Brendan Foody co-founded Mercor, a recruiting startup that helps Silicon Valley's top AI labs train their models to do professional-level reasoning by matching skilled workers with enterprise projects. Foody and his co-founders, Surya Midha and Adarsh Hiremath, became the world's three youngest self-made billionaires in October 2025. In this conversation with Adjunct Lecturer Emily Ma, Foody shares how he and his co-founders identified agentic data as the next leap in AI training and benchmarking and built Mercor around it; predicts how the AI revolution will reshape work and the economy; and gives advice to aspiring entrepreneurs looking for a way into the AI market.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering, and published on eCorner by STVP. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Recorded live at the capstone celebration of the Stanford School of Engineering Centennial, this ETL episode features Sergey Brin, the American computer scientist and entrepreneur who co-founded Google with Larry Page and revolutionized global information access. Brin remains an active co-founder and board member of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, and he has been involved in Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence efforts. In this conversation with Stanford President Jonathan Levin and School of Engineering Dean Jennifer Widom, Brin tells stories from his Stanford years, shares insights from throughout Google’s history, and gives advice for students and aspiring entrepreneurs – including his perspective on the AI landscape.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Eric Volmar is teaching lead at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford. His work focuses on connecting defense, academia, and entrepreneurship to accelerate innovation for national security, supporting new ventures at the intersection of technology and policy. In this presentation – followed by a conversation with Tina Seelig, executive director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars and director emerita of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program – Volmar advises entrepreneurs about how to navigate a new landscape shaped by a shift to deep tech, blended capital, and governments reengaging with technology innovation.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Steve Cousins is the executive director of the Stanford Robotics Center and founder of Relay Robotics (formerly Savioke), which builds autonomous service robots for hotels and healthcare. Cousins’ career reflects a commitment to advancing robotics from research to real-world applications. In this presentation, he shares stories of his time in research, startups, and academia to illustrate practical advice about hiring, developing robotics products, and bringing robotics into new industries.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Jane Chen is the co-founder of Embrace Global, which created a low-cost infant warmer that has helped more than one million babies in low-resource settings. Her new book, Like a Wave We Break: a Memoir of Falling Apart and Finding Myself, tells the story of her globe-spanning journey to break free of the narratives that once defined her and confront the long-buried truths of a traumatic past. In this conversation with Adjunct Lecturer Emily Ma, Chen encourages entrepreneurs to focus on journeys instead of outcomes, sharing her experiences with burnout and healing to illustrate the importance of self-compassion and finding the worthiness within.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Sanjit Biswas is the co-founder and CEO of Samsara, a global leader in allowing physical operations organizations to harness data, AI, and the Internet of Things. He started the company with the mission to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy. In this presentation, Biswas tells the story of how he co-founded his first company as a graduate student and pivoted to a new industry to found Samsara, sharing advice for aspiring entrepreneurs on finding meaningful problems to solve, building a team, and running feedback loops to understand what customers need.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Drew Endy is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and a pioneer of synthetic biology. A co-founder of the BioBricks Foundation, Endy helped launch the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition to democratize biotechnology for student innovators worldwide. In this presentation, Endy gives a primer on synthetic biology and the obstacles it has encountered in the United States, shares where he hopes the field is going, and explains how aspiring entrepreneurs can adapt his framework to imagine their own futures.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Grant Lee is the CEO and Co-founder of Gamma, an AI-powered presentation and website design tool that has scaled to 50 million customers and $50 million in annual recurring revenue with fewer than 50 employees. In this conversation with Adjunct Lecturer Ravi Belani, Lee shares how his search for energizing projects and partnerships shaped Gamma’s path, and he gives advice for early-stage entrepreneurs on building conviction, finding good co-founders, and gauging product-market fit.

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Tina Seelig is an educator, entrepreneur, and bestselling author who has spent decades teaching creativity, innovation, and leadership at Stanford. She is the executive director of Knight-Hennessy Scholars and director emerita of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. In this presentation, inspired by her forthcoming book What I Wish I Knew about Luck, Seelig gives practical and encouraging advice – illustrated by real-life stories – designed to help young people see and seize lucky opportunities.

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Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders and other Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at the Stanford School of Engineering. STVP empowers aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.

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Anna Piñol, partner at NFX, takes us on a candid journey from expanding Amazon in Spain to founding Jupiter and ultimately discovering her true calling in venture capital. She shares powerful reflections on finding alignment, navigating pivots, and riding the waves of technological change, most notably, the rise of AI. Anna’s insights are grounded in personal transformation and professional resilience, urging us to choose curiosity over convention and to build with intention in an age when we can infinitely leverage technology. Whether you're an aspiring founder, builder, or investor, Her story offers both a mirror and a roadmap.