Theo Baker, the Stanford student journalist whose reporting helped force former Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne to resign, is releasing a new book examining the relationship between Stanford University and Silicon Valley’s venture capital ecosystem.
The book, titled How to Rule the World, is scheduled for publication Tuesday, less than a month before Baker graduates as part of Stanford’s class of 2026.
According to Baker, the book focuses on what he describes as the “Stanford inside Stanford,” a network of venture capitalists, startup founders, elite student groups, and informal talent pipelines that identify promising students early and connect them with investors and influential technology executives.
Baker first gained national attention during his freshman year after investigating allegations of scientific misconduct involving Tessier-Lavigne. His reporting eventually contributed to the Stanford president’s resignation and earned Baker a George Polk Award. The story has also been optioned for adaptation by Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Amy Pascal.
Investigation Into Stanford President Began During Freshman Year
Baker said he originally arrived at Stanford intending to pursue computer science and entrepreneurship.
He joined the student newspaper partly because of his late grandfather, who had previously worked on a college newspaper and remained an important influence in his life.
While working on early stories for the paper, Baker discovered discussions on the research criticism website PubPeer involving scientific papers co-authored by Tessier-Lavigne.
The online posts questioned whether certain images in the research had been duplicated or manipulated.
Baker said the investigation began only about a month after he arrived at Stanford, and by the start of his sophomore year, Tessier-Lavigne had resigned.
According to Baker, he faced pressure early on not to pursue the story.
“People warned me that Tessier-Lavigne was a person of very high integrity with a sterling reputation — that I didn’t want to do this,” Baker said.
He also reported on Stanford’s internal investigation into the allegations, including a board member’s financial ties to biotechnology company Denali Therapeutics, which Tessier-Lavigne had co-founded.
Baker said Tessier-Lavigne later circulated messages to Stanford faculty criticizing the reporting and describing it as “breathtakingly outrageous and replete with falsehoods.”
Book Examines Stanford’s Venture Capital Culture
Baker said his book focuses more broadly on how Silicon Valley investors and startup culture shape student life at Stanford.
According to Baker, some students identified as promising startup founders are quickly drawn into exclusive social and professional circles involving investors, executives, and entrepreneurship-focused networks.
He described environments involving yacht parties, venture capital mentorship, informal scouting systems, and what he called “slush funds” for promising young founders.
Baker said some venture capital firms recruit upperclassmen to identify incoming freshmen who may have startup potential.
“There are VCs who employ older Stanford upperclassmen to identify freshmen as soon as they arrive on campus,” he said.
According to Baker, some entrepreneurship organizations and networking systems at Stanford intentionally operate with limited visibility, creating informal hierarchies among students pursuing startup careers.
He also described a private seminar known as “How to Rule the World,” which inspired the book’s title.
Baker said the seminar functioned less like a formal academic course and more like an invitation-only networking environment for students viewed as future technology leaders.
Crypto Collapse And AI Boom Shifted Campus Priorities
Baker arrived at Stanford during a period that coincided with both the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the public release of ChatGPT by OpenAI.
He described watching startup interests rapidly shift from cryptocurrency projects toward AI startups after ChatGPT’s release in late 2022.
According to Baker, many students and investors who had previously focused on crypto began redirecting attention toward AI opportunities almost immediately.
“The AI rush has made talent the resource to mine in this modern-day gold rush,” Baker said.
He added that many students now see entrepreneurship not as an unconventional career path, but as an increasingly expected one, especially as entry-level hiring conditions become more uncertain.
“There’s a common refrain among people in this world that it’s easier to raise money for a startup right now than to get an internship,” Baker said.
Despite initially arriving at Stanford with ambitions in technology and entrepreneurship, Baker said his experiences ultimately deepened his commitment to journalism.
“I really did fall in love with journalism,” he said. “It’s a temperament, almost an affliction, more than a career.”
Featured image credits: Magnific.com
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