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

Apply to the Full-Time Program 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 StartX Applicants (which includes alumni, professors, etc.)

Apply to the SIR Program if:

• You want early access to StartX-level mentorship and an inside track on being admitted to StartX in the future
• You are a graduating student, OR have an active course-load and will be splitting time between 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 are not mutually exclusive!

The only constraint is that interviews for the StartX Full-Time and SIR Programs are held on the same days, so if you are interested in applying for both, you should do so in separate cycles.

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.

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

StartX takes zero fees, zero equity, and operates on a give-back basis. You can give back time, expertise, cash and equity. Because StartX is a nonprofit organization, donating has tax advantages.

If StartX provided something meaningful for you, please consider doing the same for future generations of founders! If our mission matters, please consider donating so we can remain a strong and founder-first community.

By becoming a mentor, running a workshop or hosting office hours! We have several mentorship programs you can learn more about here.

Cash fuels our development, grants for student founders, and our events. You can learn more and directly donate equity for our current campaign by going on our platform here.

You can donate company equity, founder equity (through a DAF for instance), or a share from future earnings. Company equity will make StartX part of your success story, and is easily done through an advisory share donation agreement.

If you are interested in pledging anything to StartX please feel free to fill out this form and we’ll get back to you.

Did you know? Donating stocks directly to a nonprofit organization can be one of the most tax-smart ways for donors to give. When a donor gives stock shares directly to a nonprofit, they avoid having to pay capital gains tax on those shares AND they can still deduct 100% of the value of their contribution.

Always consult your tax advisor as each case is different.