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It is not a requirement of the StartX community that you are geographically located in the are awhile in the program. There are only a couple of session-mandatory events that will usually take place in our office in Palo Alto, and the rest of the programming (such as workshops or office hours) is opt-in.

Many of our founders are not located in the Bay Area. This is because StartX is a community without deadlines or a prescriptive program.

We aim to provide you, as a founder, with three things:

1. The knowledge that you can trust everyone you engage with at StartX to act in your best interest.
2. People who have done specific things that you are trying to do multiple times and are willing to help you.
3. A concentrated group of high-quality peers.

Here are a few examples of programming we built to deliver these results without requiring you to travel:

• Continual access to highly trusted mentors
• Curated learning resources
• Opportunities to discuss pressing questions with other founders via email lists
• Investor Demo Day

We recommend attending the program in person to take advantage of being around peers in the same batch, alumni, and mentors in the community.

We also offer a virtual option with only 4 in-person required days at the beginning and the end of the program for non-local founders.

Here’s how we think about Student Scholarship vs. StartX Community:

Apply to the StartX Community as a student if:

• You want to be part of a long-term community of full-time entrepreneurs
• You want your application to be measured against a quality bar of all full-time StartXapplicants (which includes alumni, professors, etc.)

Apply to the Student-in-Residence Scholarship as a student if:

• You want a scholarship — and are eligible (remember, the StartX Community won’t giveyou a scholarship)
• You want early access to StartX-level mentorship and an inside track on being admittedto StartX in the future
• You are a graduating student, OR have an active course-load and will be splitting timebetween schoolwork and entrepreneurship
• You want your application to be measured against a quality bar of other students

You can, of course, apply for the scholarship this time, and apply for StartX next time — they arenot mutually exclusive!

The only constraint is that interviews for the StartX Community and Student Scholarships areheld on the same days, so if you are interested in applying for both, you should do so inseparate cycles.

To be eligible to apply for the Student-in-Residence program, you must be a current Stanford student/post-doc and must be a co-founder of the company with a significant equity stake. Your application must include all co-founders of the company, even those who are not active students at this time.

References are different from recommendations. A reference is someone who personally knowsyou or your team. Recommendations are required for non-Stanford-affiliated companies. If aStartX alum wants to recommend you directly, they will need to go to startx.com/recommendations (after logging in).

References should be people who know one or more of the founders for your team professionally and can speak to your abilities in your roles / your personality / convictions /efforts you’ve made building your company. They should not be customers. References will only be contacted after the second round of interviews.

After submitting an application, a team of StartX judges reviews and makes a decision. If a team is moved forward, they complete a Round 1 interview with a panel of industry-specific judges, ranging from VCs to serial entrepreneurs. If a team moves to Round 2, they will complete multiple interviews, including a Culture interview with founders and technical interviews including any relevant technical employees. Finally, StartX judges or staff may reach out with any final questions or reference checks before a final admissions decision is made.

We do not restrict the way you decide to be innovative. We accept startups creating something new or repurposing old ideas/products in a new way. Being a nonprofit also does not affect your chances of being admitted to the StartX community. If you are able to demonstrate a sustainable way to cover operating costs, then you can still be considered for StartX.

To qualify for “Stanford-affiliated” as a post-doctoral scholar, you need to be either:

• A current, active post-doctoral scholar
• A past/former post-doctoral scholar who completed at least three academic quarters willqualify
  NOTE: Visiting Scholars DO NOT count.
  If you’re still not sure, get a recommendation or two! Applications with positiverecommendations have roughly 2× the average acceptance rate, historically —regardless of Stanford affiliation.

Yes! We have a personalized track for Professors in Residence. This is a great option forStanford professors who cannot work full-time on their start-up. Their co-founders may also participate. Please email applicantsupport@startx.com if you have specific questions about what qualifies as a professor.