“How on earth did you become a mentor at StartX”
Honestly, nobody ever asked me that… at least in THAT way. But I have asked myself that multiple times. If you aren’t familiar with the Stanford University StartX accelerator, here are a few facts, in their own words:
StartX is an educational non-profit community that develops Stanford's top entrepreneurs through experiential education and collective intelligence. StartX requires no fees and takes zero equity from its startups. StartX's startups have...
3× higher chance of reaching $100M+ valuation than the best accelerators
5× more $1B+ companies than any accelerator at the same age
+60% more successful at reaching Series A than industry average
$11M+ average venture funding raised by StartX companies
84% StartX companies still growing + acquired over 10 years
5× proportion of venture funding raised by female-led StartX companies compared to industry average
Sounds pretty impressive, and it is. StartX is arguably the most successful Startup
accelerator in Silicon Valley, if not the world. So how did I - a job hopping artist, become a part of this team as one of few, if not the only, career creative?
Back in 2016 I became friends with a career entrepreneur and venture capital founder, since our kids were the same age and had become friends at school. He was fascinated by my career in film and animation, while I was eager to learn the basics of founding companies. We got along well and spent hours “training” each other.
One day he asked me to join him at Stanford University’s mentor day, in their E145 Technology Entrepreneurship class. I was flattered but asked him, “What could I possibly offer these kids? I barely made it through state college, and this is Stanford.”
He just replied, “It’s the way your brain works. I think it could be very helpful.”
I guess it was! Mentor day was akin to a “tech startup speed dating.” Groups would meet with mentors for 10 minutes each (2 hours of this) and hear their ideas, and offer guidance. While others were offering guidance on how to get funding, I was offering guidance based on creativity. So you have a helmet that controls a drone to record your snowboarding adventures? Why not also turn that into a safety device that can detect your lack of movement, and fly to a medical team while guiding them your exact coordinates? I really enjoyed the day, and apparently was received well enough that I was asked back again, and again, and again.
After a few visits I became friendly with the class instructor, who was the first person to bring StartX to my attention. When he asked me why I wasn’t considering mentoring with StartX, a familiar answer appeared.
“I don't really know what I can offer them.”
He paused and said “Well if the StartX companies are anything like my students, I can tell you, you can offer them quite a bit.”
I filled out the mentorship application fully expecting to be rejected. I had SEEN the mentors they choose. I had sat with them in the Stanford classroom. They were masters in their fields. I was just…me.
But sometimes I guess “just me” is good enough, because a few weeks later I got notification I was accepted into the system and was given a mentor seat! Since then I have worked with over a dozen startups and hope to work with many, many more.
Does this story have a message? It does… and it has one in the most Pixar movie way possible - That sometimes you are capable of much more than you think you are. When you do anything for a long time, things become “common knowledge,” - or so you think they do. Something you might dismiss as everyday thought could turn out to be a breakthrough for someone else. We all know more than we think we do, sometimes we just need that combination of a gentle nudge and a willingness to try.
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