Startup incubator.

Columbia Journalism School grads have launched companies from Banana Republic to Simon & Schuster. But what have they done for use lately? The J-School has this handy database of alumni startups founded in the past five years, so students can get inspired (or start pestering for a job). The list is mostly newsy, spanning from AllThingsD (Kara Swisher, ’85 and Walt Mossberg, ’70) to DNAinfo, a poorly-named but well-executed New York news site, to TechStars grad Contently, a platform for matching bloggers to brands that need content. Also: FareShareNY (“iphone app for sharing cabs”), PoorSquare (“freebies on Foursquare”) and SocialWorkout (“social goal setting for big groups and brave individuals”).

Adrianne Jeffries is the editor of Betabeat. Follow Adrianne on Twitter or via RSS. ajeffries@observer.com