Stanford Founders Demo Day | Spring 2026
✨ Stanford Founders Demo Day – Spring 2026 ✨
Join us for Stanford Founders Demo Day, an exciting lineup of startup demos, fresh ideas, and a chance to get an early look at creative projects tackling real problems across diverse sectors.
Last year, the startups we featured went on to collectively raise around 50M and are continuing to scale their impact!
Whether you’re building, investing, or simply curious about what’s emerging out of our Stanford community, this is a great chance to meet the founders behind the ideas and connect with others in the room. Come for the demos, stay for the conversations, and leave with a few new people to know.
🔥 What Makes This Different
(1) REAL TALK IN THE ROOM
This isn’t passive networking. You’ll be in the room with 50 curated founders, with 3 dedicated sessions purely for meaningful, high-signal conversations.
No noise. Just real connections.
(2) A FULL-STACK, HIGH-DENSITY DAY
Keynotes. Panels. Startup pitches. Booths.
Featuring speakers like James Landay (Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, Co-Director Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI)), Shaun Johnson (AIX Ventures), Gloria Zhang(DCM), Shannon McClenaghan (StartX) and more.
🌲 About the Community
Hosted by Stanford’s largest startup community across graduate students, PhDs, alumni, and faculty and this has quickly become one of the most high-quality demo days in the Bay Area.
Startups from Pre-seed → Series A will take the stage.
Last year’s founders went on to raise from:
a16z, Khosla, First Round, Pear, NFX, Floodgate, YC, Breakthrough Energy… and more.
📍 Event Details
May 7 | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Tresidder Oak Lounge, Stanford
Agenda will release soon!
Who Should Join?
🔴 Founders (Stanford-Affiliated) Actively building, raising, or hiring? Apply to pitch your startup! ⏳ Applications accepted on a rolling basis, with (Final Deadline: April 19) 👉 https://www.stanfordfounders-demoday.com/
🔴 Investors Ready to discover the next breakout startup? Get access to the pitch list and investor-only updates. 👉 https://forms.gle/c7Q27TebE726qbQP7
🔴 Observers (Students, Alumni, Operators) RSVP on Luma to attend as a guest and get all the updates. Please use your stanford.edu email address to register if applicable: 👉 https://luma.com/achgqxtn
Founders Bridge — Pre-Demo Day Accelerator
A 3-week program (Apr 21 – May 7) for international and cross-border student founders preparing for Demo Day. Weekly workshops, 1:1 mentorship, pitch practice with guest VCs, and visa/legal guidance.
Week 1: Founder Identity & Cross-Market Vision Week 2: Legal, Operations & Go-to-Market Week 3: Pitch Refinement & Demo Day Prep
Open to Stanford students building startups with a cross-border angle — any stage, any industry.
Full program details: https://www.stanfordfounders-demoday.com/demo-day/accelerator
To join, apply through the Demo Day application and select "Yes" on the Founders Bridge question: https://www.stanfordfounders-demoday.com/interview