Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

Just days after Yahoo! rejected Microsoft's bid, President Sue Decker unveils Yahoo!'s candid perspective on the news-making deal. Decker also points out the early Internet leader's strategic failures of the past, and details Yahoo!'s reinvention strategies in a competitive, advertising-driven online marketplace.

Documentary filmmakers Anand Chandrasekaran and Michaelene C. Risley discuss not only the inspiration for their film, Tapestries of Hope, but also some of the logistics of its production. Topics include fundraising strategies and how the film team overcame obstacles along the way.

Today's revolutionary breakthroughs are yesterday's crazy ideas. And Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation and entrepreneur behind numerous commercial space travel ventures, speaks at length about finding support for new business frontiers that, literally, are out of this world.

David Rothkopf, CEO of Garten Rothkopf and author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making, mulls over the research in his latest social macroeconomic tomb. He iterates a wealth of trends and statistics on the ever-broadening gap between rich and poor, and how true global influence is the product of a shockingly small handful of global players.

Jeff Housenbold, entrepreneur and CEO of Shutterfly, captures a candid snapshot of what it means to be an entrepreneur. He focuses on his multi-decade shift from finance to photos, and spotlights how Shutterfly shapes memories, rather than moves product.

An outstanding office culture trumps all, says Ken Wilcox, the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, who heads the most noted financial hub for the technology sector. Wilcox discusses how his financial services institution has scaffolded against recession, and bullet points the uniqueness of commercial banking for the tech start-up.

Parallel entrepreneur Mir Imran, CEO of InCube Labs, has launched twenty companies - at times simultaneously. He shares his solutions-focused expertise and identifies the vitality and growth of the biomedical healthcare vertical.

Brett Crosby, Group Manager of Google Analytics, describes the ebb and flow of the process by which his web analytics company, Urchin, was acquired by Google. He also shares some inspirational lessons in making small business loom large.

The Humane Society of Silicon Valley had gone to the dogs before president Christine Benninger took hold of the leash in 1993. By nearly every metric - profits earned, animals saved, customers satisfied - she outlines how proven business practices transformed the HSSV into best of breed.

Retired serial entrepreneur Steve Blank interviews MissionPoint Capital co-founder Jesse Fink. The two discuss the manifold investment opportunities in alternative energies and environmental conservation.