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They're doing this very right. It's a grant program with no equity stake, first of all. Second, it requires at least 30% of at least an initial 500k come from outside VC.

The author seems to be confused about Stanford's "upside" and the value of no-strings cash / extra PR for early stage companies from these funding events. More runway for your babies never hurts.

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Are they? I feel like this goes against most of what startups and VC funding and incubators like YC are about. Judging people based on the strength of their ideas and what they have accomplished so far instead of pedigree.

I definitely see your point! It seems to be designed to address part of it, however. Raising $500k first would seem to suggest the business has merit on its own. I'm sure it's more nuanced than that in practice, though...

Stanford and StartX are different entities. It's not clear from the article whether Stanford will take equity in investments it may make outside StartX.

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