The Mindset That Builds Breakthrough Companies | Steve Papa | TEDxBoston
Steve Papa shares a grounded, behind-the-scenes look at how real innovation is built—not through hype or luck, but through curiosity, endurance, and commitment. From walking out of Harvard Business School to build with MIT’s earliest internet pioneers, to scaling Endeca into a foundational data platform acquired by Oracle, he reveals the lessons learned from decades of building ahead of demand. Looking forward, Steve argues that AI is transforming not just software, but the very mindset of creation—and that the future belongs to builders who stay deeply engaged with reality. Steve Papa is a technology founder, investor, and builder known for creating category-defining companies at the intersection of software, data, and communications infrastructure.Previously, Steve founded Endeca in 1999 and served as its CEO until its acquisition by Oracle in 2011 for a reported $1.1 billion—Oracle’s sixth-largest acquisition at the time. Endeca pioneered Guided Navigation, one of the most influential search innovations of its era, and its technology became foundational across ecommerce, enterprise analytics, and national security. Prior to acquisition, Endeca reached $750 million in cumulative revenue, served 700 customers globally, and built a team of over 500 based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Earlier in his career, Steve was part of the original MIT $50K team that helped create Akamai, worked on the early infrastructure business at Inktomi, and held roles at Teradata and Venrock, the Rockefeller family’s venture capital firm. He holds a BS in Operations Research and Economics from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.Today, Steve is an active founder, investor, board member, and mentor, supporting companies across software, mobile, and telecommunications. He also serves on advisory boards at Harvard’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Princeton’s Keller Center, continuing his commitment to building technologies—and teams—that endure.This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
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