On July 14, Hemi Ventures hosted a collective of 65 CKGSB alumni with a day of events showcasing Silicon Valley’s penchant for technology and innovation.
The group commenced the day’s itinerary at Google’s Mountain View campus. After an introduction to Google search and Google’s associate businesses by Elliot Ng, directory of product management in search, the Hemi group experienced a Google project demo. Thereafter, the group participated in a Google executive and student representative-led discussion encompassing “how to build and lead a high performance team”. A social reception and networking period concluded the visit.
Following the Google tour, the Hemi group headed to the Los Altos office of portfolio company Plus.AI, where they witnessed the development of next generation autonomous driving solutions. Next, the group stopped for a collective lunch in Mountain View and headed to Nvidia’s Santa Clara campus where an Nvidia speaker discussed artificial intelligence, strategic plans, industrial IOT and the notion of smart cities.
Accompanied by Stanford University, the group proceeded to a private talk and reception at Stanford Graduate School of Business. At GSB, Amy Gu, managing partner and alumnus, gave an introduction speech and thanked Stanford Associate Director Laleh Rongere for helping organize the event. There, Chris Nicholson, CEO of portfolio company Skymind—a company offering state-of-the-art, flexible and scalable deep learning forthe enterprise—, gave a live white-board demo of machine learning, reinforcement learning and deep learning concepts, applications and a look into the future.
Clarissa Shen, VP of International for Udacity, alsospoke at the event, focusing on how Udacity is bridging companies with engineers; Udacity is working with tech companies to develop specific high-tech jobs and opportunities for their students.
The GSB event concluded the evening with a final reception, champagne and food pairings, ending a successful day marrying entrepreneurs from two countries—a successful introduction to Silicon Valley’s frontier technologies and dynamic business landscape.
