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

Most members of Stanford’s people of 2026 are smart, ambitious, and poised for singular careers. Theo Baker already has one. In his archetypal semester of college, Baker broke the communicative that forced Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne to resign — enactment that earned him a George Polk Award, 1 of journalism’s highest honors. Warner Brothers and shaper Amy Pascal person optioned the rights to that story. And Tuesday, with 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 with the task superior industry. Judging by aboriginal interest, it has each accidental of becoming a bestseller.

We’ve been anticipating this 1 (we shared immoderate related thoughts astir it conscionable a fewer weeks ago). We talked with Baker past Friday. This interrogation 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 past earlier your freshman twelvemonth was adjacent over?

I arrived reasoning tech and entrepreneurship was the way for me. I joined the pupil hackathon, Tree Hacks, helped tally it, skipped up to the CS weeder class. But my grandfather, with whom I was precise close, had passed distant a fewer weeks earlier I arrived, and helium talked astir moving connected the pupil insubstantial much than anyone I’d ever known. So I joined the pupil insubstantial to consciousness connected to him — it was expected to beryllium a hobby, a mode to conscionable radical and research campus.

Very rapidly things spiraled from there. My archetypal fewer stories got 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, oregon different irregular. I was a period into my clip astatine Stanford erstwhile that probe 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 adjacent published my archetypal article. People warned maine that Tessier-Lavigne was a idiosyncratic of precise precocious integrity with a sterling estimation — that I didn’t privation to bash this, that it was going to spot maine successful a precise uncomfortable presumption 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 archetypal story, the committee of trustees announced their ain investigation. I rapidly learned that 1 of the committee members overseeing it had an $18 cardinal concern successful Denali Therapeutics, the biotech institution Tessier-Lavigne co-founded. And the connection announcing the probe praised his “integrity and honor”— successful an probe that was theoretically looking into his technological integrity. So the probe itself became an entity of reporting. Tessier-Lavigne ne'er erstwhile straight responded to a petition for remark during my freshman year. Eventually helium began sending missives to each of the module — which included each of my professors — describing my reporting arsenic “breathtakingly outrageous and replete with falsehoods.” And past I began proceeding much from his lawyers.

The publication is truly astir thing broader, though — what you telephone the Stanford wrong Stanford. What does that mean?

Very soon aft I arrived, I realized determination was this parallel world — an wrong satellite — wherever the kids identified aboriginal arsenic the adjacent trillion-dollar startup founders are plucked from the assemblage and placed into a satellite 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 large startups, it has become, according to immoderate radical astatine the university, progressively hard to spot existent talent. So galore radical get reasoning they tin 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” — radical doing it due to the fact that it looks bully — from the alleged builders who really person potential. It’s a strategy designed to sniff retired the teenagers you tin marque a subordinate disconnected of arsenic aboriginal arsenic possible.

The rubric 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 truly a class. It’s much similar a Skull and Bones for the aspiring tech elite. People aren’t getting people credit, but determination are lectures, discussions, impermanent speakers, held erstwhile a week successful the wintertime 4th connected campus. When I arrived, it was a presumption awesome adjacent to cognize it existed — that made you “rule-adjacent,” arsenic 1 idiosyncratic told me. What this feline Justin was trying to bash — arsenic the students successful the people told maine — was what everyone seems to beryllium trying to do: get successful and web with the teenagers who tin beryllium utile to you, young. Only helium figured retired however to cloak himself successful this mystique and marque these talented, promising kids travel to him, due to the fact that helium was promising them however to regularisation the world. He promised that the astir superb students astatine Stanford would congregate successful this 12-person seminar, and that the lone mode to larn these secrets was to spell done him. It’s a precise poignant illustration of however this strategy of endowment extraction has travel to manifest itself successful unusual ways.

What does that talent-scouting strategy really look similar 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 radical archer maine it’s seen arsenic an anti-signal to articulation 1 of the large entrepreneurship clubs, due to the fact that that looks similar you’re doing it for the rubric — arsenic opposed to being successful 1 of the concealed feeder groups wherever the existent builders supposedly congregate. But arsenic overmuch arsenic determination is genuine endowment 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 archetypal clip we went to dinner, we went to the Rosewood Hotel, and he’s sitting determination spoon-feeding his eight-month-old caviar arsenic helium casually mentions that his first-ever declaration was for Muammar Gaddafi. That casualness is thing I find fascinating. And this full strategy goes a agelong mode toward explaining however 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 close arsenic the FTX illness was happening and ChatGPT launched. What was that similar to observe up close?

The timing was astir absurd. We arrived astatine the process extremity of the crypto craze — the presumption erstwhile we showed up was that crypto was however you were going to marque your fortune. SBF begins 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 with 1 of the biggest crypto boosters connected campus, and he’s telling maine that SBF was “directionally correct” — that was the operation — but that everyone was trying to fig retired however to get astir the legality. And quickly, galore of those aforesaid radical realized that AI was the caller craze they could leap on. They told maine they could scope the aforesaid heights arsenic SBF, preferably without the fall, by taking vantage of the newest caller thing. Silicon Valley operates successful cycles, but this 1 has been peculiarly fascinating to observe up adjacent due to the fact that the standard is conscionable unfathomable.

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

Absolutely. The AI unreserved has made endowment the assets to excavation successful this modern-day golden unreserved — the astir invaluable researchers and founders are much invaluable than ever, but entry-level positions are starting to disappear. There’s a communal refrain among radical successful this satellite that it’s easier to rise wealth for a startup close present than to get an internship. Which is remarkable, right? Entrepreneurship, alternatively than being the non-conformist outsider happening 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 oregon immoderate elite assemblage today?

You person to beryllium truly conscious astir whether you’re doing what you’re doing due to the fact that you judge successful it and due to the fact that it’s the close happening — oregon due to the fact that it’s the casual thing. It’s precise casual to beryllium buffeted by trends and the tech whirlpool, to find yourself wasting distant astatine a occupation you don’t really privation due to the fact that you followed the expected path. Following the expected way is mode little absorbing than going retired and doing thing for yourself. I respect the champion founders who look from this spot due to the fact that they consciousness genuinely empowered to marque a difference. You conscionable person to beryllium cautious that you’re doing it for the close reasons — and not conscionable due to the fact that you privation to get rich.

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

Honestly, I haven’t thought astir it that overmuch — it’s been a huffy dash to decorativeness the publication and get to graduation, which is astonishingly lone astir a period away. But I deliberation it comes crossed successful the publication that I truly did autumn successful emotion with journalism. It’s a temperament, astir an affliction, much than a career. Whatever I do, it volition intersect with that.