Question 1

Where can I learn more?

Accepted Answer

Please submit the interest form here. Our team will reach out to you.

Question 2

What is Emerson Collective?

Accepted Answer

Emerson Collective is a company that invests in entrepreneurs and innovators driven by purpose and a sense of possibility. We are working to create a world that honors talent, expands opportunity, and ensures the conditions for human flourishing.

Complex challenges in education and economic mobility, immigration and the environment require audacious ideas, rigorous thinking, and hard work.

Emerson Collective's venture team invests in founders solving big problems and seeking venture-scale returns. We do not see a tradeoff between the two. We are multi-stage investors, from pre-product through IPO and for the long haul.

Question 3

What is Sutter Hill Ventures?

Accepted Answer

Sutter Hill Ventures is a quiet powerhouse that has been financing and building successful companies since 1962. We explore the frontiers of technology research and bring the most impactful engineers and scientists into close alignment with the company-creation process. Our approach centers on great people, hard technology, big markets, and long-term capital.

Question 4

What is the history of the program?

Accepted Answer

From 2012 to 2018, Fern co-taught the Accel Innovation Scholars (AIS) program, which was housed under the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, with Tina Seelig. In 2024, Emerson Collective decided to deepen its support for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers and with Fern, established the Emerson Consequential Scholars program. Keith was a member of the AIS program and met Fern while completing his PhD in plasma physics. On a Dish walk, Fern asked Keith if he'd like to join her in creating what would become ECS. Fern, Keith, and their colleagues from EC and SHV now teach and run the program together.

Question 5

Who would be a good fit for ECS?

Accepted Answer

What stands out about all scholars is the depth of what they’re working on; they’re all people who are choosing to tackle incredibly hard, meaningful problems. A unique combination of brilliance, resilience, ambition, service, and sense of purpose is what makes our scholars such strong members of our community.

Question 6

Is this only for people wanting to start companies?

Accepted Answer

The ECS program is for pioneering PhDs and postdocs seeking to build consequential companies, organizations, and labs. Many of the skills we teach, including the entrepreneurial mindset, forming a team, and refining one's pitch and narrative, are transferable across career paths. The ECS program is composed of builders and entrepreneurs of many stripes.

Question 7

What is the application process?

Accepted Answer

School-specific applications will open a few months before the intensive. Please submit the interest form here to receive an update on when we open your school’s application. The application consists of a few brief questions. Select applicants will then interview with the teaching team. We will reach out with final decisions, within ten days of the final interview. For specific questions about the application process, please reach out to mitali@emersoncollective.com.

Question 8

What is the time commitment for this program?

Accepted Answer

The program is broken up into two parts: the Intensive and the Gathering. Eligibility is contingent on the scholar’s ability to commit to fully attending and participating in both components of the program. Each cohort will include scholars from their university. Our team will host cohort-specific intensives throughout the school year: Stanford in October, MIT and Harvard in January, and UC Berkeley in March. Scholars will then have the opportunity to meet cohorts from other universities at the annual ECS Gathering. Students from MIT, Harvard, and UC Berkeley, as well as the other schools we expand to, will be invited to join their Stanford counterparts in Palo Alto. The gathering will be held in May. After the program, scholars remain part of the ECS community — attending events, participating in programming, and engaging directly with the Emerson Collective and Sutter Hill Ventures teams.

Question 9

Finish this sentence: ECS is building a world where…

Accepted Answer

ECS is building a world where every PhD student and postdoc not only sees the full range of what's possible but also wholeheartedly believes they can go out and build it.

Question 10

What does a world look like when these scholars bring their ideas out?

Accepted Answer

Our scholars are working on curing cancer, preventing Alzheimer’s, mapping human consciousness, and building more sustainable energy systems. These are not small ideas. What changes is that those ideas don’t stay in papers; they become companies, therapies, and technologies that people actually use.

Question 11

What specifically does ECS teach?

Accepted Answer

At the highest level, we teach the entrepreneurial mindset, which is based on the principles of courage, opportunity, optimism, grit, leadership, and execution. We help our scholars communicate who they are, what they're building, and why it matters. We also teach them the basics of building any organization, such as putting together a team, articulating a mission, and identifying a market. Additionally, we provide our scholars with opportunities to engage with people outside academia, including founders, investors, and operators.

Question 12

What does the entrepreneurial mindset actually mean for someone in academia?

Accepted Answer

It doesn’t mean you have to start a company. It means you start looking at your work through a different lens. You embrace courage, opportunity, optimism, grit, leadership, and execution. You think about impact, about who benefits, about how something actually gets out into the world. You can apply this mindset anywhere: in a lab, in a nonprofit, in a company. We have professors who’ve built incredible labs, launched new fields, and in a number of cases, started companies. It’s really about agency—seeing that you can shape the direction of your work and its impact.

Question 13

What is a cohort?

Accepted Answer

Each cohort of students is 18 people. We purposefully keep it small to foster deep connections and a strong sense of community.

Question 14

Is ECS free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, ECS is free! During the Intensive, we cover all expenses related to food, programming, and ground transportation. For the Gathering, in addition to the aforementioned, we also cover airfare and lodging for those that live outside the Palo Alto area.

Question 15

I am a professor and/or researcher. How can I get involved? How can I get my students involved?

Accepted Answer

We love including professors, and many of our scholars' PIs, attend events and participate in our programming. We also welcome recommendations you have for PhDs and postdocs who would benefit from the program. Reach out to Mitali at mitali@emersoncollective.com.

Question 16

I am an alum of the program. How can I get involved?

Accepted Answer

Alumni have the opportunity to attend ECS events, be on panels, help members of the current, and other cohorts, and serve as buddies to current scholars. If you're interested, please reach out to Mitali at mitali@emersoncollective.com.

Question 17

What is the Stanford Dish?

Accepted Answer

The Stanford dish is a short, popular hike behind Stanford University. We do a lot of walking and talking, and this is one of our favorite places to do that. Everyone will have the opportunity to take part in a dish walk during the ECS gathering.

Question 18

I’ve heard about squats?

Accepted Answer

We think being strong in mind and body is so important. Occasionally during the day we will go on walks, do some breathing exercises, and do 10 squats together.

Question 19

Do you really have sushi celebrations?

Accepted Answer

We like to have special meals. We know you eat a lot of pizza, so we try to make our meals fun and festive. And yes, we have a sushi and salad dinner during both the intensive and gathering.

FAQ