Log in
Follow us
[polldaddy poll=2818553]
Billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who started Paypal and is now famous as Facebook's first, far-sighted investor, announced his next group of 20 young Thiel Fellows, who will each receive $100,000 to pursue personal technology projects, while skipping traditional college. This hefty stiped carries a rigorous demand: quickly learn entrepreneurship from the ground up, and begin to build the new and innovative companies of the future.
Watch a video in the panel at right about the program's first class in 2011.
Opting for tech bootcamp, this third group of "20 Under 20" Thiel Fellows includes Christopher Walker, who dropped out of college to form a software company, and Zach Hamed, a Harvard junior who's leaving to work on education software. Their iconoclastism reflects Thiel's contrarian opinion of higher education as an over-priced bubble, far away from necessary networks of angel investors and mentors.
For two years, instead of attending college, each Thiel Fellow is immediately plugged into the Foundation’s network of entrepreneurs and investors. This supportive environment will nourish endeavors spanning robotics through cyberdefense, neuroscience, and fashion.
Peter Thiel also reflected on past classes in a recent press release, “When we created the fellowship more than two years ago, our intention was to help people learn and accomplish more than they might have. They exceeded our expectations, and proved that qualities like intellectual curiosity and grit are more important than a degree in determining success in life.”
Pretty good post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog posts.Any way Ill be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon.
Thanks Stephan. We're just getting started so we appreciate getting great input from people like you who stumbled upon the blog. Feel free to spread the word!