3/ ODF = an intensive 10-week program bringing together a community of experienced engineers, designers, operators, and repeat founders. Includes extensive expert-led curriculum, co-founder dating, and more.
"I may not be starting a startup just yet — i'm taking some time out to explore, advise, angel invest, and think about what I want to do next. Is @beondeck for me?"
We use “on deck” as a verb to describe the state of being between things or thinking of moving on — being "open to opportunity."
To be clear: most in ODF are/are planning to be founders.
But tenured "explorers" contribute immensely to the community, and get a lot of value too.
While this group have been *incredibly* generous with their time, it's not all about "giving"
Joining On Deck is a powerful way to refresh your network, get inspired and boost your entrepreneurial energy, learn some new skills or test some ideas.
Founders: what are your plans for hiring interns/apprentice roles this summer?
@beondeck is seeing a LOT of inbound from incredible young talent.
Mostly too junior for the Fellowship, so we're considering something new:
If ODF were grad school, this = "undergrad"
More 🤔👇
2/ What could On Deck "summer school" look like? maybe:
— 1 month learning "startup skills", building community, project based collaboration, access to On Deck knowledge base (~200 hours of recorded workshops), mentorship;
— 2+ months of work experience with top startups;
3/ Questions for founders/startups:
• What stage are you? seed/series A/B?
• What skills/roles do you need — mostly engineering? design? operators?
• Does this still work if everyone is 100% remote?
Two things happened this week to give me extreme confidence in @LambdaSchool
1). @MaxKajiwara joined our team at @beondeck, and he's killing it. His only engineering training was Lambda. In less than 3 days on the job, he's running at full speed & invaluable.
Aligned, sure. So long as the "issuer" remains the "holder."
But holding ISAs is totally inefficient for a startup with a small balance sheet + super high cost of capital (i.e. VC)
@LambdaSchool@MaxKajiwara@beondeck Most end up just selling ISAs into the capital markets. But then their "customers" wind up beholden to investors via a debt-like instrument, and we're all back where we started.
The new Lambda ISA model is a big step forward. 👀'ing this space with interest.
1/ We aspire for @beondeck (the *company*) to be somewhere the most ambitious future founders want to work
We don't want to hire people who just want to be engineers, operators, or product managers
We want to hire people who will start and run their own companies in the future
2/ If you're with us 6 months or 6 years, your time at On Deck should be less "career ladder" and more a series of learning curves — accelerating your growth
The faster you can run up a curve, the harder we'll work to make sure there's another one waiting for you to jump to
3/ When you feel there's nothing left to learn at On Deck, we'll help you take the next step, and back you all the way.
We have the world's best talent asset on our doorstep: a pool of potential co-founders and collaborators — and you get a birds-eye view.