Theo Baker spent four years researching Stanford. Here’s what he discovered before he left.

Most of Stanford’s Class of 2026 are smart, ambitious, and ready for outstanding careers. Theo Baker already has one. During his first semester in college, Baker uncovered a story that led Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne to resign. For this work, Baker received one of journalism’s highest honors, the George Polk Award. Warner Bros. and producer Amy Pascal optioned the rights to the story. And on Tuesday, less than a month before graduation, Baker published: how to rule the worldA comprehensive account of his time at Stanford and the school’s insidious relationship with the venture capital industry. Judging by the initial interest, it will likely become a bestseller.

We’ve been anticipating this (we shared some related thoughts on this just a few weeks ago). We spoke with Baker last Friday. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You showed up at Stanford as a coder. How did you end up breaking one of the biggest stories in college history before your freshman year was even over?

I came here thinking technology and entrepreneurship were the path for me. I participated in and helped run a student hackathon, Tree Hacks, and skipped the CS weeding class. But my grandfather, with whom I was very close, had died a few weeks before I arrived, and he told me more about his work on the student newspaper than anyone I knew. So I joined the student newspaper to feel connected to it. It had to be a hobby and a way to meet people and explore campus.

From there, things started very quickly. Our first few stories received more response than we could have imagined, and tips started flooding in, one of which led to a pseudonymous website called PubPeer, where scientists analyze published research. There were comments questioning the paper, co-authored by then-7-year-old Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, as containing duplicated, spliced ​​or otherwise irregular images. I had been at Stanford for a month when that investigation began, and when I returned for my sophomore year, the president had resigned.

Were you warned about that story?

Several times before I even published my first article. People warned me that Tessier-Lavigne was a man of very high integrity with an excellent reputation. I warned them that I did not want to do this and that doing so would place me in a very uncomfortable position within the institution. Of course, it wasn’t wrong. As the story expanded over the next 10 months, the backlash grew even steeper. Less than 24 hours after the first story appeared, the board announced its own investigation. I quickly learned that one of the board members overseeing it had invested $18 million in Denali Therapeutics, a biotech company co-founded by Tessier-Lavigne. And a statement announcing the investigation praised his “integrity and honor” in the investigation, which theoretically examined his scientific integrity. So the investigation itself became the subject of reporting. Tessier-Lavigne never directly responded to requests for comment during her freshman year. Eventually, he began sending letters to every faculty member, including my professor, describing my report as “breathtakingly absurd and full of falsehoods.” Then I started hearing more from his lawyer.

But this book is really about something broader: what I call Stanford within Stanford. What does that mean?

As soon as I arrived I realized that there was a parallel reality, an inner world. There, kids identified early on as the next trillion-dollar startup founders were plucked from the crowd and placed in a world of access and resources. Yacht parties, slush funds, everyone texting the same billionaire for advice on the weekend. As Stanford becomes more renowned as a home for great startups, university officials say it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find real talent. So many people think they can be the next multi-billion dollar dropouts that there’s a whole system that serves to separate what we call “proto-entrepreneurs” (people who do it because it looks cool) from the so-called builders who actually have potential. It’s a system designed to find teenagers who can make money as quickly as possible.

The book’s title turns out to be more than just a metaphor.

no. It’s literally the name of a so-called secret class at Stanford taught by a Silicon Valley CEO. It’s not really a class. It’s more of a Skull and Bones for aspiring tech elites. People do not earn course credit, but lectures, discussions, and guest speakers are held once a week during the winter quarter on campus. When I arrived it was a status symbol to even exist. As one person put it, it made you “rule-adjacent.” What this guy Justin was trying to do – as the students in the class told me – everyone seemed to be trying to do. It’s about hanging out and networking with teenagers that can be useful to you young people. Only he figured out how to hide himself in this mystery and make these talented and promising kids come to him. Because he promised them a way to rule the world. He promised that Stanford’s brightest students would gather in this seminar of 12 people and that the only way to learn these secrets would be through him. This is a very poignant example of how talent extraction systems manifest themselves in strange ways.

What does a talent scouting system actually look like in the field?

There are VCs who hire older Stanford upperclassmen to identify new students as soon as they arrive on campus. It was kept intentionally vague. I’ve had people tell me that joining one of the big entrepreneurship clubs is seen as a countersign. Because it seems like you’re joining for the title rather than belonging to one of those secret supply groups where real entrepreneurs gather. But as much as there is real talent among the children of this world, the most important qualification is who you know – whether you are the person who taps you on the shoulder. I had a CEO who cold emailed me during my freshman year and asked to learn about me. The first time we went to dinner, we went to the Rosewood Hotel, he sat there spoon-feeding me eight-month-old caviar and casually mentioning that his first contract was with Muammar Gaddafi. That casualness is what I find attractive. And this whole system goes a long way toward explaining how large-scale fraud unfolds. It starts with putting a huge amount of authority, money, and power in the hands of teenagers without adequate safeguards in case things go wrong.

You arrived right at the moment the FTX crash happened and ChatGPT launched. What was it like observing it up close?

The timing was almost absurd. We have arrived at the tail end of the cryptocurrency craze. When we came out, the assumption was that cryptocurrencies were a way to make money. SBF begins its descent on November 2nd. ChatGPT will be released on November 30th. And immediately everything comes to center. I remember attending a dinner shortly after ChatGPT launched and sitting with one of the biggest cryptocurrency boosters on campus. He said SBF was “directionally accurate” (that’s exactly what he said). But he said everyone is trying to figure out how to avoid the legalities. And many of them quickly realized that AI was a new craze they could jump into. They said that by taking advantage of the latest and greatest, it is possible to reach the same height as SBF, preferably without falling. Silicon Valley operates in cycles, but observing its scale up close was especially fascinating.

Do you think your colleagues are turning to entrepreneurship in part because of anxiety about the job market?

entirely. AI Rush has been created as a resource for discovering talent in the modern-day gold rush. The most valuable researchers and founders are more valuable than ever, but entry-level positions are starting to disappear. Right now, it’s a common myth that it’s easier to raise money for a startup than to get an internship. Which one is surprising? Entrepreneurship has become an expected path, rather than the non-conformist outsider it might once have been associated with. It completely changes its character.

What advice would you give to a 17-year-old currently trying to get into Stanford or another prestigious university?

You have to be really conscious of whether you’re doing it because you believe in what you’re doing and because it’s the right thing to do, or because it’s easy. It’s very easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of trends and technologies and find yourself wasting away in a job you don’t actually want because you followed the expected path. Following the expected path is much less interesting than going out and doing something yourself. I admire the best founders that come out of this place because I feel they have real power to make change. You have to be careful that you’re doing it for the right reasons, not just because you want to get rich.

You came this far with the idea of ​​becoming an entrepreneur. Still want to start something?

Honestly, I didn’t think about it that much. Finishing the book and graduating was a mad rush. Surprisingly, graduation was only about a month away. But I think the book revealed that I really fell in love with journalism. It’s a temperament, almost a hardship, rather than a job. Whatever I do will intersect with it.