SX Full Logo

COMMUNITY

CAMPUSES

EVENTS

DONATE

BLOG

ABOUT

CAMPUSES

Organizations in the SX network

We bring together student leaders and organizations from universities across the country to centralize a network of builders, investors, startups, and mentors.

Participating campuses

Coming this fall

Startup Exchange at Cal

University of California, Berkeley

Startup Exchange at Columbia

Columbia University

Startup Exchange at UCF

University of Central Florida

Fostering, growing, & supporting communities

We partner with existing college entrepreneurship organizations, or start new ones on campuses that don't have them.

Organizations that align with our goals and values are invited to be SX-affiliated organizations. They receive support, resources, and access to the SX network.

Our process

1. We identify campuses with promising activity of active builders on campus.

(i.e folks that build + share side projects, or decide to go full-time on their ideas)

We usually source this through social media, or through inbound of success stories on a given campus.

2. Once identified, we either reach out to a school or act upon received inbound from a school

We have an “exploratory” call where we jam on:

  • - what builder/maker culture is like on campus
  • - their thoughts on how/whether they want that culture to change
  • - how they’ve compensated for the shortcomings of community on campus
  • - we also filter out those that lack an interest

3. If a viable fit, we jam on hosting a "Ship-It" event on their campus.

"Ship-It" is an event that our campuses host every week to regularly bring student makers, builders, and creators together. It’s three hours set aside to work on a side project, and to get feedback from others on your idea.

Organizers are not confined to solely hosting "Ship-It", but it’s our strongly recommended starting point for bringing builders together.

We prioritize organizers who we feel:

  • - offer experience and an appealing presence that would garner and attract community
  • - have a genuine interest in building community.

4. We follow up 1/2x and wait.

We want a school/organizer to show initiative. Building community is hard and requires passion. So even if a campus has potential, we don’t force it too much.

5. The first "Ship-It" / campus event is hosted!

We help host, and do a retro afterwards.

6. We check in week to week and check for consistency with community growth.

An implicit tracker is:

  • - Are they looking to improve?
  • - Are they asking questions?
  • - Are they asking us for more resources?

7. We propose next steps through programming or campus collaboration

When deciding to propose additional programs, hackathons, demo days, or other events, we’re looking to answer the following:

  • - How do we support growing the community of each campus?
  • - How do we build out funnels at each campus?

We also jam on potential ways to improve the community's experience at "Ship-It."

Members are walked through tips for improving the event experience including:

  • - Mentors
  • - Workshops
  • - Growth & marketing
  • - Collaborating with other organizations on campus

Interested in joining our team of organizers?