About VLAB

Our Mission

We bring together entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts, innovators, and curious minds to explore ideas and technologies that have the potential to disrupt entire industries, create business opportunities, and shape the future.

A Unique Formula

Our monthly events feature a unique panel discussion format that brings together various viewpoints to discuss and debate the impact of new technologies and innovations that have the potential to disrupt entire industries.

These panels feature both startups creating industry disruptions and the companies being disrupted, and they typically include startup founders, venture capitalists, incumbent corporations, inventors, academics, and/or industry analysts. The topics discussed in these panels are frequently in a very early stage of maturation — long before becoming mainstream technologies.

In addition to panel discussions, we also host a series of intimate founders-only events featuring Silicon Valley luminaries and thought leaders.

Our History

Founded in 1990 by the MIT Enterprise Forum and the Alumni Association of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, VLAB has hosted a broad range of events that have inspired and informed an extended community of over 20,000 influencers.

The caliber of presenting companies and panelists at our events has earned VLAB the reputation as one of the premier high-tech forums in Silicon Valley.

Many of the startups in past VLAB events have gone on to become household names, not just in Silicon Valley but around the globe. Past panel participants have included CEOs and senior-level executives from Yahoo!, Tesla Motors, Siri, Google, Tellme, Mint, Cloudera, and LinkedIn. We also provide opportunities for top VCs to weigh in on the conversations from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sequoia, Mayfield, USVP, Hummer Winblad, and New Enterprise Associates.