Bloomberg Surveillance · Friday, July 31, 2026
A new book, 'How to Rule the World: Education and Power at Stanford University,' highlights Stanford's unique environment where ambitious students with coding and hacking skills gain access to significant funding from tech companies. This ecosystem fosters startup creation and connections with venture capitalists.
“But what I enjoyed the most is the picture that it paints of Stanford for super bright and ambitious kids. Stanford's a place where the coding or hacking clubs they join have access to slush funds provided by tech companies, so they can party on yachts and socialized with billionaires. Vcs hang out there on campus at the cafe I think it's called the Koupa Cafe to scout future talent, which leads to offers of funding their startups later on for billions of dollars with a non doct I.”
“But the ones that get farther are the ones who are hobnobbing with the bill ups. You know, they're getting the early look deals with those guys.”