Thiel Fellowship
A program giving $100,000 to young people to skip college and build things.
- 1Fellowship gives $100,00020 people a year skip college
- 2Told she needn't stay on pathTara calls it an inflection point
- 3Ambition becomes the bottleneckAI widens what one person can do
- 4She raises others' ambitionsShorter timeline, bigger first version, 10x scale
From Tara Seshan on the Thiel Fellowship
What was said about Thiel Fellowship
The Thiel Fellowship raised Tara Seshan's ambitions, and she now does that for others. Tara calls the fellowship an inflection point because someone told her she didn't need to stay on her path. The program gives $100,000 to young people to skip college and build things.
It takes 20 people a year, and her batch was filmed for CNBC. She carries the lesson into product work: because AI widens what one person can do, ambition is the bottleneck, so a PM can ask whether a timeline could be shorter, the first version bigger, or the scale 10x. In her words: "Elevating others ambitions or reminding them of what's possible here is a huge part of the product management role."
The fellowship's community made leaving Harvard easy for Speak's Connor Zwick. Connor says the community mattered most to him, and it made the decision to leave Harvard easy.
Fellow classmates also introduced him and Andrew to deep learning years before it was mainstream.
AI’s third era: the rise of persistent AI coworkers | Tara Seshan (OpenAI’s product lead)
It was an inflection point for Tara, because someone told her she needn't stay on her path. It takes 20 people a year, and her batch was filmed for CNBC.
The Thiel Fellowship raised Tara Seshan's ambitions, and she now does that for others. Tara calls the fellowship an inflection point because someone told her she didn't need to stay on her path. The program gives $100,000 to young people to skip college and build things.
It takes 20 people a year, and her batch was filmed for CNBC. She carries the lesson into product work: because AI widens what one person can do, ambition is the bottleneck, so a PM can ask whether a timeline could be shorter, the first version bigger, or the scale 10x. In her words: "Elevating others ambitions or reminding them of what's possible here is a huge part of the product management role."
How Speak Built a $1B AI Language Learning App
Its community mattered most to Connor, making it easy to leave Harvard. Fellow classmates introduced him and Andrew to deep learning years before it was mainstream.
The fellowship's community made leaving Harvard easy for Speak's Connor Zwick. Connor says the community mattered most to him, and it made the decision to leave Harvard easy.
Fellow classmates also introduced him and Andrew to deep learning years before it was mainstream.
More in Investors & studios
Investors & studiosY Combinator
A startup accelerator that funds and advises early-stage companies.
11 sources · 18 tips
Investors & studiosSequoia Capital
A venture capital firm that backs early-stage technology founders.
8 sources · 18 tipsBlue Throne
An app acquirer that buys working consumer apps for seven and eight figures and scales them.
4 sources · 6 tips
Investors & studiosBending Spoons
An Italian company that acquires digital businesses and runs them on one shared platform of proprietary tools.
2 sources · 19 tipsSocial
A bootstrapped app studio that buys apps after their viral peak and grows them with AI ads and testing.
1 source · 10 tips
Investors & studiosTeledyne
A conglomerate founded in 1960 that bought niche businesses, ran an insurance investment arm, and repurchased its own stock.
1 source · 17 tipsVolo Ventures
A venture firm investing in consumer apps and AI-powered consumer products.
1 source · 9 tips
Investors & studiosFirst Round Capital
A seed-stage venture capital firm that backs early technology startups.
4 sources · 5 tips