大学应该如何扶植学生创业？

    在帕洛阿尔托，StartX的投资“舞步”简直令硅谷其他盈利性公司眼花缭乱。这家非盈利机构有50名志愿者和员工，每三个月会举办60次联谊会、演讲和培训研讨会。在两层楼的办公室里，有100个人在里面工作。自九月份以来，斯坦福-StartX基金已经向50家公司提供了1,640万美元投资。在12个月里，该创业加速器已经帮助70家公司顺利起航，自2009年以来，已经有16家初创公司被谷歌（Google）、Dropbox和雅虎（Yahoo）等巨头收购。

    斯坦福-StartX基金不仅会投资StartX项目接受的所有公司，只要能从机构投资者获得30%资金的公司，也可以得到StartX基金的资金注入。基金可以为一家公司提供融资总额的10%。StartX发言人亚历克莎•李表示：“这是一种触发式的投资方式。只要你符合资格，就能得到资金。”

    校园招聘平台MindSumo便是一家符合条件的公司。2011年，两位即将毕业的斯坦福大学学生和一位朋友共同创建了这家公司，因为他们希望提供一个平台，让学生为公司完成项目，同时让学生积累经验，在未来就业时更有优势。StartX欢迎该公司进入孵化器，第二年，MindSumo得到了投资者约200万美元的投资，其中便包括斯坦福-StartX基金。如今，公司已经与350多家公司客户签约，并聘用了10个人。MindSumo联合创始人特伦特•哈兹表示，参加StartX就像参加一次创业培训，你可以随时得到专业的帮助，比如设计网站，向客户推销，以及与投资者谈条件等等。

    他说道：“其他创业加速器注重的是产品的市场认可度，而StartX注重的则是‘你本周学到了什么？’此外，StartX能让你接触到斯坦福最出色的人才，他们很乐意与你分享他们的关系网。”（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    In Palo Alto, the pace of activity at StartX is a dizzying mirror of for-profit companies in Silicon Valley. The nonprofit has 50 volunteers and staff who put on 60 social mixers, speakers, and educational workshops every three months. As many as 100 people work inside the two-story office. Since September, the Stanford-StartX fund has backed 50 ventures with $16.4 million. In 12 months, the accelerator helped 70 companies get off the ground, and 16 startups have been acquired since 2009 by such giants as Google , Dropbox, and Yahoo .

    The Stanford-StartX fund does not invest in every company accepted into the StartX program, but any company that gets 30% of its capital from institutional investors is guaranteed a cash infusion from the StartX fund. The fund provides 10% of a company’s investment round. “It’s trigger-based,” says Alexa Lee, StartX’s spokeswoman. “If you qualify, you get the money.”

    MindSumo was one of those companies that qualified for cash. In 2011, two recent Stanford grads and a pal started the company because they wanted to create a place where students could work on projects for companies that would give them experience and job prospects. StartX welcomed the startup into the incubator and in its second year, MindSumo nabbed nearly $2 million from investors that included the new Stanford-StartX fund. The company has since signed up 350 corporate clients and hired 10 people. Trent Hazy, MindSumo’s co-founder, says participating in StartX felt like getting an education in entrepreneurship, with expert help on tasks such as designing the site, pitching clients, and negotiating terms with investors.

    “While other accelerators focus on how much traction you’ve made, the emphasis at StartX was always ‘what did you learn this week?’” he says. “Plus, it puts you in touch with some of the greatest Stanford minds who literally open their Rolodex to you.”