An unfiltered look inside the Thiel Fellowship with @DStrachman: review.firstround.com/inside…
Sixteen years ago, when @William_Blake and I were on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, we called it an older young person’s homeschool program.
In a very Thiel-ian way, we built something that fostered independent thinking by giving young people permission to explore what interested them in an environment that trusted them to make decisions and execute on their work.
@firstround’s editorial team wrote a really thoughtful piece about those first years of the fellowship. It also covers my journey — going from school founder to handing out $100K grants to teenagers.
So wonderful to chronicle that very special time that has become the genesis of 1517 💗 (Link in comments)
How’d staff in the early years of the Thiel Fellowship identify the people who’d go on to found Ethereum, Figma, Anthropic and more?
Danielle Strachman — founding member and former program director of the Thiel Fellowship — told us what they were looking for:
Sixteen years ago, when @William_Blake and I were on the founding team of the Thiel Fellowship, we called it an older young person’s homeschool program.
In a very Thiel-ian way, we built something that fostered independent thinking by giving young people permission to explore what interested them in an environment that trusted them to make decisions and execute on their work.
@firstround’s editorial team wrote a really thoughtful piece about those first years of the fellowship. It also covers my journey — going from school founder to handing out $100K grants to teenagers.
So wonderful to chronicle that very special time that has become the genesis of 1517 💗 (Link in comments)
"Our WiFi password used to be 'vacuum2020.' We were gonna ship robots in 2020, and it didn't happen."
Inside the nine years of hard work and failed prototypes that went into making @maticrobots:
What it's like working at @maticrobots: Build your own desk, then start making robots.
Despite billboards and headlines claiming otherwise, demand for BDRs and AEs is going up. But finding truly excellent sellers to fill these roles is hard. We think some of the best talent isn't in sales — yet.
We're launching Sales Combine to bring in a new generation of sellers who may not have the "right" resumes, offering free training and direct intros to companies like @NotionHQ, @p0, @fal, @togethercompute, @reductoai and more.
firstround.com/sales-combine
AI is making the mechanics of sales easier, but being exceptional at the craft matters more than ever. In a new essay, we break down how to actually get good at it, sharing a preview of the training we'll cover in Sales Combine, our new program to build the next generation of sellers: firstround.com/sales-craft
The mechanics of sales may be automated away, but that was never the hard part.
We want to find and train the next generation of sellers who excel at the uniquely human craft of sales (and aggressively use AI for all the rest), so we’re launching Sales Combine.
Spend two days in SF for FREE training with extremely experienced sales leaders, and then we’ll introduce you directly to companies like @NotionHQ, @fal, @togethercompute, @p0, @reductoai, @Gumloop, @clay, & many others that are hiring new sellers.
Apply by 10/3: firstround.com/sales-combine
The first logo @nadonomy designed for Lovable wasn't built to scale with a viral launch. So he took it upon himself to create one that could endure decades: review.firstround.com/firsth…
