Kevin Hartz, Investor and Serial Entrepreneur

Kevin Hartz is a successful San Francisco-based investor and the CEO of Eventbrite.


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Kevin Hartz began his career as a product manager at Silicon Graphics and later co-founded the ConnectGroup, a start-up providing high-speed Internet access to the hotel industry. After Kevin sold ConnectGroup in 1998, he became a well-regarded technology investor and advisor. Kevin joined Outlook Ventures, whose seed investments included Overture and DotBank; both companies have since been acquired by Yahoo!.

Kevin’s own investments have included some of the valley’s best known success stories including PayPal, Trulia, Friendster and Flixter. He also co-founded two additional tech companies, Xoom, an international money transfer company and Eventbrite, an online event registration company which he currently runs as CEO.

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- Nir

John L. Hennessy, President of Stanford University

John L. Hennessy is the 10th President of Stanford University and a pioneer of computer architecture.


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John Hennessy started at Stanford as an associate professor in Electrical Engineering in 1977 and assumed Presidency in 2000. A technologist at the core, President Hennessy pioneered a computer assembly language called MIPS in 1981 and started a company, MIPS Computer Systems, in 1984. As Stanford’s 10th president, he oversees the University from various perspectives and sits at the intersection of academics, technology, and the corporate world.

In this interview, he talks about his role as the President, the early years of running a startup, current issues Stanford University faces, and the future of information technology. He also gives advice to prospective students and budding entrepreneurs.

He is currently on the boards at Google, Cisco Systems, and Atheros Communications, and has written two foundational books on computer architecture and assembly language.



- Min Liu