For more than 20 years, Chuck Eesley has focused his research on the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and government investment. His work examines how universities have become important drivers of innovation and economic growth.
Eesley, a professor at Stanford University, investigates factors that encourage or hinder the transformation of academic ideas into market-ready products. He studies how government policy and funding affect this process and explores challenges that scholars and students face in bringing new technologies to market.
He has paid particular attention to the impact of entrepreneurship education on new venture creation. According to his research, giving students autonomy in choosing elective courses can influence who becomes an entrepreneur and helps develop an entrepreneurial mindset. Eesley’s 2020 study also highlighted the value of mentorship: students who are guided by experienced entrepreneurs tend to make better business decisions and create companies with greater longevity.
Reflecting on his early experience launching a biotech startup as an undergraduate at Duke University, Eesley noted: “That was when I saw that it was a difficult process to commercialize these technologies. In our case, we didn’t fail because the technology didn’t work. We failed because I didn’t really know what I was doing as an entrepreneur.”
He observed that there were limited opportunities for undergraduates to learn entrepreneurial skills outside business schools at that time. The launch of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) in 1997 addressed this gap by offering entrepreneurship education across disciplines.
Eesley joined Stanford in 2009 and now serves as faculty co-director of STVP within the School of Engineering. The program provides resources for developing entrepreneurial skills among students, faculty, and researchers. Notable alumni include Bobby Murphy (Snapchat co-founder), Kevin Systrom, and Mike Krieger (Instagram founders).
His research points out that success for university-born startups relies on more than just technological innovation. Eesley stated: “It also takes a high-quality co-founding team involving academic expertise, industry experience, a supportive venture capital community, and knowledgeable accountants and lawyers who can structure deals.” He emphasized that alumni networks provide essential connections for early-stage funding and mentorship.
“It’s the sum of all of these things – the package together is more helpful than any individual element,” he said.
Eesley’s findings also highlight inequities within entrepreneurial ecosystems—students with greater resources or stronger networks often have advantages. He continues to investigate which types of programs are effective for different groups.
A comprehensive study in 2020 by Eesley examined Stanford’s STVP and Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Graduate School of Business (GSB). While participation did not increase the number of new ventures created, it reduced failure rates among startups launched by graduates. These programs help students assess their entrepreneurial potential and improve their ability to start or manage new ventures successfully.
Stanford’s location in Silicon Valley has contributed significantly to its role as an innovation hub. Government investment after World War II played a key role; Frederick Terman, then dean of engineering and later provost at Stanford, helped direct Department of Defense contracts toward university research on technologies like microwave systems and MRI machines—projects that later found civilian applications.
Terman encouraged commercialization efforts among students: “After World War II, Frederick Terman encouraged students like William Hewlett and David Packard to commercialize their technologies,” Eesley said.
Today, companies founded by Stanford alumni collectively have a market value exceeding $11 trillion.
Eesley’s comparative studies show how sustained government investment shapes high-tech startup ecosystems globally. For example, China’s Project 985 provided significant funding to select universities starting in the late 1990s. This allowed those institutions to enhance facilities, attract leading faculty members, and promote international collaboration—steps linked with increased innovation output from graduates compared with peers from other schools.
In South Korea, Eesley studied changes before and after President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. He found increased trust in government institutions following the scandal corresponded with greater entrepreneurial ambition among engineering graduates—a result attributed to perceptions of institutional stability and rule-of-law enforcement during times when launching startups requires long-term commitment.
Eesley argues ongoing public investment in foundational research is necessary because private firms are less likely to fund basic science due to uncertain commercial returns—a point he makes when discussing economic rationale for federal support. Such funding supports patent generation and spinoffs that attract further private investment; policies like the Bayh-Dole Act enable universities to own inventions made with federal dollars (https://www.autm.net/about-tech-transfer/bayh-dole-act/).
“And we do it because we’re intellectually curious,” Eesley said. “Because we can train the next generation of students who can then take these technologies out into the world.”
Eesley holds an associate professorship in management science and engineering at Stanford’s School of Engineering; STVP operates within this department.
