Stanford Seed

We partner with entrepreneurs in emerging markets to build thriving enterprises that transform lives

The Stanford Seed Transformation Program, a one-year, (online in 2020 & 2021) business and leadership program that supports established founders and CEOs as they scale their businesses, create jobs, and lead their regions to greater prosperity.

08/20/2026

Earlier this summer, the Stanford Seed East Africa team hosted its annual intern dinner, bringing together eight of the 11 Stanford student interns currently based in Nairobi.

The evening was a chance for the interns to unwind, share stories, and connect with the team and each other outside of work.

We’re grateful to everyone who made it such a great evening of connection and conversation, and we’re excited to see these relationships continue to grow throughout the internship journey.

08/18/2026

Are humans really just prediction machines that AI will eventually replace?

Stanford GSB Associate Professor Douglas Guilbeault doesn’t think so. On a recent episode of the If/Then podcast, Guilbeault pushes back on the narrative that AI is on the path to matching and surpassing human intelligence.

His argument, drawn from research on how humans actually learn, is that people accomplish a lot with surprisingly little. AI systems need enormous data, compute, and resources to perform specific tasks.

Humans work under constraints and still figure out quantum physics, mathematical infinity, and how to build entire civilizations.
The way humans learn also looks fundamentally different. Guilbeault’s work shows that people often go from random behavior to sudden, stable understanding, while AI systems have to move step by step through familiar territory.

“Humans are just an absolutely magnificent form of intelligence,” he says. “Why are people so ready to shortchange human brilliance?”

Listen to the full episode: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/secret-human-brilliance-ai-just-cant-match

Image credit: Nancy Rothstein

08/12/2026

Innovation starts with technology. Transformation starts with people.

Last month, entrepreneurs and business leaders from across the Ethiopia Chapter of the Seed Transformation Network came together for a masterclass on Human-Centered Design in the Age of AI, led by Rajan Patel, Stanford Seed lecturer and the director of entrepreneurship and management programs. 62 entrepreneurs and business leaders spent the day exploring how design thinking and AI can work together to solve real business challenges.

The room ran on exactly the energy that makes the Network community what it is: sharp questions, generous debate, and peers who push each other further. Several second-generation family business leaders were among them, building on what their families started while charting their own path forward.

Thank you to everyone who showed up and dug in. We can’t wait to hear how you put these ideas to work.

08/06/2026

Our first-ever Spark Network event took place in Bengaluru on June 20th at Vivanta by Taj, bringing together more than 40 of our Spark entrepreneurs and mentors.

We had founders from our inaugural cohort through our most recent cohort all in one room; some traveled from Delhi, Hyderabad, and Mangalore to be there. For many, it was a chance to finally meet peers and mentors in person after connecting only online.

The day opened with a Masterclass from Rajan Patel, Stanford Seed lecturer and the director of entrepreneurship and management programs, that focused on ‘Human-Centered Innovation in the Age of AI.’ A panel with three of India’s leading institutional angel investors — Ashutosh Kumar Jha (Expert Dojo), Abhishek Kakkar (IAN Group ), and Ashish Salguna (TiE Angels ), was led by Dinesh Kumar.

Spark is Seed’s five-month online program for pre and early-revenue startups across South Asia. It’s a fast-moving program that builds foundational skills and connects founders to mentors and peers who understand what they’re building.

In Bengaluru, we watched that community come alive. Founders from different cohorts and cities were asking each other questions about their businesses, their challenges, and their next steps. Founders stayed long after the sessions ended.

We’re thrilled to see the Spark Network growing and to know that this community grows stronger as founders keep showing up for each other.

08/04/2026

“Scaling means not just getting bigger. Scaling is about getting better.”

That’s how Stanford GSB Professor Huggy Rao reframes one of the most common assumptions about growth.

On the If/Then podcast, Rao, co-author of The Friction Project, explained that scaling well requires leaders to think differently about friction. Some friction is exhausting and confusing. Some friction is essential.

Bad friction is the recurring meeting that defaults onto everyone’s calendar. The form with 20,000 words. The process that exists because no one has stopped to question it.
Good friction is the deliberate pause. Speed without reflection breaks things.

Rao’s test for leaders: “Great leaders are people who think of themselves as trustees of other people’s time.”

What recurring friction is your team carrying that you could remove this week?

Listen to the full episode: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/fixing-bad-friction-finding-good-friction

Image credit: Nancy Rothstein

07/31/2026

Last month, the Seed Transformation Network (STN) Indonesia hosted its first-ever on-site learning session in Jakarta, bringing business leaders together to explore how Al is changing sales and negotiations.

The session was led by Martin Giese, Mentor and Startup Coach, and included hands-on exercises where participants put negotiation into practice.

STN Indonesia members were joined by Seed Business Transformation Advisors and their Seed coach for the afternoon.

Thank you to the STN Indonesia leadership for organizing this session, and to the business leaders who joined. This event is only the beginning, and we’re excited to see what the STN Indonesia chapter does next.

07/29/2026

What does the CEO of one of the world’s leading Al labs think we should do with this technology?

In a recent conversation at Stanford GSB, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, spoke about where artificial general intelligence is headed, the competitive pressure facing Al companies, and where he sees the technology going. Here are three points from the conversation:

- On giving away valuable IP: Hassabis’s lab released AlphaFold, a groundbreaking Al system that predicts protein structures, to the world for free. “It was obviously the right thing to do,” he said. Three million researchers in 190 countries now use it.

- On the competitive landscape: Hassabis described what he calls a “race to the bottom” dynamic among Al companies, where anyone that takes more time on safety risks falling behind. He believes regulation needs to be smart and
“fleet-footed” enough to keep pace.

- On what individuals can do with Al today.
Hassabis pointed to a real opportunity for people who pair Al tools with their own domain expertise.

“They’re the most powerful tools anyone’s got,” he said. “You have them in the palm of your hand. The future’s still to be written.”

Read the full conversation:
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/demis-hassa
bis-thinks-were-foothills-singularity

07/23/2026

The first Immersion Week of the Seed Transformation Program is where the work starts for founders. The second is where it stops being something they do alone.

The sessions, workshops, and conversations bring each business leader closer to their Transformation Plan, the roadmap they came to build for their company.

What makes it stick is who’s in the room.
Participants know each other’s businesses and share a foundation, so they skip the surface and get to the real problems, the ones you only say out loud to someone who’s been there.

“We share a lot of knowledge, learn from different industries, and also share the learning experience together.” - Afia Rahma Fitriati, CEO and Co-founder or PT Fatiha Sakti (fast-8.com)

From 8-12 June, across Africa, Indonesia, and South Asia, the same thing was happening: rooms full of founders and CEOs working on their businesses and on each other’s at the same time.

To our STP participants: who in your cohort has shaped your journey? Tag them below.

07/21/2026

Can you trust AI if you don’t understand how it makes decisions?

A new explainer from Stanford GSB walks through what researchers call the “black box problem.” We see the data going in. We see the answer coming out. The reasoning in between is often hidden, even to the people who built the model.

This becomes a real issue when AI is making decisions that affect people’s lives.
A reasonable answer isn’t enough if the model can’t show its work. People will suspect bias. Or they’ll suspect the answer is just wrong.

Stanford GSB researchers are working on AI that can explain itself, building tools to make the why and how of these decisions visible.

Read the full explainer: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/explainer-black-box-problem

Image credit: Sarah McKinney

07/17/2026

We’re excited to announce the top five pitch finalists from the Seed Spark 12 South Asia cohort!

A big congratulations to the founders of these ventures:
- Anand Pavan Mandala , Jivica.AI Private Limited
- Dr. Deepali Jadia, Inventive Scientific Minds LLP
-Ishini Saparamadu, Concolabs Inc. (US)
-Krishna Mallawat, Stravex Technologies Private Limited
- Ranu K., FLAWSOME | Xleap Care Private Limited

A heartfelt thank-you to the jury members Abhishek Kakkar , Ashish Salguna , Raunak Jha, Soniya Sadnani, and Manasi Kumar , along with the 12 Spark Collaborators and 46 Spark Mentors for their guidance and support.

We can’t wait to see how the entrepreneurs from this cohort continue to grow and drive impact across the region.

Address

Stanford Graduate School Of Business
Stanford, CA
94305

Website

http://seed.stanford.edu/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Stanford Seed posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your school to be the top-listed School/college in Stanford?