Bret Waters has been in Silicon Valley for his entire career as a startup founder, CEO, investor, and academic. His focus today is the democratization of entrepreneurship and the global opportunities ahead. In addition to teaching at Stanford University, he’s recently written a new book, The Launch Path, which has been published in three languages. He’s also given talks at more than 20 university business schools around the world. Some recent talks are described below:
The Launch Path
Why do some startup ventures succeed and some fail? And how is this different in 2025? During Bret’s career in Silicon Valley and his time at Stanford and Miller Center, he’s worked with hundreds of startup founders. This talk is based on his new book, The Launch Path, which outlines his observed patterns of success and failure and provides a framework that entrepreneurs can follow in order to smoothly and efficiently get from a startup idea to a launch-ready, funding-ready venture – including how startup founders can leverage new AI tools to get to PMF faster.
2025 Trends for Entrepreneurs, Innovators, and Investors.
There is a lot going on right now – so much that the World Economic Forum says that we’re not in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. So what are the trends that startup founders and investors should be thinking about? (hint: It’s not just AI). In this view-from-Silicon-Valley talk, Bret discusses what he sees as the key trends. This is not a list of technology trends, per se, it’s a list of global trends across several dimensions including sources and structures of capital, organizational structures, and marketplace trends.
Mindset
Everyone talks about the importance of having an “Entrepreneurial Mindset“, but what does that mean, exactly? and now Paul Graham of Y Combinator has written an essay about “Founder Mode” and everyone in Silicon Valley is talking about it. The fact is that being a startup founder is hard – you are working hard to bring a product to market, solve problems, manage a team, and still maintain some semblance of healthy balance in your live. Some people seem to be naturally good at this, while others struggle. So what is the mindset required? In this talk, Bret discusses his conversations with CEO’s, venture capitalists, and others about what they believe are the habits of high-achievers, and how we can all get better at adopting those habits.
Startup Masterclass (Full day).
Structured as a one-day intensive workshop, the masterclass is suited for individuals who want to build and launch a successful startup, investors who want to learn more about success patterns, as well as corporate executives who want to help their teams develop the entrepreneurial mindset required for corporate success in today’s world. See details.
The History of Silicon Valley
Today Silicon Valley is known as a global hub of entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology. The economic output of this one valley is larger than most entire countries. Some of the most important companies in the world today – Apple, Google, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Salesforce, Nvidia – are headquartered less than 25km from my house. How did this happen? What are the drivers that made one valley in California such a powerful global hub? How can these drivers be replicated elsewhere? And what does the future hold?
