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1: The Origins of Instagram

Starting at Stanford O ne of the reasons Stanford has attracted so many young en- trepreneurs is because of its convenient location. The cam- pus home in Palo Alto, California, is part of a larger area known as Silicon Valley, home to many technology startups. Some of the brightest minds in tech have studied and graduated from this well-known university. Despite Systrom’s interest in computer programming, he didn’t actually earn a computer science degree. Instead, he ma- jored in management science and engineering; in fact, he only took one computer science class at the university. “Stanford is one of the best places to meet engineers who are extremely smart but also well-rounded,” he said in an inter- view. The management classes got him interested in starting his own company, and he gained valuable experience during his time at Stanford. He was selected to be a part of the Mayfield Fellows, a very selective program for students looking to get involved in growing technology companies. Only about a dozen students are accepted into the program, which helps those students find in- ternships and future jobs in companies both large and small. One of the first companies at which Systrom interned was Odeo, which eventually re-formed as a new company that devel- oped Twitter after he left. According to Systrom, “Experience is everything,” and interning at Odeo was a great way to learn how

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