Stanford Grads Dominate Forbes’ 30-Under-30 Venture Capital List
Forbes’ prestigious annual 30 Under 30 list recognizes 600 business figures spread over 20 industries each across America, celebrating individuals who have achieved incredible success in the span of a year. Launched in 2011, the list has expanded to feature figures from Europe, Asia and Africa.
Forbes’ list for 30-Under-30 for 2020 features a number of categories, including Finance, Art & Style, Food & Drink, Hollywood and Entertainment and many more. Here below, we take a look at individuals who have managed to “Crack The MBA” and made it to the Venture Capital list. In a major show of force, four graduates from Stanford GSB made it to the list. It does not come as a surprise then that applicants with aspirations in the venture capital industry or entrepreneurship often have GSB as their top choice.
Our first post featured entrepreneurs within the e-commerce and retail industry, and in the second post of the series, we take a look at people who are making great strides within the venture capital industry.
Konstantine Buhler (Stanford University Graduate School of Business)
An MBA graduate from Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Konstantine Buhler is the fourth and youngest hire at Meritech Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on late stage venture capital investments. Buhler has led or co-led investments in companies such as Ethos Life, Lime, Lime, Newfront, Verkada and Yubiko, while also leading the Stanford Venture Capital Club for four years. Buhler is a three-time graduate from Stanford with a BS, MS and an MBA, and has also founded and ran a non-government foundation for eight years.
Yida Gao (Stanford University Graduate School of Business)
Currently a General Partner at Struck Capital, Yida Gao dropped out of Stanford’s Graduate Business School while pursuing his MBA. Prior to plying his trade at Struck Capital, Gao has a wealth of experience in dealmaking, having worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group team at Morgan Stanley and as a Venture Investor at New Enterprise Associate.
Sam Smith-Eppsteiner (Stanford University Graduate School of Business)
Another graduate from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, Sam Smith-Eppsteiner is currently a partner at Innovation Endeavors, a venture capital firm that focuses on transformational technology and emergent ecosystems for a new world. Smith-Eppsteiner has previously led investments in the medical sector, including Canvas Medical, a service that reimagines EMR (Electronic Medical Records) for primary care, and Vicarious Surgical, a company which specializes in surgical robotics to enable surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgery.
Vinay Trivedi (Stanford University Graduate School of Business)
Yet another MBA grad from Stanford GSB, Vinay Trivedi is currently the Vice President of global technology investment team at General Atlantic, a private equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Trivedi’s previous work experience includes working as part of the investment team at the Blackstone Group from 2013 to 2016, while also working at SoftBank Investment Advisers in growth investments. Trivedi has also personally invested in startups including Cobalt Robotics, Freewill, Postmates and many others.
Shawn Xu (The Wharton School)
An MBA graduate from The Wharton School, Shawn Xu is currently an investor at Floodgate, a venture capital firm focused on investments in technology companies in Silicon Valley. Xu’s previous work experience includes working as the managing partner for Dorm Room Fund, a venture capital firm focused on investments in student-run startups. He was also the Network Leader at Village Global, an early-stage venture capital firm backed by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos among others.
For the entire list of entrepreneurs within the Venture Capital industry, you can click here.
