• Innovation

Things That Would Not Exist Without Stanford GSB Alums

Air Jordans, “The Bachelor,” Jell-O Jigglers, and 60 other inventions, products, and breakthroughs made possible by our grads.

written by Dave Gilson & Amara Holstein

From DoorDash and crash carts to a giant truck and Two-Buck Chuck, here’s a partial list of things that would not have existed without our alums.

63 Innovations and the Stanford GSB Alums Behind Them

• Acquired: David Rosenthal, MBA ’14, co-founder of the podcast Acquired
• The $1.50 Costco hot dog: Richard Galanti, MBA ’82, former CFO of Costco, credited for its hot dog and roast chicken prices
• SkinSpirit: Lynn Heublein, MBA ’91, co-founder and CEO of medspa SkinSpirit
• Invisalign: Kelsey Wirth and Zia Chishti, both MBA ’97, co-founders of Align Technology
• Minted: Mariam Naficy, MBA ’98, founder and CEO of Minted
• The Bachelor: Andrea Wong, MBA ’93, developed The Bachelor as executive vice president at ABC.
• DIY estate planning: Jennifer Xia Spradling and Patrick Schmitt, both MBA ’18, co-founders of FreeWill
• Workday: Aneel Bhusri, MBA ’93, co-founder and executive chair of Workday
• Corvette C7 Stingray: Tadge Juechter, MBA ’86, Corvette chief engineer
• The HELOC: Barry Abbott, MBA ’77, helped develop the first home equity line product.
• Portable infant incubators: Jane Chen, MBA ’08, co-founder of Embrace Global
• The Beanie Babies craze: Jeffrey Skoll, MBA ’95, first president and full-time employee of eBay, which sold $500 million of the stuffed toys
• John Madden Football: Trip Hawkins, MBA ’78, founder of Electronic Arts
• Match.com: Gary Kremen, Simon Glinsky, Fran Maier, and John Neill, all MBA ’89, co-founders of Match.com
• LA Opera: Warner Henry, MBA ’63, and his wife were key to the opera’s founding.
• Liquid nitrogen–fueled ice cream machine: Robyn Sue Fisher, MBA ’07, founder and CEO of Smitten Ice Cream
• Priority Mail: Ira D. Hall, MBA ’76, served as a United States Postal ­Service governor, where his model of customer offerings led to the creation of Priority Mail.
• The first hospital “crash cart”: Elliott C. Farnsworth, MBA ’51, co-founder of a medical device company that made the first defibrillators, pacemakers, and heart monitors
• StubHub: Eric Baker and Jeff Fluhr, both MBA ’01, co-founders of StubHub
• Leadership tips from Martha Stewart: David Rogier, MBA ’11, founder and CEO of MasterClass
• M80 Stiletto stealth ship: Charles W. Robinson, MBA ’47, designed the M80, named the “Best Military Invention of 2006” by Time.­
• Youku: Victor Koo, MBA ’94, CEO and co-founder of the “YouTube of China”
• BabyCenter: Matt Glickman and Mark Selcow, both MBA ’93, co-founders of BabyCenter
• 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics: Gene Sykes, MBA ’84, CEO for the LA bid committee and organizing ­committee for the ­Olympic and ­Paralympic Games
• Coinstar: Jens Molbak, MBA ’90, founder of Coinstar
• California’s largest shopping mall: Henry Segerstrom, MBA ’48, created South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.
• PayPal: Roelof Botha, MBA ’00, CFO of PayPal when it IPOed
• Two-Buck Chuck: Charles Shaw, MBA ’71, creator and namesake of the fan-favorite Trader Joe’s wine
• An early internet browser: Neil Larsen, MBA ’69, created the browser that morphed into Lynx, then Netscape, then Internet Explorer.
• Blavity: Aaron Samuels, MBA ’18, co-founder of Blavity
• Jell-O Jigglers: Dana Gioia, MBA ’77, created while vice president of marketing at General Foods.
• Pocket Naloxone: Ashanthi Mathai, MBA ’04, co-founder and CEO of Pocket Naloxone
• The first rotating baby car seat: Vivian Chiang, MBA ’04, founder of Orbit Baby
• Disneyland’s prime location: Harrison “Buzz” Price, MBA ’51, ­research economist who guided Walt Disney to pick locations for his theme parks
• Sex and the City and The Sopranos: Jeffrey L. Bewkes, MBA ’77, headed HBO when it pioneered prestige TV.
• Pringles: Arthur Rosenblum, Sloan ’69, helped launch ­Pringles in the U.S.
• Victoria’s Secret: Roy Raymond, MBA ’71, co-founder of Victoria’s Secret
• Mercado Libre: Marcos Galperin, Hernan Kazah, and Stelleo Tolda, all MBA ’99, co-founders of the Latin American e-commerce site
• The AIDS Quilt: Mike Smith, MBA ’86, co-founder of the AIDS Memorial Quilt
• Off-grid milk refrigerators: Jacqueline Novogratz, MBA ’91, founder of Acumen, an impact investing fund that backed this project in India
• Defender video game: Eugene Jarvis, MBA ’86, designed the arcade games Defender and Robotron: 2084.
• Xiaohongshu (RedNote): Charlwin Mao, MBA ’13, co-founder and CEO of the Chinese social media and e-commerce platform
• Bain & Company: Patrick Graham, MBA ’64, co-founder of Bain & Company
• CEMEX: Lorenzo Zambrano Treviño, MBA ’68, former CEO and chairman of CEMEX
• Peer-to-peer boat rentals: Jaclyn Baumgarten, MBA ’05, co-founder of Boatsetter
• Joie de Vivre hotels: Chip Conley, MBA ’84, founder and former CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality
• Trulia: Pete Flint and Sami Inkinen, both MBA ’05, co-founders of Trulia
• The end of the Golden State Warriors’ 40-year championship drought: Joe Lacob, MBA ’83, co–executive chairman and CEO of the Golden State Warriors

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