1. What does Lightspeed get out of this?
The opportunity to work closely with outstanding young entrepreneurs. Just as universities and government agencies fund top-notch research, we have the facilities and especially the desire to support entrepreneurship and innovation. The opportunity to mentor students and collaborate with is more than plenty incentive for us. We receive no equity, and teams are under no obligation to Lightspeed.

2. Must an engineer (CS or EE) be on the team? Does the engineer have to be a student?
Yes and Yes. Eligible teams must have at least one engineer who was a full-time student in the 2009-2010 academic year. Teams submitting energy-related business ideas may substitute with someone who has the relevant science background.

3. Define ‘student’.
The student team member must have been a full-time student at some point in the 2009-2010 academic year. People who graduated at any time in the 2009-2010 academic year ARE eligible.

4. Are non-students eligible to receive a fellowship?
Yes. Team members who do NOT have other full-time jobs/commitments are eligible to receive a fellowship, provided they work full-time out of the office space provided.

5. What about international businesses?
Yes. Lightspeed has offices in China, India and Israel. We are interested in businesses focusing on international markets. But just to be clear, those team members who win a fellowship must spend 10 weeks working out of the Menlo Park office between June 1 and September 30.

6. What about non-technical businesses?
Yes. We are open to all business ideas. That said, because we want to be able to add value to fellowship winners, we prefer businesses in the areas where we have experience: primarily IT and energy-related fields. We do not invest in healthcare or medical technology.

7. Are there any particular areas of interest that you are looking for?
We’re always interested in great tech- and energy-related business ideas, but there are always special areas that partners are hoping to work on. This year, partners are particularly interested in ideas involving cloud computing services or technologies, Hadoop, iPhone apps, social games, Cleantech (batteries, grid, biofuels, solar), and online education.

8. Do all team members have to work full-time? Can we start earlier than June 1st? Can we finish later than Sept 30th?
All fellowship winners must work 10 weeks full-time between June 1st and September 30; additional team members not receiving fellowships have no such requirement. We are looking for dedicated entrepreneurs who want to devote the summer to working on their idea; we do not want fellows who want to participate in the program AND another internship. As long as fellows work 10 weeks during the summer timeline, they are welcome to start a few weeks early or stay into October.

9. Can I submit more than one (1) application?
Yes.

10. Is a team penalized in any way if it has multiple members?
No. We are looking to work with the highest quality individuals. Teams with multiple members eligible for fellowships are just as interesting (and can actually be more so) as teams with one member.

11. Do I have to fill out the Lightspeed application or can I submit alternative materials?
To be eligible to receive the fellowship, the Lightspeed application must be completed.

Any further questions? Ask John Vrionis at john@lightspeedvp.com.