Over the next couple of weeks I have the privilege of lecturing in a program at San José State University for students who have traveled from all over the world to study science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship here in Silicon Valley. They come from a variety of countries in Asia and Europe such as Korea, Japan, Germany, Italy, China, and Mongolia. What strikes me most is how fully they are present. These students are heavily engaged—curious, energetic, and clearly having the cultural and educational experience of their young lives. You can feel the charge in the room. A big part of that experience is the teamwork. They are working closely in mixed groups, learning how to collaborate across languages, backgrounds, and working styles. For many of them English is a second language, yet they communicate effectively within their teams—finding ways to share ideas, negotiate, and build on one another's thinking. Watching that process is one of the more rewarding parts of being in the room with them. The cultural exchange is just as powerful as the formal curriculum. Students are not only studying science, technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship; they are living it while immersed in a new environment, forming connections with peers from different countries, and absorbing Silicon Valley's unique mix of ambition, informality, and possibility. Innovation, at its core, is putting new ideas to work—and these students are seeing firsthand how that process unfolds. Much of the innovation landscape they are encountering is being reshaped by AI. It is folding into hardware, software, the internet, and the edge in ways that are changing how products are built, how companies operate, and how new opportunities emerge. These are themes I explore in my book AI L4IR: Leadership and the 4th Industrial Revolution and through the work of the AI Institute of Silicon Valley, where we focus on practical ways leaders and teams can adopt AI without losing rigor or governance. Many of the students are also looking forward to classic Silicon Valley experiences: the Golden Gate Bridge, campuses of some of the most famous companies headquartered here, and the physical landscape shaping today's technology. It is a genuine treat to be working with these students—and with the faculty at SJSU. The students bring fresh perspective and serious ambition. The faculty create the kind of environment that makes this kind of global exchange possible. I feel fortunate to be part of the team for these next few weeks. There is something special about watching young people from such different backgrounds step into Silicon Valley together, full of energy and possibility, at a moment when AI is accelerating so much of the innovation around them. I'm looking forward to the conversations and the teamwork ahead. https://kentkaufman.substack.com/p/welcoming-the-world-to-silicon-valley

What Happens When Venture Meets AI-First Startups: Notes from a Half-Day of Real Debate Just left a half-day that felt more like the beginning of something than a standard investor event. Growth Factory Ventures' 2026 AGM in San Francisco brought together outspoken VCs, operators, entrepreneurs, and Silicon Valley thought leaders for real, respectful, and surprisingly sharp debate on the future of venture for AI-first startups. The central idea in the room was clear: traditional venture is being forced to reinvent itself. The firms that will matter over the next decade won't just pick winners — they'll help create the conditions for them. This hits directly on themes I explore in AI L4IR: Leadership and the 4th Industrial Revolution. The time it takes to go from idea to working product has collapsed. What used to take months or years can now happen in weeks. That speed is already rewriting what "early-stage" means and putting pressure on how capital is raised, allocated, and deployed. Some of the most interesting tensions that surfaced: → Speed vs. governance — and why pure velocity without structure creates real risk → Who owns the IP and data when founders engage with these new AI-native platforms → How AI might help balance founder claims against investor skepticism (while introducing its own questions around bias and judgment) → Whether the traditional pitch deck is quietly becoming less relevant This is not a settled conversation. It's the start of a debate that will run for years. For the builders in the mix, the practical implication is powerful: entrepreneurs who combine AI speed with sound best practices can move past proof-of-concepts and ship real, scalable, production-ready applications. That's the focus of the AI-SDLC / Spec-Driven Development work we teach at the AI Institute of Silicon Valley. The current cohort is still open for mid-stream joiners — catch up on the recordings and labs here: https://aiisv.org/workshops/ai-sdlc The energy in the room (and later at the penthouse networking) made one thing obvious: the old playbook is under real pressure. The next version of venture is being written in real time. More detailed post is found at: https://kentkaufman.substack.com/p/what-happens-when-venture-meets-ai What transformations are you seeing in how capital, founders, and AI-native teams are interacting right now? Events

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