Great products are crafted by product teams, typically comprising engineering, product management, and customer support. We start by identifying unmet market needs and then satisfying them through an iterative process that builds from functional infancy to market leadership. In this class, we aim to demystify the process by directly speaking with guests who've delivered highly successful products. We aim to introduce how great hardware and software products are crafted, both in startups and in larger companies. Students will learn why pursuing areas of interest and curiosity is critical to building world-class solutions to problems. Previous companies profiled: Intel, Apple, HP, Microsoft, VMWare, Genentech, Blue Bottle Coffee, Pixar, and Pivotal Labs -- to name a few. Previous guests include Ted Hoff (Inventor of the microprocessor and employee #EE 12 at Intel), Diane Greene (Co-founder and CEO of VMware, former President of Google Cloud, and former Chair of The MIT Corporation), Rob Mee (Co-Founder of Pivotal Labs and Founder of Mechanical Orchard), Evans Hankey (former VP of Design at Apple, Co-Founder Io - acquired by OpenAI), Matt Kraning (EE292i Alumnus, Co-Founder Expanse - acquired by Palo Alto Networks - now General Partner, Menlo Ventures. Pre-requisites: None.
1 units · Satisfactory/No Credit
Great products are crafted by product teams, typically comprising engineering, product management, and customer support. We start by identifying unmet market needs and then satisfying them through an iterative process that builds from functional infancy to market leadership. In this class, we aim to demystify the process by directly speaking with guests who've delivered highly successful products. We aim to introduce how great hardware and software products are crafted, both in startups and in larger companies. Students will learn why pursuing areas of interest and curiosity is critical to building world-class solutions to problems. Previous companies profiled: Intel, Apple, HP, Microsoft, VMWare, Genentech, Blue Bottle Coffee, Pixar, and Pivotal Labs -- to name a few. Previous guests include Ted Hoff (Inventor of the microprocessor and employee #12 at Intel), Diane Greene (Co-founder and CEO of VMware, former President of Google Cloud, and former Chair of The MIT Corporation), Rob Mee (Co-Founder of Pivotal Labs and Founder of Mechanical Orchard), Evans Hankey (former VP of Design at Apple, Co-Founder Io - acquired by OpenAI), Matt Kraning (EE292i Alumnus, Co-Founder Expanse - acquired by Palo Alto Networks - now General Partner, Menlo Ventures. Pre-requisites: None.
Offered in Spring 2027 at Stanford University.