Silicon Valley's secret ingredients of success

Silicon Valley’s secret ingredients of success

What so special about Silicon Valley? How is it able to attract so much great talent? Young serial entrepreneur Catalin Voss, who got to experience that ecosystem, explains what makes it so special. 

This interview was conducted and recorded as part of the Future of Leadership Initiative. A recording of this conversation can be found here:

Video

About FLI Thought Leader Catalin Voss

Catalin Voss’ passion for disruptive technologies has led him to become a serial entrepreneur who developed five apps before he turned 15 and took on a PhD programme in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University.

He is the founder of AI start-up DukaConnect, a platform to empower shopkeepers in emerging markets, and the Stanford Autism Glass Project, an endeavour to develop a wearable AI learning aid for children with autism.

Catalin also founded the computer vision company Sension, which was acquired by GAIA Systems in 2015. Prior to coming to Stanford, while still in high school, Catalin built a mobile payments system PayNearMe with Apple Macintosh designer Steve Capps. He has won the Lemelson-MIT, Stanford’s Kennedy Medal, was featured as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30, Business Insider’s 40 under 40 and has been profiled in WIRED and Der Spiegel. He’s also served as an advisor and venture partner to Axel Springer, Europe’s largest publishing company.