
The 2013 Thiel Fellows - brackin
http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682017/this-years-thiel-fellows-include-a-fashion-designer-a-poet-and-a-harvard-dropout#1
======
confluence
This is a comment from an assessment of the previous generation of Thiel
fellows found here: [http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-
fellows...](http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-fellowship-
where-are-they-now/)

> But what do these companies do? Can we get some specifics? Other than
> "Upstart", no mention is given of any of the companies. If you go to the
> Thiel Fellowship website, there is no list of startups founded by these
> fellows. They do have a list of present and past fellows, but the profile
> pages mostly link to either the fellows' personal websites (not company
> websites), or dead links. Without any concrete evidence of these companies
> even existing, or doing anything useful (instead of just talking about what
> they're "going to do", or name-dropping all the investors they've
> attracted), this all sounds like a bunch of hot air. Not to be cynical, and
> I wish all these people success, but so far they haven't demonstrated that
> they've actually _done_ anything.

The entire Thiel fellow program is an exercise in finding out which baby can
stand up the fastest and projecting that being the first to stand up somehow
makes one a genius.

It's little different from child beauty pageants and dog shows.

~~~
zerotoone
confluence, you've been awfully negative about the fellowship and Peter Thiel
thus far. However, you should be careful to not conflate the lack of readily
available data on the fellows with lack of progress on their end. The fact
that there _isn't_ much press is a (very) rough indicator that the fellows are
spending time working with their heads-down rather than attention-whoring.

Anyways, I'll do some homework for you and dig up some concrete cases of what
the fellows _have_ done: \- Andrew Hsu raised $1.5M as a solo founder for Airy
Labs from Google Ventures and Foundation Capital
([http://www.forbes.com/sites/briancaulfield/2011/08/04/names-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/briancaulfield/2011/08/04/names-
you-need-to-know-andrew-hsu-19-raises-1-5m-for-educational-gaming-startup/))
\- Ben Yu has built a transdermal caffeine company
(<http://sprayableenergy.com/>), which he holds provisional patents for
(<http://benyu.org/thiel-fellowship-closing-ceremony-speech>) \- Clay Allsopp
is building Propeller (<http://usepropeller.com/>), a drag-and-drop native iOS
app builder. He has also authored a RubyMotion book
(<http://pragprog.com/book/carubym/rubymotion>). \- Connor Zwick is building
YC-backed Coco Controller ([http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/14/the-yc-backed-
coco-controll...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/14/the-yc-backed-coco-
controller-will-turn-your-iphone-into-a-gaming-powerhouse/)) to augment iOS
and Android gaming. He also has a Flashcards app with 1M+ downloads
(<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards+/id408490162?mt=8>). \- Darren
Zhu is working on a synthetic biology company and has gotten a grant from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ([http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/06/thiel-
fellows-are-making-th...](http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/06/thiel-fellows-are-
making-the-grade/)). \- Dale J Stephens has published a book, Hacking Your
Education ([http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Your-Education-Lectures-
Thousa...](http://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Your-Education-Lectures-
Thousands/dp/0399159967)) through Perigee Books, and has launched the
UnCollege movement (<http://www.uncollege.org/>) \- Daniel Friedman is
building personalized online education startup Thinkful, which has raised $1M
([http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/02/26/peter-
thie...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/02/26/peter-thiel-backs-
thinkful-for-personalized-online-education/)). \- Eden Full is building the
SunSaluter (<http://www.sunsaluter.com/>) through her social venture
Roseicollis Technologies, which has won the Westly Prize, the Mashable-UN
Foundation Startups for Social Good Challenge, second prize at the Postcode
Lottery Green Challenge, and the grand prize at the Staples-Ashoka Youth
Social Entrepreneurship Challenge (<http://www.linkedin.com/in/edenfull>). \-
James Proud sold his company GigLocator for undisclosed 6-figure sum
([http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2012/06/20/skip-
school-s...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2012/06/20/skip-school-sell-
company-meet-the-thiel-fellow-who-just-turned-a-profit/)) \- Laura Deming has
her own fund (<http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mkg45jfej/laura-deming-18-2/>)
and has been working working closely with biotech legend Corey Goodman to fund
anti-aging therapies. She also spoke at TEDMED 2013
(<http://www.tedmed.com/speakers/show?id=46921>) \- Nick Cammarata "started a
company that was recently acquired"
([http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-
fellows...](http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-fellowship-
where-are-they-now/)). \- Paul Gu is working with Upstart, which raised $5.9M
as a kickstarter for people ([http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/22/upstart-
grabs-5-9-million-t...](http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/22/upstart-
grabs-5-9-million-to-let-investors-back-people-yep-a-kickstarter-for-people/))
\- Ritik Malhotra is working on YC-backed Streem, a Dropbox for Video
(<https://angel.co/streem>) \- Sujay Tyle is working at Developer Auction
([http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/21/developerauction-sujay-
tyle...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/21/developerauction-sujay-tyle/)),
which has raised $2.7M
([http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/03/14/developera...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2013/03/14/developerauction-
raises-2-7m-seed-for-tech-hiring-service/)) \- Taylor Wilson is building small
nuclear fission reactors (<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HL1BEC024g>) \- Tom
Currier built out a robotic solar panel tracking company
(<http://www.qbotix.com/>) that has raised $7.5M total
(<http://www.qbotix.com/pressseptember4/>) and got a couple patents for it
(<http://www.google.com/patents/WO2011150373A1>,
<http://www.google.com/patents/WO2012009470A1>) \- Yoonseo Kang has been
working on Open Source Ecology and Open Tech Forever
(<http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/User:Yoonseo_Kang>). You can check out
some of the stuff he's built here: <http://vimeo.com/user9565582>

The fellows who haven't been explicitly mentioned here aren't necessarily
dormant; they simply have not bothered to garner any press.

Please tread a little more carefully next time you label something as being
"little different from child beauty pageants and dog shows" -- or at the very
least, do your homework so a "college dropout" doesn't have to do it for you.

~~~
argonaut
While I feel like confluence is being overly snarky and cynical about the
Thiel program, upon hitting the fact that you listed Andrew Hsu and Airy Labs
among the list of accomplished Thiel Fellows it becomes immediately apparent
that you really haven't actually done your homework.

At the risk of sounding like I'm attacking Andrew, _he was just about the
worst possible example for you to pick._ His startup is and was notorious for
imploding after being run into the ground with highly public mismanagement
that involved interference from his family members. If I were someone who
wanted to make a spurious argument attacking the Thiel Fellowship, he would be
exhibit #1.

The rest of your post is merely a long list of people all in the process of
"starting" something - but not actually having accomplished anything of
particular note. It is easy to "start" a company, or a fund, or an
organization. It is much harder to actually achieve anything with that. And
despite what TechCrunch/other mdia may wish for you to believe, raising
funding, giving talks, and winning random competitions are hardly
accomplishments.

Now, I don't think the Thiel Fellowship is a bad thing. If I was younger than
20 I would very much be interested in applying for the program. The fact that
most Thiel Fellows have not accomplished anything of great external
significance has so much less to do with the program and the fellows
themselves, and so much more to do with how _damn hard_ it is to start a
successful company / solve a big hairy problem. It's not something you do in
two years. It's a process and I think the Thiel Fellowship was only ever meant
as an experience in independent learning/self-starting for the fellows.

I have no doubt that every Thiel Fellow has learned a lot in his/her
experience, but I think it is unwise to tout many of the people in your list
as having made concrete achievements.

------
IsaacL
I'm surprised with he haven't got the usual HN comments which appear every
year when this story is posted. That's a good thing, but here's my "inb4"
reply for when those comments finally pop up.

Type 1. Last year there was a comment like "I don’t want to crush dreams. But
these kids are being set up to fail. They cannot, and will not, live up to
these expectations." Related to this are the complaints that these kids only
achieved the things they've achieved prior to the programme because their
parents were well-connected and helped them out, etc.

Type 2. Accusing hypocrisy on behalf of Thiel, who has two advanced degrees,
and who often advocates for a return to advanced research which couldn't
happen without higher education.

I think type 1 comments come from envy, even if they sound like something
else. That's understandable, since many HN readers probably have similar
smarts to these kids but didn't get the same opportunities in their teens. I
know I felt jealous when I first heard of the Thiel program.

But - if you look at history, geniuses seem clustered around particular times
and locations - ancient Athens, Renaissance Venice, Victorian London, and a
few other cultural hubs. This implies that there were thousands of _potential_
geniuses who died in rice paddies (or were killed in war, or who happened to
be members of oppressed minorities, or who lived in an era when all the
smartest people worked in investment banking, or whatever). It's not just that
these individuals were robbed of their potential, it's also the world that was
robbed of their contributions. So any attempt to mitigate that trend can only
be a good thing, even if it means that some future Einsteins are still dying
in rice paddies.

Part 2 is a more interesting critique. My response: I can't speak for Peter
Thiel, but I don't think he believes that university shouldn't be an option.
Rather, university shouldn't be the _only_ option.

~~~
knowtheory
> _So any attempt to mitigate that trend can only be a good thing_

Yeah, that is something that remains to be seen.

This is an intervention in the lives of these students. Whether it's a good or
a bad thing, for them or for society really is an open question.

Amongst the entrepreneurial community there is a lot of discussion of trying
something interesting, and failing fast to learn from it. The real question
is, does giving a 17 year old 100k$ help with that?

Do they need 100k$ to do something interesting? Are they at a point in their
life where 100k$ the responsible amount of money to give them to experiment
with? Where do they go from there? (these are not rhetorical questions, and I
am not entirely convinced the answer is no)

There are also broader societal questions. There has been an impetus in the US
at least that everyone should get a university degree, come hell and/or high
water. That's a model that in its current incarnation is really screwing over
a number of people. But I don't see that Theil's program is a solution either.
He's picking people he thinks will succeed, just as much as universities are
pre-selecting folks who get good marks in classes (as opposed to picking
people who will be improved/edified by going through university).

~~~
trsohmers
As one of this years new fellows (Who happens to be 17), I would say $100 is
not something that alone is going to help me do something interesting, but is
going to help a lot. A lot of people that do not know the fellows and other
finalists don't realize that we have gained a lot of knowledge and experience
in our fields prior to applying for the fellowship. I've had three years
experience in hardware prototyping and development at MIT, and have been
hacking and tinkering for a much longer time. The $100k is there to allow you
to follow your dreams... both as a safety net and a way to cover personal
expenses. A lot of us hope to or are in the process of receiving Angel, VC, or
some other form of funding to better cover our projects.

As for whether it is a responsible thing to do, a large part of what the
fellowship is is a "life accelerator", as the money is virtually "no strings
attached" (Well, there are quarterly "check in" review meetings, with review
forms.) There isn't a temptation to spend all the money at once as it is given
in monthly payments (Though you can ask for a larger sum as long as you give a
good reason.) While I suppose you aren't able to trust me due to my bias, I
would say that myself and a majority of the other fellows would be
"responsible" with the money we receive just on the fact that we want to
succeed. I take great pride in my work, and want to fulfill the cliche of
"changing the world", and I will continue trying. I think my sense of
responsibility developed just like anyone else (even if the average person
typically only becomes what society considers 'responsible' during/after
college)... if you want to achieve something, whether it be to launch a
product and start a company, get a job, buy a house, or have a family, you
find a way to do it and try as hard as you can to do it. I hope that the other
fellows and I are able to show that young people are able to do these things,
and these "life lessons" can be learned at a much earlier age than most people
think, and that we can truly change the world...with or without a piece of
paper telling us what we know.

~~~
aswanson
_with or without a piece of paper..._

Amen. I knew through my educational life, from early on, that I was capable of
more than the industrial-era training and box that the current system in the
U.S. puts us through. Glad to see the open shots of the rebellion finally
coming to be and wishing you the best.

------
rjvir
Every year the Thiel Foundation filters in 20+ amazing individuals. This year
is no exception. Congratulations to the fellows that made it, I'm excited to
see what they build.

~~~
rdl
Yeah, it's a non-trivial filtering process (I volunteer, and a few other
people I know). One of the best parts is that those selected for the last
round but not ultimately accepted get most of the benefits from the fellowship
(other than the money), too.

~~~
pitt1980
out of curiousity, what benefits are you referencing?

~~~
rdl
Referrals, events, participation in the ongoing mentorship, etc. Everything
except the 100k.

~~~
pitt1980
how many applicants make it to the last round?

~~~
trsohmers
~40

------
melling
Does anyone have any information on how the previous fellows are progressing?

~~~
kirk21
Yes, check this article. Have a nice day!
[http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-
fellows...](http://pandodaily.com/2013/04/24/examining-the-thiel-fellowship-
where-are-they-now/)

------
jacquesm
Congratulations to all, but especially to Diwank!

------
droithomme
Glad to see this continuing and always an interesting set of young adults.

That said, the web page design there is abysmal - the expanding photo captions
are unreadable, the animation thing is simply obstructive, and the problem
persists no matter how big you make the window.

------
666_howitzer
It would have been really great , if he had backed ideas with much riguor as
YC does. I think the whole fiasco is about the message not it's immediate
impact. I do believe he's sending us a very important message though.

------
smaili
Congratulations to all! May the force be with you! ;)

------
ececconi
I'm excited to see what these people come up with.

------
anjalimullany
These young people amaze me.

