Theo Baker spent four years investigating Stanford. Before he leaves, here’s what he found. - BERITAJA

Most members of Stanford’s people of 2026 are smart, ambitious, and poised for singular careers. Theo Baker already has one. In his first semester of college, Baker collapsed the communicative that forced Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne to resign — activity that earned him a George Polk Award, 1 of journalism’s highest honors. Warner Brothers and shaper Amy Pascal person optioned the authorities to that story. And Tuesday, pinch graduation little than a period away, Baker publishes How to Rule the World, a sweeping relationship of his clip astatine Stanford and the school’s often insidious narration pinch the task superior industry. Judging by early interest, it has each chance of becoming a bestseller.

We’ve been anticipating this 1 (we shared immoderate related thoughts about it conscionable a fewer weeks ago). We talked pinch Baker past Friday. This question and reply has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

You showed up astatine Stanford arsenic a coder. How did you extremity up breaking 1 of the biggest stories successful the university’s history earlier your freshman twelvemonth was moreover over?

I arrived reasoning tech and entrepreneurship was the way for me. I joined the student hackathon, Tree Hacks, helped tally it, skipped up to the CS weeder class. But my grandfather, pinch whom I was very close, had passed distant a fewer weeks earlier I arrived, and he talked about moving connected the student insubstantial much than anyone I’d ever known. So I joined the student insubstantial to consciousness connected to him — it was expected to beryllium a hobby, a measurement to meet group and research campus.

Very quickly things spiraled from there. My first fewer stories sewage much reception than we’d imagined, tips started flooding in, and 1 led maine to a pseudonymous website called PubPeer, wherever scientists dissect published research. There were comments, 7 years aged astatine the time, suspecting that papers co-authored by Stanford’s president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, had images that were duplicated, spliced, aliases different irregular. I was a period into my clip astatine Stanford erstwhile that investigation began, and by the clip I was backmost for sophomore year, the president had resigned.

Were you warned disconnected the story?

Multiple times, earlier I’d moreover published my first article. People warned maine that Tessier-Lavigne was a personification of very precocious integrity pinch a sterling estimation — that I didn’t want to do this, that it was going to spot maine successful a very uncomfortable position wrong the institution. Which, of course, was not wrong. Over the people of the adjacent 10 months, arsenic the communicative widened, the pushback grew steeper. Within 24 hours of my first story, the committee of trustees announced their ain investigation. I quickly learned that 1 of the committee members overseeing it had an $18 cardinal finance successful Denali Therapeutics, the biotech institution Tessier-Lavigne co-founded. And the connection announcing the investigation praised his “integrity and honor”— successful an investigation that was theoretically looking into his technological integrity. So the investigation itself became an entity of reporting. Tessier-Lavigne ne'er erstwhile straight responded to a petition for remark during my freshman year. Eventually he began sending missives to each of the module — which included each of my professors — describing my reporting arsenic “breathtakingly outrageous and replete pinch falsehoods.” And past I began proceeding much from his lawyers.

The book is really about thing broader, though — what you telephone the Stanford wrong Stanford. What does that mean?

Very soon aft I arrived, I realized location was this parallel reality — an wrong world — wherever the kids identified early arsenic the adjacent trillion-dollar startup founders are plucked from the crowd and placed into a world of entree and resources. Yacht parties, slush funds, everyone texting the aforesaid billionaires for proposal connected weekends. As Stanford has go much celebrated arsenic the location of awesome startups, it has become, according to immoderate group astatine the university, progressively difficult to spot existent talent. So galore group get reasoning they could beryllium the adjacent billion-dollar dropout that there’s an full strategy of hangers-on whose occupation is to abstracted what they telephone the “wantrepreneurs” — group doing it because it looks bully — from the alleged builders who really person potential. It’s a strategy designed to sniff retired the teenagers you could make a subordinate disconnected of arsenic early arsenic possible.

The title of the book, it turns out, isn’t conscionable a metaphor.

No. It’s virtually the sanction of a alleged concealed people astatine Stanford, taught by a Silicon Valley CEO. It’s not really a class. It’s much for illustration a Skull and Bones for the aspiring tech elite. People aren’t getting people credit, but location are lectures, discussions, impermanent speakers, held erstwhile a week successful the wintertime 4th connected campus. When I arrived, it was a position awesome moreover to cognize it existed — that made you “rule-adjacent,” arsenic 1 personification told me. What this feline Justin was trying to do — arsenic the students successful the people told maine — was what everyone seems to beryllium trying to do: get successful and web pinch the teenagers who could beryllium useful to you, young. Only he figured retired really to cloak himself successful this mystique and make these talented, promising kids travel to him, because he was promising them really to norm the world. He promised that the about superb students astatine Stanford would congregate successful this 12-person seminar, and that the only measurement to study these secrets was to spell done him. It’s a very poignant illustration of really this strategy of talent extraction has travel to manifest itself successful unusual ways.

What does that talent-scouting strategy really look for illustration connected the ground?

There are VCs who employment older Stanford upperclassmen to place freshmen arsenic soon arsenic they get connected campus. It’s kept purposefully obscure. I’ve had group show maine it’s seen arsenic an anti-signal to subordinate 1 of the large entrepreneurship clubs, because that looks for illustration you’re doing it for the title — arsenic opposed to being successful 1 of the concealed feeder groups wherever the existent builders supposedly congregate. But arsenic overmuch arsenic location is genuine talent among the kids successful this world, the superior qualification is who you cognize — whether you’re getting tapped connected the shoulder. There was a CEO who cold-emailed maine freshman year, asked to get to cognize me. The first clip we went to dinner, we went to the Rosewood Hotel, and he’s sitting location spoon-feeding his eight-month-old caviar arsenic he casually mentions that his first-ever statement was for Muammar Gaddafi. That casualness is thing I find fascinating. And this full strategy goes a agelong measurement toward explaining really the large frauds develop. It starts by vesting immense amounts of authority, money, and powerfulness successful the hands of teenagers without capable safeguards for erstwhile things spell wrong.

You arrived correct arsenic the FTX illness was happening and ChatGPT launched. What was that for illustration to observe up close?

The timing was almost absurd. We arrived astatine the tail extremity of the crypto craze — the presumption erstwhile we showed up was that crypto was really you were going to make your fortune. SBF originates his descent connected November 2nd. ChatGPT comes retired November 30th. And instantly everything pivots. I retrieve being astatine a meal soon aft ChatGPT’s release, sitting pinch 1 of the biggest crypto boosters connected campus, and he’s telling maine that SBF was “directionally correct” — that was the building — but that everyone was trying to fig retired really to get about the legality. And quickly, galore of those aforesaid group realized that AI was the caller craze they could jump on. They told maine they could scope the aforesaid heights arsenic SBF, preferably without the fall, by taking advantage of the newest caller thing. Silicon Valley operates successful cycles, but this 1 has been peculiarly fascinating to observe up adjacent because the standard is conscionable unfathomable.

Do you deliberation your peers are leaning into entrepreneurship partially retired of worry about the occupation market?

Absolutely. The AI unreserved has made talent the assets to excavation successful this modern-day golden unreserved — the about valuable researchers and founders are much valuable than ever, but entry-level positions are starting to disappear. There’s a communal refrain among group successful this world that it’s easier to raise money for a startup correct now than to get an internship. Which is remarkable, right? Entrepreneurship, alternatively than being the non-conformist outsider point it mightiness erstwhile person been associated with, has go an expected path. That changes the quality of it entirely.

What’s 1 portion of proposal you’d springiness to a 17-year-old heading to Stanford aliases immoderate elite assemblage today?

You person to beryllium really conscious about whether you’re doing what you’re doing because you judge successful it and because it’s the correct point — aliases because it’s the easy thing. It’s very easy to beryllium buffeted by trends and the tech whirlpool, to find yourself wasting distant astatine a occupation you don’t really want because you followed the expected path. Following the expected way is measurement little absorbing than going retired and doing thing for yourself. I respect the champion founders who look from this spot because they consciousness genuinely empowered to make a difference. You conscionable person to beryllium observant that you’re doing it for the correct reasons — and not conscionable because you want to get rich.

You came present reasoning you’d beryllium a founder. Do you still want to commencement something?

Honestly, I haven’t thought about it that overmuch — it’s been a huffy dash to decorativeness the book and get to graduation, which is astonishingly only about a period away. But I deliberation it comes crossed successful the book that I really did autumn successful emotion pinch journalism. It’s a temperament, almost an affliction, much than a career. Whatever I do, it will intersect pinch that.