4 ms·

The Magic of Engineered Serendipity

47 points by gajus 6y ago

gajus 6y ago
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 6y ago
  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?
  - gajus 6y ago
    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.
SQueeeeeL 6y ago
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
- emteycz 6y ago
  Any help on finding these irc rooms?
  - SQueeeeeL 6y ago
    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
- gajus 6y ago
  I love IRC!, but it is just a platform. On Deck is a curated community with events and highly engaging curriculum. In On Deck, there is a dozen people who's full-time job is to interview people before accepting them to the community and to ensure that you get the most out of it.
  - weare138 6y ago
    Do you have to pay to join?
    - vikramkr 6y ago
      According to the website - $2000. That seems absurd. If you're paying $2000 in the early stages of starting a business to join a community (because I guess networking and literally just googling startup resources that are available for free is too hard) - well - I don't know how I feel about your capital allocation skills then
mattupstate 6y ago
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.
- weisser 6y ago
  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.
  - mattupstate 6y ago
    In the name of transparency, this did happen :)
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
uberdru 6y ago
There is a time and a place for spontaneity.
vikramkr 6y ago
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?

47 points by gajus 6y ago

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 6y ago
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?
- gajus 6y ago
  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.

SQueeeeeL 6y ago

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

emteycz 6y ago
Any help on finding these irc rooms?
- SQueeeeeL 6y ago
  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
gajus 6y ago
I love IRC!, but it is just a platform. On Deck is a curated community with events and highly engaging curriculum. In On Deck, there is a dozen people who's full-time job is to interview people before accepting them to the community and to ensure that you get the most out of it.
- weare138 6y ago
  Do you have to pay to join?
  - vikramkr 6y ago
    According to the website - $2000. That seems absurd. If you're paying $2000 in the early stages of starting a business to join a community (because I guess networking and literally just googling startup resources that are available for free is too hard) - well - I don't know how I feel about your capital allocation skills then

mattupstate 6y ago

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.

weisser 6y ago
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.
- mattupstate 6y ago
  In the name of transparency, this did happen :)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

uberdru 6y ago

There is a time and a place for spontaneity.

vikramkr 6y ago

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?