The star Stanford reporter discusses Silicon Valley’s “money-soaked” startup culture

Theo Baker is truly a strange person.

While journalism as a major has seen enrollment rates shrink for years, and is even shrinking decreased By some entire colleges, Baker, a senior at Stanford, doubled down on traditional investigative reporting, and it paid off spectacularly.

Baker first made headlines as an undergraduate when his reporting for the Stanford Daily led to the resignation of Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne. After allegations of research misconduct were exposed over two decades, Becker – just one month after starting the university – found himself “receiving anonymous letters, conducting surveillance, and tracking down confidential sources.” According to his publisher. At the same time, high-profile lawyers tried to discredit his work. By the end of the year, Tessier-Lavigne had resigned, and Baker became the youngest recipient of the George Polk Award, one of journalism’s highest honors.

Soon after, Warner Bros. and acclaimed producer Amy Pascal won an award Competitive auction To obtain the film rights to his story.

But if this scandal puts Baker on the map, his next book could cement his reputation as the rare young journalist willing to challenge the Silicon Valley startup machine.

His book How to Rule the World, which will be released on May 19 — three weeks before he graduates — promises an explosive look at how venture capitalists treat Stanford students as a “commodity,” courting favored undergrads with slush money, shell companies, yacht parties and funding pitches before they even have business ideas in their search for the next trillion-dollar founder.

“I watched in real time as my peers were taught how to cut corners and get enormous fortunes by people who wanted to exploit their talents,” Baker, who turns 21 next month, said. Axios says. Drawing on more than 250 interviews with students, executives, venture capitalists, Nobel laureates, and three Stanford University presidents, the book aims to expose what Becker described to Axios as “a strange, money-soaked subculture that has an outsized influence on the rest of the world.”

This is perhaps an unsurprising move from someone who grew up among top journalists. His father is Peter Baker, the New York Times’ chief White House correspondent, and his mother is Susan Glaser of The New Yorker. While his peers sought venture capital funding and six-figure startup salaries, Baker spent his sophomore year reporting and took time off from his junior year to write, including two months at the Yaddo Book Resort.

This choice becomes even more surprising against the backdrop of the current struggles facing journalism. While traditional journalism programs fail to fill classes and media outlets face seemingly relentless layoffs, Baker represents something both exciting and unusual: a star student who stakes his career on accountability journalism. Whether it’s a harbinger of renewed interest in investigative reporting remains to be seen, but we think his book will grab the attention of a lot of college students — and it’s sure to create a buzz in Silicon Valley while doing so.