Working with Great People

I think the number one thing in having a great entrepreneurial career is working with great people. It may seem incredibly obvious. You are surrounded by a lot great people here at Stanford and when you think of a lot the entrepreneurial success stories that have come out of this university - Yahoo, eBay, Google - you tend to think of a lot of the financial rewards and the incredible success that people have. But for many of us who around when these companies were being formed, I think the part that you remember most is the great people who are involved. You will probably as you think about your entrepreneurial career try to predict what would the great companies. In fact, as I walked to see Tom for a cup of coffee, I saw kind of as I was walking in this talk for tomorrow night which you might go called, "Finding the next Google." I think that it is a very common objective for people when they are here whether they are undergraduates or graduate students to think about what is going to be the next Google or Yahoo or eBay. The reality is you will probably not be very successful at finding the next Google. In fact, venture capitalists who have 5 to 10 portfolio companies at any given time are not usually that effective that knowing which specific one would be the great hit. What you can all be incredibly successful at? This advice is important whether you are going to tiny start up, a mid-size company or a public company. It is incredibly important to work with great people. I am confident that every single person in this room can figure that part out. When I think about all the people who are great in my career and you think to yourself or I think, how can I explain to you to find those great bosses? I think it is actually easier than you think because you have done it earlier in your lives. You probably have had a teacher, a coach, a professor, somebody who took that special amount of interest in you during your early academic career. T...

Channel: Stanford ECorner Video Length: 3m 32s Date Found: Thu, Nov 05 2009 6:14 PM Category: Business Date Produced: Wed, Feb 14 2007 12:00 AM View Count: 0