# WAKEUP
By Victoria Momsen MBA , 2017
Victoria is currently a full-time MBA candidate at AGSM and recipient of an AGSM Director ’ s Women in Leadership Scholarship . Professionally she has over 9 years of experience in the banking , sports and not-forprofit sectors gaining specialties in liquidity management , business improvement and corporate restructure . Victoria is passionate about building an organisations ’ internal capabilities to drive improved business performance and deliver long-lasting success .
Photo credit : Provided by author
In August , 40 AGSM students were lucky enough to head off on the very first IBE Study Tour to San Francisco and Silicon Valley . They were lead by Professor Nick Wailes and visited everything from startups to eBay , met young Aussie entrepreneurs and geeked out at the Intel Museum and Vander- Bend Factory .
Yes , there were ping pong tables . And fully stocked office kitchens and cool open plan fit outs . And the TV series “ Silicon Valley ” is apparently a fairly true representation of some of the behaviour in the Valley . However , beyond all the clichés , Silicon Valley and the Bay Area continue to be a thriving tech entrepreneurial hub attracting the best and brightest talent from across the US and world .
Whilst there was some activity in the development of electronics during the early 1920s and 30s , the broad scale development of the industry was spearheaded by Frederick Terman during his tenure at Stanford University . The university , officially Leland Stanford Jr . University , was founded by Leland Stanford in memory of his deceased son . Stanford granted the University a sum of money and an 8,100 acre cattle ranch . In 1937 , Terman started to encourage Stanford faculty and graduates to start their own businesses locally and arrange for seed funding via the University itself . Seeing further opportunities to support the electronics industry , Terman used 660 acres as an industrial park , with Hewlett-Packard and Varian Brothers amongst the first tenants .
Nowadays , modern day Silicon Valley is feeling the pressure of constant growth – inflated real estate prices , roads clogged with daily commuters and new pressures from the millennial generation . Most big technology firms have now taken up significant office space in San Francisco ( either for a relocated head office or flexible workspace in addition to offices in the Valley ) as employees demand the lifestyle and conveniences of a big city . Companies like WeWork are flourishing by providing open plan , flexible and communal working spaces all across the US , UK and Australia . As charismatic co-founder of WeWork Miguel McKelvey explained , the growth in demand for this type of flexible 4 AGSM