they had all worked at bell labs together in new jersey, and william shockly couldn't quite make up his mind what he wanted to do. so these guys explored what really became the first venture capital investment, although they didn't know that at the time. what they thought they were going to do was become part of a new business unit of an existing company. but really what they did was develop fairchild semiconductor. and out of those companies spun out other companies, and out of those companies, those original co-found orers -- found beers that were all involved in shockly's semiconductor, they estimate up to 130 companies that have come out of it. and what it did was it made it very acceptable to be able to spin out, you know, be dissatisfied or have a great idea one day and be able to start a company the next. >> host: who was leland standford, and how did stanford university come act? >> guest: well, unfortunately, it was over tragic events. so leland stanford actually first made his money, he came west during the gold rush. but he didn't make money, actually, in gold. he made his fi