4 ms·

A bit OT but this stood out: >A similar idea - which eventually evolved into Oyo Rooms - won him a coveted Thiel Fellowship - a programme sponsored by PayPal c

by kitd 11y ago

A bit OT but this stood out: >A similar idea - which eventually evolved into Oyo Rooms - won him a coveted Thiel Fellowship - a programme sponsored by PayPal co-creator and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel - which pays for 20 teenagers each year to stop studying and try to set up a business instead. Someone tell me there are safeguards in place, because this just sounds like an award for dropping out. I assume there have to be assurances from the school/college that they can return to their studies later if business doesn't take off?

quadrature 11y ago
Thats kind of what Peter Thiel is all about, he doesn't believe in the current educational system. Alot of the fellows do end up going back to school and they're all smart kids who wont have trouble returning to any university they wish to attend.
- puranjay 11y ago
  I would say being a Thiel fellow itself will make it easier for them to get into a top college. That said, it is a bit ironic that Thiel is against the current educational system since he has undoubtedly benefited from it
  - discardorama 11y ago
    > I would say being a Thiel fellow itself will make it easier for them to get into a top college. Not really. Being a successful entrepreneur is quite different from being a good student.
    - sabujp 11y ago
      hah, schools don't want students that eventually go into debt and then can't contribute back to the school or are barely getting by. They want (business) leaders and entrepreneurs who can convince people to back their ideas so that it might become a large business.
- trsohmers 11y ago
  It definitely isn't a lot... I can only think of 6 of the 60 fellows that have finished the program (Classes 2011 through 2013) that have gone back to school. Most if not successful get another job in the technology industry (or start another company). With the two new classes bringing it up to 100, I doubt there will be more than 20-25 that go back to school. But yea, those that have chosen to go back to school have done much better than if they were to stay in school in the first place... Two of the 6 I was thinking of are now in PhD programs while they never finished undergrad.
  - w1ntermute 11y ago
    How many successful companies have actually been started by a Thiel Fellow? The only one I can find is Oyo, but Ritesh had already dropped out of college to work on its predecessor (Oravel) long before he applied to the Thiel Fellowship (which he apparently lied his way into, according to the comment above by Radim, and this article: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/7CN7u5d4i3bfYgBAZLdLpM/Will-the-real-Ritesh-Agarwal-please-stand-up.html http://www.livemint.com/Companies/7CN7u5d4i3bfYgBAZLdLpM/Wil...). It seems to me (admittedly an outsider) that Thiel learned the wrong lesson from Zuck's success with dropping out to found Facebook. It wasn't because Zuck dropped out of college that Facebook was successful - it was because Facebook was already successful (already seeing exponential growth) that Zuck dropped out. Thiel then took this incorrect lesson to encourage lots of other students from elite universities to also drop out, which has had predictably disappointing results. Similarly, Ritesh wasn't successful because he dropped out and became a Thiel Fellow - he was accepted to the Thiel Fellowship because he had already dropped out and had seen some success (or lied that he had, as it seems). > Most if not successful get another job in the technology industry Getting a job is great, but that just means that Thiel's stamp of approval has been placed on the individual, instead of the college's. The upside being years/thousands of dollars in saved tuition, the downside being that Thiel is not commonly known outside of Silicon Valley circles. I'd rather take the degree any day.
    - trsohmers 11y ago
      While I wouldn't call mine a success (yet), I'm a 2013 Thiel Fellow and founder of REX Computing, a recently venture funded fabless semiconductor startup. While venture funding is not a measure of success, I would say we are progressing technically very well. There have been a couple of exits (Streem was acquired by Box) and others that are still moving along, but no unicorns. I think you also misunderstand Thiel's motives for the fellowship... it is not saying that because Zuck was sucessful because he dropped out of college, Zuck was already lucky that he wasn't in debt. The student debt crisis has been getting worse and worse over the past decade, and Thiel's real core idea is that student debt is a huge barrier for young people to take risks (such as starting or joining a startup) during or after college. For myself, I actually dropped out of high school to accept the fellowship. At that point I already had 3 years work experience at MIT, and was going to drop out of school anyways to accept a position at a large tech company in the Valley making three times the Fellowship's yearly grant. What the Fellowship offered me was the chance to do something very risky and being able to get into the game quickly with an advantage. I think it was the right choice for me.
notahacker 11y ago
The Thiel fellowship debate certainly isn't new to this forum, but z very relevant aspect of that debate is how different the incentives look internationally. My understanding is that in the US $100k over two years is equivalent to a comfortable middle class salary (outside SF, NY and perhaps one or two other places). It appears that in India it would be more like a exceptionally high salary placing someone in a top income bracket (except perhaps in Mumbai and one or two other places), an amount that would take several years to accumulate after getting a job at a prestigious multinational. The sort of sum someone with more modest expectations could even contemplate being a respectable retirement amount. Keeping the amount equivalent internationally is perhaps only fair, especially since Thiel Fellows might look to relocate internationally to achieve their aspirations anyway, but it also means a sum proposed as a short term subsidy in the US represents actual wealth in some parts of the world.

by kitd 11y ago

quadrature 11y ago

Thats kind of what Peter Thiel is all about, he doesn't believe in the current educational system. Alot of the fellows do end up going back to school and they're all smart kids who wont have trouble returning to any university they wish to attend.

puranjay 11y ago
I would say being a Thiel fellow itself will make it easier for them to get into a top college. That said, it is a bit ironic that Thiel is against the current educational system since he has undoubtedly benefited from it
- discardorama 11y ago
  > I would say being a Thiel fellow itself will make it easier for them to get into a top college. Not really. Being a successful entrepreneur is quite different from being a good student.
  - sabujp 11y ago
    hah, schools don't want students that eventually go into debt and then can't contribute back to the school or are barely getting by. They want (business) leaders and entrepreneurs who can convince people to back their ideas so that it might become a large business.
trsohmers 11y ago
It definitely isn't a lot... I can only think of 6 of the 60 fellows that have finished the program (Classes 2011 through 2013) that have gone back to school. Most if not successful get another job in the technology industry (or start another company). With the two new classes bringing it up to 100, I doubt there will be more than 20-25 that go back to school. But yea, those that have chosen to go back to school have done much better than if they were to stay in school in the first place... Two of the 6 I was thinking of are now in PhD programs while they never finished undergrad.
- w1ntermute 11y ago
  How many successful companies have actually been started by a Thiel Fellow? The only one I can find is Oyo, but Ritesh had already dropped out of college to work on its predecessor (Oravel) long before he applied to the Thiel Fellowship (which he apparently lied his way into, according to the comment above by Radim, and this article: http://www.livemint.com/Companies/7CN7u5d4i3bfYgBAZLdLpM/Will-the-real-Ritesh-Agarwal-please-stand-up.html http://www.livemint.com/Companies/7CN7u5d4i3bfYgBAZLdLpM/Wil...). It seems to me (admittedly an outsider) that Thiel learned the wrong lesson from Zuck's success with dropping out to found Facebook. It wasn't because Zuck dropped out of college that Facebook was successful - it was because Facebook was already successful (already seeing exponential growth) that Zuck dropped out. Thiel then took this incorrect lesson to encourage lots of other students from elite universities to also drop out, which has had predictably disappointing results. Similarly, Ritesh wasn't successful because he dropped out and became a Thiel Fellow - he was accepted to the Thiel Fellowship because he had already dropped out and had seen some success (or lied that he had, as it seems). > Most if not successful get another job in the technology industry Getting a job is great, but that just means that Thiel's stamp of approval has been placed on the individual, instead of the college's. The upside being years/thousands of dollars in saved tuition, the downside being that Thiel is not commonly known outside of Silicon Valley circles. I'd rather take the degree any day.
  - trsohmers 11y ago
    While I wouldn't call mine a success (yet), I'm a 2013 Thiel Fellow and founder of REX Computing, a recently venture funded fabless semiconductor startup. While venture funding is not a measure of success, I would say we are progressing technically very well. There have been a couple of exits (Streem was acquired by Box) and others that are still moving along, but no unicorns. I think you also misunderstand Thiel's motives for the fellowship... it is not saying that because Zuck was sucessful because he dropped out of college, Zuck was already lucky that he wasn't in debt. The student debt crisis has been getting worse and worse over the past decade, and Thiel's real core idea is that student debt is a huge barrier for young people to take risks (such as starting or joining a startup) during or after college. For myself, I actually dropped out of high school to accept the fellowship. At that point I already had 3 years work experience at MIT, and was going to drop out of school anyways to accept a position at a large tech company in the Valley making three times the Fellowship's yearly grant. What the Fellowship offered me was the chance to do something very risky and being able to get into the game quickly with an advantage. I think it was the right choice for me.

notahacker 11y ago

The Thiel fellowship debate certainly isn't new to this forum, but z very relevant aspect of that debate is how different the incentives look internationally. My understanding is that in the US $100k over two years is equivalent to a comfortable middle class salary (outside SF, NY and perhaps one or two other places). It appears that in India it would be more like a exceptionally high salary placing someone in a top income bracket (except perhaps in Mumbai and one or two other places), an amount that would take several years to accumulate after getting a job at a prestigious multinational. The sort of sum someone with more modest expectations could even contemplate being a respectable retirement amount. Keeping the amount equivalent internationally is perhaps only fair, especially since Thiel Fellows might look to relocate internationally to achieve their aspirations anyway, but it also means a sum proposed as a short term subsidy in the US represents actual wealth in some parts of the world.