Not Just Here for the Food

By Atom Wang As a first day ice-breaking activity, we dove into an escape room challenge! Our group got assigned a horror-themed room—definitely not for the faint-hearted and rated one of the most difficult. It was intense, brain-bending, and we were (proudly?) the last team to escape. But with the room located in a beautiful upscale mall, the post-escape stroll

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Postcards from DSV

By Julia Zhu 1. SAN FRANN & Improv One of our first days together had it all. Iconic views of the Golden Gate, our first of many Equator Co>ees, and some slightly terrifying (but ultimately hilarious) improv set the tone for what would be the next few weeks. Getting oriented to our new summer home in San Francisco was exciting,

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Memorable Moments with DSV

By Anjali Jejurikar Escaping Our Mindsets Thrown into an escape room on our very first day, our cohort had to quickly learn not just how to work together, but how to think differently. In just one hour, we leaned into creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving, and walked out not just as individuals, but as a team. The Start of Something Great

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MetaLand: Where the Office Becomes a Theme Park

By Davidson Good Imagine, if you will, an office. A desk. A flickering fluorescent light. Standard-issue ceiling tiles. A glowing red exit sign. Maybe a potted plant in the corner. Functional. Mundane. Predictable. Now, throw all of that away. Replace the desk with an old-school arcade machine. The flickering light with warm sunlight pouring through floor-to-ceiling windows. The ceiling tiles

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Bridging Connections: Link(ed)in’ up IRL

By Ting Ting Li Time flew by this week as DSV kicked into full gear. After a week of settling in, our schedules this week were filled with classes, site visits, & unforgettable conversations. In class, our focus was on monetization and building a brand, centered around the key question: “how does this make money?” Getting to explore various business

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Questioning & Finding Gaps in the Status Quo

By Olivia Shim Our second site visit of the week was at the Computer History Museum (CHM). We saw how computer technology changed, from the first ENIAC computer to the current MacBook Pro. Visiting the CHM showed us real examples of the core ideas we explored this week in class, such as the power of exploring unmet needs in current

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Off to a Meaningful Start

By Unzila Sakina If there’s one phrase that sums up my first week in the Duke in Silicon Valley program, it’s this: get comfortable with being uncomfortable . And honestly? I didn’t expect to love that feeling as much as I did. From the moment we checked into the hotel, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a typical

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