Your Window Into the Innovation Economy

If you opened Google, scrolled on Instagram, streamed a YouTube video or a Netflix show last night, or ordered lunch on DoorDash, you’ve touched the Stanford ecosystem. The world knows the legend of the “PayPal Mafia.” Early PayPal employees went on to found generational companies like Tesla, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yelp, and Palantir. But there’s a deeper pattern at work. The most prolific “mafia” in tech history didn’t emerge from a single company. It emerged from a single campus: Stanford University.

Why old VC signals fail for GenAI & agentic AI startups. Discover a new framework prioritizing user behavior, engagement & workflow adoption to scale AI ventures.

For decades, individual investors relied on the classic 60/40 portfolio — 60% equities and 40% bonds — as the gold standard for diversification. But today’s market realities are reshaping what a “balanced portfolio” should look like. Rising volatility, low bond yields, and new opportunities in private markets mean investors are increasingly looking beyond 60/40 to a model that includes alternatives. Many institutions — from pensions to university endowments — have already made this shift. And individual investors now have the tools to do the same.