The graduate founder network at Stanford

Where Stanford grads build

1,150+ graduate founders across Stanford's seven schools. The shortest path from lab, classroom, or studio to a funded company.

Join the community RSVP for Demo Day
Magic Room dinner series, Spring 2026
1,150+
Graduate foundersAcross seven Stanford schools
90
Startups pitched at Demo DaySpring 2025 · Stanford Daily
300+
Investors in the roomSpring 2025 Demo Day
1,500+
Demo Day attendeesSpring 2025 · Stanford Daily
History

Stanford Founders began as a casual WhatsApp group of ten friends sharing entrepreneurial events, resources, and opportunities across different graduate schools at Stanford.

We noticed the difficulty Stanford graduate students faced in finding cofounders and accessing entrepreneurial resources from other schools. The group aimed to bridge that gap.

The chat grew from 10 to over 1,200 members, highlighting the need for the network. We turned the group into an official student organization, offering programs and events for cross-disciplinary Stanford graduate students at the early stage of their startup development.

Mission

Stanford Founders' Club is a dynamic community of cross-disciplinary Stanford graduate students.

We support members at the early stages of company-building through programming, dinners, sector mixers, and introductions across the seven Stanford graduate schools.

What we do

Built for graduate founders

Programming, co-founder matching, sector mixers, and investor access for the early stages of company-building.

01

Founder programming

Firesides with operators who have shipped, from PhD spinouts to GSB-led companies. Workshops on fundraising, recruiting, and first-customer GTM.
02

Co-founder matching

Engineers, scientists, and operators meet across the seven schools. Most matches start at a single dinner and end at a Y Combinator interview.
03

Sector mixers

Bio, climate, defense, AI infrastructure, fintech. Small-format dinners with founders working on the same wedge of the market.
04

Investor access

Demo Day puts 90 startups in front of 300+ investors in a single afternoon. Direct introductions to partners at Unusual, Pear, NEA, a16z, DCM, and BlackRock.
Founder voices

Members on the network

Four graduate founders on what the community has been for them.

Stanford Founders provided exactly the interdisciplinary environment I needed to find my technical co-founder.

Lukas Klaiber
Lukas Klaiber
Former Student Advisor

The level of support and resources available within this community is unmatched on campus.

Xinmeng Zeng
Xinmeng Zeng
Former VP of Finance

Being part of this organization wasn't just about networking. It was about community.

Johnny Chang
Johnny Chang
Former President

There is no better place on campus for graduate students to go from idea to funded company.

Priscilla Russo
Priscilla Russo
Former Co-VP of Community Initiatives

Where Stanford Founders fits

Where We Fit

Stanford has plenty of entrepreneurship infrastructure, including StartX, GSB E-Club, BASES, ASES, STVP, and more. Stanford Founders tries to help early, when graduate students are transitioning from research to startup and seeking a new community.

Values

We value diversity, collaboration, and integrity in all our endeavors, fostering a supportive and dynamic ecosystem that propels entrepreneurial success.

Community

Our community of over 1,200 graduate student founders thrive by collaborating. Stanford Founders connects them with resources, investors, and like-minded co-founders across every school.