  Startups have become in less than 50 years a major component of innovation
and economic growth. Silicon Valley has been the place where the startup
phenomenon was the most obvious and Stanford University was a major component
of that success. Companies such as Google, Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, Cisco,
Hewlett Packard had very strong links with Stanford but even these vary famous
success stories cannot fully describe the richness and diversity of the
Stanford entrepreneurial activity. This report explores the dynamics of more
than 5000 companies founded by Stanford University alumni and staff, through
their value creation, their field of activities, their growth patterns and
more. The report also explores some features of the founders of these companies
such as their academic background or the number of years between their Stanford
experience and their company creation.
