In just over a decade, The Thiel Fellowship has produced more than $750B* in value creation, with a 13.79% unicorn hit rate. Fellows launched some of the most important companies of the 21st century — Vitalik Buterin’s Ethereum, Dylan Field’s Figma, Lucy Guo’s Scale AI, Ritesh Agarwal’s OYO, Laura Deming’s Longevity Fund, and more.
In this episode, Danielle Strachman, a Founding architect of the Thiel Fellowship, shares the inside story behind the radical program born out of Peter Thiel’s Thiel Foundation that gave $100K to teenagers willing to drop out of school and build. She reveals the contrarian traits they looked for in founders, and the lessons she learned from working closely with Thiel, whose first-principles thinking shaped the program.
Now as co-founder of 1517 Fund, Danielle is scaling that same ethos — backing dropouts and sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages.
This is the story of how a contrarian $100K bet on young people rewired Silicon Valley and continues to shape the future of education & entrepreneurship.
"What important truth do very few people agree with you on?"
P.S. Competition is for losers.
Connect with us:
- Danielle Strachman: https://x.com/DStrachman
- Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea
- Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryvc
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(00:00) Thiel Fellowship
(01:10) $750B+ Outcomes: Ethereum, Figma, Scale AI, OYO
(08:32) The Contrarian Question
(15:00) The Fellowship: $100K, No School, Radical Freedom
(19:00) Media Backlash, Cultural Criticism, & Dropping Out
(26:45) Cultural Impact and Future Vision
(33:02) Is Peter Thiel Evil?
(37:41) How The Fellowship Reshaped Venture’s View of Young Founders
(39:10) Key Traits That Predict Success
(45:10) Founding 1517 Fund: Scaling The Fellowship Model
(52:52) The Next Wave: Dropouts, Sci-Fi Scientists, & Direct Patronage
(55:30) The Rise of Alpha School: AI-Based Education
