Catmull, Ph.D, is co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and President of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Previously, Catmull was Vice President of the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he managed development in the areas of computer graphics, video editing, video games and digital audio. Catmull has been honored with five Academy Awards, including a Technical Achievement Award, two Scientific and Engineering Awards, and one Academy Award of Merit for his work. In 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded Catmull with the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry. He also received the ACM SIGGRAPH Steven A. Coons Award for his lifetime contributions in the computer graphics field, and the animation industry's Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancements in the art or industry of animation. Catmull is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Visual Effects Society, and the University of California President's Board on Science and Innovation. Catmull was honored with the Randy Pausch Prize from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center in 2008, and was selected as the recipient of the IEEE Computer Society's 2008 Computer Entrepreneur Award. Catmull has a bachelor's degree in computer science and physics and a doctorate in computer science from the University of Utah. In 2005, the University of Utah presented him with an Honorary Doctoral Degree in engineering.

Tristan Walker is the Founder & CEO of Walker & Company Brands. Prior to his founding Walker & Company he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Andreessen Horowitz. Prior to his time at Andreessen Horowitz, he was the Director of Business Development for foursquare, where he oversaw strategic partnerships and monetization. In this role, Walker managed integrations with large brands and media entities including American Express, The New York Times, CNN, MTV, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and Starbucks. He has been named to Ebony Magazine's 100 Most Powerful People list, The Hollywood Reporter's Digital Power 50, and Black Enterprise's 40 Next. He is also the Founder and Chairman of CODE2040, a program that matches high performing black and latino undergraduate and graduate coders and software engineering students with Silicon Valley start-ups for summer internships. Walker holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Stony Brook University, where he graduated as valedictorian, and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He currently lives with his wife in Palo Alto, California.

Cameron Teitelman is the Founder and CEO of StartX, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that runs an accelerator for Stanford affiliated entrepreneurs. Under his management, StartX has supported more than 370 founders building 157 companies. In September 2013, Teitelman secured a $3.6 million grant for StartX and launched the Stanford-StartX Fund with the university and Stanford Hospital & Clinics. The fund distributes an average of $3 million in funding for StartX companies, monthly. To date, Teitelman has raised $6 million in funding for the organization, which he began as an undergrad in 2009. Prior to StartX, Teitelman also founded a startup called the Essential Card, a campus discount card. Teitelman received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University in 2010.

Milton B. McColl, M.D. has a combined 25 years of healthcare operating and investment experience. He is the CEO of Gauss Surgical, Inc. an early-stage medical device company developing a mobile platform for real-time monitoring of surgical blood loss. Prior to joining Gauss Surgical, Milt was a Venture Partner at New Leaf Venture Partners, where he focused on venture and early-stage medical device investments. NLV invests primarily in companies focused on clinical-stage biopharmaceutical products, early-stage medical devices, and molecular diagnostics, and currently manages more than $1.5 Billion in assets. At NLV, Milt served on the boards of Interlace Medical (acquired by Hologic), IlluminOss, and Glumetrics. Prior to joining New Leaf, Milt was President of the Neurovascular Division of Boston Scientific Corporation (BSC). Milt initially joined BSC in 2001 following the acquisition of Embolic Protection, Inc (EPI) where he served as Vice President and General Manager for the Embolic Protection Franchise, part of the Interventional Cardiology division of BSC. Milt joined EPI in 2000 as one of the first employees assuming the position of Vice President of Clinical, Regulatory and Quality Affairs and Medical Director. During his time there he managed the design, implementation and successful completion of the FIRE Clinical trial, an 800 patient pivotal study which led to the FDA clearance of the FilterWire EX Device. Previously, Milt was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Genitope, Inc. an early stage biotechnology company focusing on patient-specific therapies for lymphoma which eventually became publically traded. Before joining Genitope, Milt was President and Chief Executive Officer of CSFluids, Inc. (later renamed Eunio), a development-stage company offering a surgical treatment for Alzheimer's Disease. Prior to that he was Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality Affairs, Clinical Affairs and Chief Medical Officer for Gynecare, Inc. (eventually acquired by Johnson and Johnson) and Director of Marketing for Origin Medsystems (acquired by Guidant Corporation). Milt began his career as a professional football player with the San Francisco Forty-Niners and Los Angeles Raiders from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of two Super Bowl Championship teams for the Forty-Niners and was a special team's captain. Since 1997, he has also served first as president and later as an executive board member for the Stanford University DAPER Investment Fund, a VC and investment vehicle fund benefiting Stanford University's athletic department. Milt earned a B.S. in Biology from Stanford University and his M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine.

Smita Saxena is Co-founder and CEO of SpotOn Computing Inc., which was founded in July of 2012. Saxena previously founded Accevia, Inc which was part of StartX's inaugural class. Accevia was a secure platform for independent financial advisors to communicate with clients. The platform allowed clients to automatically upload their portfolios and received automated performance reports. She received her Masters in Financial Mathematics from Stanford University and her Bachelors in Mathematics & Economics from the University of Toronto.

An alumni of the 2011 StartX session, Joseph is a passionate entrepreneur with industry experience in computer vision, software/web development, integrated circuits, finance, telecom, and embedded systems. Joseph has an MS in Computer Science from Stanford University with expertise in robotics, A.I., and computer perception and was employee #3, #7, and then #15 at a variety of startups prior to starting WiFiSLAM.

Sal Khan serves as Founder and Executive Director of Khan Academy. Being founder and faculty means Khan's busy setting the vision for the Khan Academy and expanding its library of educational videos. Before quitting his job as manager of a hedge fund to run the Khan Academy full time, Khan also found time to earn three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard.

Hemant Shah is President and CEO of Risk Management Solutions. Since co-founding RMS in 1989, Shah has become widely recognized within the global insurance industry as a proactive and influential leader. Based in California, he was named one of North America's "100 Most Powerful People in the Insurance Industry" (Insurance Newscast, 2005, 2006), one of "35 Rising Stars" (Business Insurance, 2002), a "Leader of the Future" (Global Reinsurance, 2000) and also listed as one of the industry's Top 40 Most Influential (Global Reinsurance, 2008). Shah serves on the Board of Overseers of St. John's School of Risk Management and Actuarial Science (College of Insurance), is a Director of the RAND Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, a Director on the Board of RAND's Institute for Civil Justice, and a Director of the Singapore-based Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies.

Gurjeet Singh is a co-founder of Ayasdi, has a Bachelor's degree from Delhi University, and a Master's and Ph.D. degree in Computational Mathematics from Stanford University. Singh first met Co-Founder Gunnar Carlsson at Stanford during his Ph.D. and this led to Singh's graduate work and thesis on the theory, algorithms and applications of Topological Data Analysis (TDA), as well as Singh's participation on Carlsson's DARPA funded research project to study how topology can be applied to solve real world problems. During this time, Singh designed and developed various TDA algorithms to bring out the shape and meaning of data. This led to the creation of Ayasdi's core technology and machine-learning algorithms. Singh has published academic papers in top mathematics journals and computer science conferences, previously worked at Google and Texas Instruments. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and son, and develops multi-legged robots in his spare time.