If you're saying VCs won't fund semiconductor companies today, you're wrong, they will and they do. VCs aren't as clueless as HN comments make them out to be. They still make risky investments, not because they like risk but because those are the investments that typically give them good odds on the type of returns they seek.
Less technical, consumer-focused startups from Stanford tend to get more press. But there are a lot of successful, high-tech startups from Stanford (often founded by engineering PhDs and professors) that you will never read about on TechCrunch, HN or any of the mainstream "tech news" sites.
VCs take a bigger chunk at a lower price, because the risk/reward equation is different and they may need a lot of money, whereas unless you're racing for the scale of Facebook or Twitter, your mobile app doesn't need to raise that kind of money.
Less technical, consumer-focused startups from Stanford tend to get more press. But there are a lot of successful, high-tech startups from Stanford (often founded by engineering PhDs and professors) that you will never read about on TechCrunch, HN or any of the mainstream "tech news" sites.