
The Magic of Engineered Serendipity - gajus
https://www.beondeck.com/post/the-magic-of-engineered-serendipity
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SQueeeeeL
Seems like another one of those, pay 2,000 for _access_ groups that entirely
expects to rent seek on what is essentially a really good irc group (which are
FREE to start and join). Essentially like paying a match maker to set you up
on dates instead of finding them organically

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emteycz
Any help on finding these irc rooms?

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SQueeeeeL
I mean, any you find/shared on HN will be instantly filled with recruiters and
tech grifters, so you'd be better off searching more specialized sites

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mattupstate
I applied and had one brief interview with someone over video. Maybe it's just
me, but I think it's reasonable to expect a follow up, possibly with some
feedback, after an interview. But that didn't happen. Not the end of the world
for me, but a detail I think that should matter to a company that touts a
strong community horn.

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weisser
I’m the co-founder of the company building On Deck and our Head of Candidates.
You should have just received a follow up email from me.

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mattupstate
In the name of transparency, this did happen :)

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gajus
I cannot emphasize enough that the real-value of On Deck is not just the
events and investors you are going to get access to, or those fireside chats,
but the community.

On Deck hand picked highly ambitious people with positive attitudes, who are
in similar stages of their lives and have shared goals.

It is like being in a room with a ton of sharp, likeminded people such as
yourself, and everyone is looking to help one another to build the next big
thing.

Truly inspiring and accelerating experience.

Happy to answer any questions about my experience in On Deck.

~~~
TuringNYC
Thank you for offering to share you experiences -- I wanted to apply but i'm
curious - how does this work for those who are currently employed
(traditionally)...but planning to co-found their own company and go-full time
with their venture soon?

What is the right time to apply, now as they are contemplating their business
or later when they go-full time on their venture?

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gajus
About half the people in my cohort were full-time employees in other
companies. I was dedicated to start a startup, and I already had some
prototypes that were gaining traction (gitspo.com), but wasn't set on a
specific direction.

Whether it makes more sense for you to do it now or later depends on your
personality and what you want to get out of the community. You will definitely
have plenty of opportunities to network with potential cofounders by joining
now. However, you should dedicate at least an hour (more like two) every day
to attend fireside talks, dinners, etc. I feel like I bonded the most with
people who participated semi regularly in all events, and it seems like the
same group of people benefited the most from On Deck.

In terms of privacy, On Deck has pretty strict guidance about not publicly
disclosing who are the members, unless they explicitly opt-in.

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vikramkr
Usually these sorts of posts are some sort of interesting content that wraps
around an ad - like maybe steps you can take to engineer luck leading to more
serendipity and bg the way check out this service - but this just literally
seems to be an ad for some 2000 dollar rent seeking program? Am I missing
something?

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uberdru
There is a time and a place for spontaneity.

