Stanford eCorner

Quincy Jones III, CEO of QD3 Entertainment moderates an engaging and entertaining panel discussion on the future of the music industry. Captured during the AlwaysOn Stanford Summit, panelists include Chamillionaire, Grammy Award winning & platinum recording artist, MC Hammer, and Mistah FAB.

David Rothkopf, CEO of Garten Rothkopf and author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making, mulls over the research in his latest social macroeconomic tome. He iterates a wealth of trends and statistics on the ever-broadening gap between rich and poor, and how true global influence is the product of a shockingly small handful of global players.

Documentary filmmakers Anand Chandrasekaran and Michaelene C. Risley discuss not only the inspiration for their film, Tapestries of Hope, but also some of the logistics of its production. Topics include fundraising strategies and how the film team overcame obstacles along the way.

Stanford Technology Ventures Program's Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, cites numerous classroom successes of applied problem-solving and the lessons of failure.

Steve Westly, Founder of clean tech investment firm The Westly Group and former Controller for the state of California, paints a landscape of the present and future opportunities in emerging alternative energy.

Mohr Davidow Ventures partner Erik Straser offers insight on the unfolding sector of new energy technologies, and discusses how it will be affected by an economy in credit crisis. He unveils the market's high level of industrial innovation, and offers students of entrepreneurship sound advice on finding the next crest in grand socioeconomic opportunity.

Beth Seidenberg, partner at venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, speaks at length about KPCB's current areas of interest, and its litmus test for projects worth supporting. Seidenberg also offers a case study of a life sciences firm moving from research lab toward market.

Amyris Biotechnologies CEO John Melo explains his company's endeavors in the sustainable sciences; working both to fight disease and to create renewable energies. Melo also reflects upon his personal career path, from immigrant, to start-up, to Big Oil - and back to start-up again.

Tom Kelley, general manager at the world-renowned design firm, IDEO, presents five core practices that enhance creativity. Through entertaining stories and examples, he describes how these techniques help us all become more innovative in every aspect of our lives and lead to more success.

James Freeman, the soft-spoken founder and CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, shares his entrepreneurial journey from the farmers' market where he learned commerce in its purest form, to opening cafes across the country. Freeman explains how customer experience is part of a product and shares the inspiration he draws from philosophy, literature and other cultures.