My name is Octavian Stoch and I’m a senior undergraduate studying Computer Science with a concentration in software engineering at DePaul University. During our Silicon Valley trip my responsibility in relation to our innovation framework was to understand how the various companies in the valley get their ideas, and how they decided which ideas were worth pursuing. I hope you enjoy reading about how Zenefits, Remind, Upwork, and Adroll gather their input from both internal and external sources.