How Stanford Cultivates Its Startup Culture

Pairing Zenios with these three successful investors is a model that’s succeeded, says Startup Garage assistant director Ryann Price, who coordinates the day to day operations of the course. Sometimes, the teachers become investors.

STUDYING THE ECONOMICS OF RESTAURANT TAKEOUT

Last year, Stanford MBA grads Tony Xu and Evan Moore were Startup Garage students, planning and testing the idea behind DoorDash, which matches local restaurants with drivers who deliver takeout in the San Jose/South Bay area.

The students spent hours during the winter quarter studying the economics of restaurant takeout, trying to figure out how many orders they needed to deliver per hour to run a profitable business. Xu and Moore went on to launch DoorDash with two other Stanford students.

In September 2013, just months after graduation, Khosla Ventures’ Keith Rabois and Charles River Ventures’s Gur led DoorDash’s $2.3 funding round.

Gur and Zenios clearly believe that entrepreneurship can be taught.

“If you break it down as a process then you can teach it,” Zenios says. “You can teach people the different elements and it becomes less intimidating. You can teach them what to expect from every part of the process.”

DON’T MISS: STANFORD: NEW ALL-TIME HIGH FOR STARTUPS or POETS&QUANTS’ TOP 100 MBA STARTUPS

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