Newton Lecture Series
Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel on “the under reported virus among founders today”
“Solve a real problem,” Michael Seibel, CEO and partner at Y Combinator, told SCET student entrepreneurs in the final A. Richard Newton Lecture Series of the semester. Seibel’s candid advice didn’t stop there. Throughout his talk, he shared forthright tips for success in the startup world. He discussed the biggest mistakes he sees in young…
“From Patient to Impatient Entrepreneur”: Surbhi Sarna on her journey to entrepreneurship
Surbhi Sarna, whose startup nVision Medical was acquired by Boston Scientific for $275 million, shared her journey from “patient to impatient entrepreneur” at SCET’s A. Richard Newton Lecture Series last Tuesday. Sarna’s talk was full of pointed, specific advice for college students and budding entrepreneurs. At the age of 13, when Sarna experienced the fear…
11 Points of Advice from an Honest CEO
Whether you build technology or inspire those who do, you have the power to change the world. But only if you make a genuine effort to try. On Tuesday, November 12th, students in the audience of the Newton Lecture Series were given a strikingly blunt lecture from Expensify Founder & CEO, David Barrett. Unlike most…
Microsoft’s Ana Arriola visits SCET’s Newton Lecture, discusses her career and the decolonization of tech
Microsoft executive and former Theranos employee Ana Arriola wakes at 4:00 am, then swims at 5:00 am at the Microsoft office, followed by breakfast at home with her family, and a full workday managing a team of engineers and designers. Arriola’s hard work along with her dedication to diversity and inclusion make Arriola the estimable…
Nicole Johnson and Kiel Murray talk about the importance of storytelling in your next venture
Last month, Nicole Johnson, Founder and CEO of NicJohn Media and Kiel Murray, a Pixar storyteller visited the Sutardja Center’s Newton Lecture Series to sit down and discuss why and how to tell your startup story as an entrepreneur. They discussed their personal career paths, and emphasized the effect that storytelling can have on market…
Olivia Wang talks about Zhenfund and connecting a global community of investors
Olivia Wang — a philosopher by trade — broke into the tech industry as the 7th employee at Zhenfund, back in 2014. Wang visited the Sutardja Center Newton Lecture Series on February 5 to talk about Zhenfund, what the startup ecosystem in China looks like and how she got to where she is today. As a…
Haas Alum and Traveling Spoon Co-Founder Aashi Vel encourages students to pursue ventures that ‘tug at their heart’
Students in the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series attended a fireside chat with Cal alum and Traveling Spoon Co-founder Aashi Vel. Since graduating in 2011 with an MBA from the Haas School of Business, Vel and her partner Steph Lawrence have turned Traveling Spoon into a business venture spanning 18 countries and counting. During her…
John Hanke: Google Maps and Pokémon Go
This week, students in the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series had the opportunity to hear a fireside chat with John Hanke—a Cal grad and CEO of Niantic, which produced the wildly popular app Pokémon Go—moderated by Dr. Bjoern Hartmann, EECS professor and director of the Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation at UC Berkeley. The two…
Panel of Cal Grads joins Newton Lecture Series
Another exciting week at the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series brought a panel of all-Cal-alumni speakers to Berkeley. These speakers—Jeff Huang (Facebook), Sanjay Jeyakumar (Twitter), and Padmini Pyapali (Uber)—shared their unique insights into entrepreneurship and technology. Moderated by Amit Kumar (Accel Partners), a familiar face for the series, the panelists spoke of their studies at…
Student Panel takes over Newton Lecture Series
This week, the A. Richard Newton Lecture Series switched gears to hear from a new set of speakers—the students. Moderated by associate instructor Victoria Howell, these students shared their unique experiences with their peers and took questions in an engaging and organic lecture. Sahar Yousef Yousef, now a 5th year PhD student studying cognitive neuroscience in…