Our Team

Professor Thomas Byers is a distinguished educator and leader in principled entrepreneurship and responsible technology innovation, bringing decades of experience to The Standard School of Machine Learning (TheSSML). With a long-standing academic legacy at Stanford University, he has shaped global thinking on technology ventures, ethical innovation, and entrepreneurial leadership. As the inaugural holder of the Entrepreneurship Professorship in the School of Engineering and a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, he has played a transformative role in building entrepreneurial ecosystems and fostering responsible, mission-driven innovation.

Professor Byers has served as a founding faculty director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), home to influential initiatives such as the Mayfield Fellows Program, the Accel Leadership Program, Stanford eCorner, and applied ethics programs in technology. His work has extended into national impact through advisory roles in Hacking for Defense and Hacking for Climate, initiatives connecting entrepreneurship with national security and sustainability. Internationally, he has convened over 50 Roundtables on Entrepreneurship Education across five continents, advancing global teaching methodologies and innovation practices.

He is also the lead author of the widely used textbook Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise, now in its fifth edition, which has educated generations of aspiring entrepreneurs. At TheSSML, Professor Byers brings his expertise in ethical innovation, venture creation, and leadership development, preparing students to build responsible technologies and purpose-driven enterprises for the future.