“There’s nothing better you could do during your freshman summer.” “You’ll meet your closest friends and so many amazing people.” “I can’t explain it but you’ll learn so much more by being in the Bay Area.” These were just a few of the recommendations I heard from Duke in Silicon Valley alumni when I was considering the program. Now that
Our First Evening Together. From the beginning, we were all about building community. Whether it was dinners, pool parties, or completely necessary Ross runs, we were always together, trying to get to know each other better. We had no idea where the next 4 weeks would take us, not just academically but also emotionally. Our First Visit. We hit up
Is that my bestie in a Tessie? Following our tour of the Tesla Factory in Fremont, the group was given the opportunity to sit behind the wheel of the Showroom vehicles. We later met with Duke Alum Charlie Haley, who gave us the inside scoop of Tesla and their business. San Francisco has a lot of interesting little nooks and
On Wednesday, May 22, we had the opportunity to visit the powerhouse behind digital media, YouTube! Pulling up to the location, I had no idea what to expect. I, as many others, use YouTube everyday, but I had never taken the time to actually search up the headquarters and see where the magic happens. Outside, the building looked like just
On our third day, we visited a startup accelerator and venture capital firm, Y Combinator – abbreviated as YC. As the Bus pulled into SF’s Pier 70 shipyard at 1:46 PM, quaint warehouse-like buildings greeted us – we quickly learned these were Y Combinator’s new campus buildings that recently opened to provide collaborative work spaces for start-up founders. Inside, we
“To know, love, or deeply believe in” your problem is one of the most important aspects of being a successful entrepreneur, Heidi Zak told us. On Wednesday, Heidi, the co-founder and CEO of lingerie company ThirdLove came to speak about creating a better bra-shopping experience for women. As soon as I heard she was going to visit us, I became
Welcome to Duke in Silicon Valley! Here, in the heart of innovation, we are embarking on a journey to not only learn about entrepreneurship – but to experience the vibrant environment that is Silicon Valley. From the classrooms to the exciting startup culture that surrounds us, every moment is an opportunity to question, explore, and create. And I’m going to
I have only ever heard great things about the Duke in Silicon Valley program, so I signed up. With little prior knowledge of what to expect, I embarked on this adventure with the hope of gaining interesting insights from an entrepreneurship course and the chance to explore San Francisco. Little did I know that the four-week program would not only
As we come to the conclusion of a summer program that can be described as nothing more than every self help book combined into one, this last week was my personal favorite. Often the concept of an idea gets conflated with a dream. A dream is something fictional. The bridge in bringing the dream into reality is what we learned.
A (Contradictory) Guide to Success “Communicating efficiently always pops” – Michael Barnett At first glance, it is challenging to comprehend the significance of a blue square on a canvas. However, Yves Klein’s iconic blue square is a masterpiece because of its sheer simplicity and skill required to paint a single color on a canvas so evenly. Just as this artwork
