Organization:StartX

Contents

Overview

StartX is an educational, non-profit program associated with Stanford University with goals to accelerate the development of top entrepreneurs through education and collective intelligence.

This program was developed in 2011 by Cameron Teitelman and Dan Ha as a spin-off program of the Stanford Student Enterprises, which is the non-profit financial arm of the Associated Students of Stanford University. In February 2012, Silicon Valley companies contributed $400,000 towards the advancement of StartX, just prior to an $800,000 grant awarded in August 2012 from the Kauffman Foundation (a nationally recognized center for entrepreneurship and education) to again further advance the program’s success.  As of last month, Stanford University has announced its recipient status of a $3.6 million grant that will be dispersed over three years to contribute to other StartX funding sources like Stanford Hospital and Clinics.  

StartX Visiting Founders Program), applicants from any university can be accepted. This program allows for non-Stanford start-up companies to spend three months (run only during summer session) in the Silicon Valley working under the mentorship and education of StartX to accelerate their developing company. The VFP companies are treated no differently from those affiliated with Stanford University, have access to all of the same resources and are offered additional financial support to offset costs of moving to Silicon Valley.

StartX Med is a program within StartX focused on accelerating the development of Stanford’s top medical entrepreneurs. With a focus on advancing breakthrough healthcare technologies through StartX Med, this branch of StartX affords a unique opportunity for those seeking innovation in the medical field.

Purpose

The purpose of StartX is to accelerate the development for the highest potential of start-up founders through education and collective intelligence that strives to bring the following to the start-up founders:

1. An entrepreneurial-focused community that ranges in expertise from consumer IT to medical hardware.
   • This community has raised over $200 million and an average $1.8 million per start-up company.
   • This community is comprised of leading investors such as Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund and Venrock.
2. Free office space.
3. Free legal services.
4. $100,000 in resources.
5. Unprecedented entrepreneurial mentorship from over 200 serial entrepreneurs, experts, angels and venture capitalists.
   • Some notable StartX mentors include Palantir, LinkedIn, Google, Twitter, and many more successful Silicon Valley companies.
6. Customized programming and on-demand experts that provide top class education to top class future entrepreneurs.

Distinct Differences From Other Offerings

1. StartX requires no fees
2. StartX takes no equity (ZERO EQUITY) in the technologies and companies that it helps get off the ground.

Impact Achieved For Students and Campus

1. Alphonso Labs developed the Pulse App.
2. Apple, Inc. acquired WifiSlam for approximately $20 million.
3. If your innovation is medically focused, a new track within StartX called StartX Med was launched in May 2012 to focus on medical-related start-up companies.
4. As of 2013, StartX has helped 6 start-up companies achieve greatness.
5. StartX founder’s companies have been acquired by a collection like Apple, Instragram and Yahoo, and have been featured in all major news publications, TEDtalks and Harvard Review articles.

Steps Required To Bring Resource to Campus

1. StartX holds three sessions per year; Fall (November - February), Spring (March - June) and Summer (June - September). Note: Applications for each session are due one month prior to each session.
2. Teams typically consist of two to three founders, but all sizes are accepted. Teams come from all industries and departments (biotechnology, cleantech, hardward, medical devices, nonprofits, music, finance, IT, etc.)
3. Following a submitted application, the first round of interviews is conducted at the StartX office. These interviews are conducted in front of a panel of judges comprising StartX mentors, venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs and other StartX staff.
4. A second round of interviews are conducted during which applicants will meet with StartX alumni and staff members, after which, final decisions are made.

University Innovation Fellow Special Opportunities

1. Thought Leadership Bootcamp at StartX: University Innovations Fellows (UIF) travel to Silicon Valley where they have the opportunity to learn how to StartX was created, and share in student-led sessions of incubator ideas and best practives. This interactive bootcamp will introduce UIFs to the customized education and opportunities available through StartX.
2. Webinar Sessions: Over the course of a year, UIFs will share topics and challenges encountered on their campuses. Webinar sessions will then be organized and occur three times per year by StartX, in which feedback from the StartX community will provide recommendations, advice and solutions for the UIFs challenges.

Both of these opportunities seek to provide the most customized education for students looking to change the world.

Contact Information

Derrick Hsiou
(818) 297 - 7508
derrick@startx.stanford.edu