&gt; Imagine how mistaken that would sound if you substitute &quot;startup founders&quot; for &quot;programmers.&quot;<p>Isn&#x27;t that pretty common among incubators and VCs? It&#x27;s not the only factor, but for first-time founders, being from Stanford is a large plus when it comes to getting in the door. If you already have a track record then of course they just go by that. But when it&#x27;s your first company, I don&#x27;t think the &quot;startup ecosystem&quot; is any less reliant on these kinds of signalling credentials to filter the large volume of people who want funding.