Stanford Graduate School of BusinessPanel: The GSB's New Initiative for Investing
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Initiative and curriculum 0:04
The speaker, a 2001 graduate and new lecturer at the GSB, introduces the Initiative for Investing and says it will soon become a center in February 2027. He describes investing as deeply woven into the school already: many students come from investing backgrounds, most take an investing class, and many later work in the field. The initiative is meant to broaden that work, connect alumni, students, faculty, and practitioners, and focus on both making investments and running investing firms.
Why students come 12:02
He then brings on Henry Gao, David Singer, and Scott Brady for a panel. Gao explains why he returned to Stanford after Goldman and TPG. At first he doubted the point of business school, but alumni from the GSB convinced him it was a special group of people with strong careers and good character. He came for the cohort and for the chance to widen his path, and the speaker jokes that it sounds like classic investor language.
GSB as a reset 16:00
The speaker says the GSB helped him step back from finance and sort out his next move. He points to three gains: stronger soft skills and emotional maturity through the Arbuckle fellowship and student government; a chance to test an operating role at a global education company; and a way to reconnect with Canada and the wider world through trips and exchange programs in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Japan, Beijing, Saudi Arabia, and Oman.
Rethinking venture capital 19:01
The investor in residence role is described as a one-year fellowship that supports the initiative’s strategy, programming, summit planning, curriculum work, and research, while also letting students test their investing ideas. The venture discussion then turns to a changing market: huge rounds, a few companies taking most capital, and AI firms growing fast. The point is that students need first principles, original judgment, and a prepared mind.
Compensation as a course 33:00
The class grew from a practical need. The speaker had dealt with pay issues as a founder, then as a venture investor and board member, and could not find a real course on compensation at the GSB or at schools like Harvard, Darden, Tuck, Wharton, or Yale. He wrote the dean, helped fund the course, and was asked to teach it. The class now covers incentives, cash pay, equity, taxes, sports, partnerships, and transparency, with the aim of giving students tools to think about pay from the firm’s side.
Investing games and AI 38:01
Questions from the audience turned to fundamental investing and the pull of AI. The speakers said the class teaches intrinsic value investing, but it also makes room for ownership, selling, and other market players such as quant shops and systematic strategies. One student said the school widened his view and made him rethink whether he wanted to stay in investing. Another compared the current AI rush to the dotcom era, while a final question pointed to non-AI fields like life sciences that still struggle for funding.
AI and physical science 47:30
AI now reaches far beyond knowledge work. It is changing physical AI and science, from computational life sciences to quantum work and frontier models. New tools mine data, make synthetic data, and run simulations. Machines are beginning to build for machines, and that shift is already changing cancer research and other fields.
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