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4 Jan, 21 tweets, 8 min read
Coming into 2021, we are entering what may be the *craziest* period in On Deck history.

No fewer than eight programs kick off over the next six weeks, with many more to follow.

It's reasonable to ask: what's the play here? why so many?

It’s time to pull back the curtain 👇👇
We start our journey with the original Founder Fellowship ("ODF").

We asked Fellows: "why did you join? what are your goals?"

They said:
— meet co-founders, early hires
— obtain new knowledge
— make deep, lasting connections
— help others
— build MVP
— raise funding
— more...
There's a remarkable "flywheel" spinning within ODF:

1. People pay $$ to join.
2. we use that revenue to hire amazing people
3. who create/curate an incredible experience
4. which helps members realize a lot of value
5. as community reputation grows, so does new member demand.
6. more demand allows us to curate an ever stronger community.
7. Repeat.

Higher caliber members further accelerate each step of the flywheel.

Quick shoutout to @jakesing_, who explored this "flywheel" in more detail 👇👇

The resulting community can uniquely help Fellows achieve many of their goals:

☑️ made deep, lasting connections.
☑️ MVP built or in progress.
☑️ obtained new knowledge.
☑️ helped others.
☑️ Expanded network.
☑️ meet early customers.

BUT, some goals are less suited to a "community" environment.

The three things early-stage founders need most of all are:
💵 Capital
👩‍💻 Talent
📈 Distribution

The optimal state of each is a marketplace — matching supply and demand.

And "utility" in a market comes with scale...
So the question is:

Do we expand the ODF community, and build the market internally? We have enough demand to add thousands per cohort...

Or will that undermine the value loop that makes ODF so special today...?

Here's the secret master plan.

On Deck is building a series of adjacent communities that each bootstrap “supply” to another's demand.

Come for the community, stay for the "Market Network"

nfx.com/post/10-years-…
Let's explore the *cross-community* flywheels in a little more detail.

#1: 💵 Capital

Earlier this year, we launched communities for angel investors and VCs.
➡️ODA is for experienced operators getting started as angel investors:

➡️ODVC is for experienced VC GPs, refining their craft among peers:

As each scales, it's natural output is capital and expertise (“supply”).
#2: Talent 👩‍💻👨‍💻

The #1 "complaint" we hear about ODF is:

"Everyone I meet here is super talented and all, but they're already working on their own startup— I'm looking for someone to join mine!"

➡️ OD50 is for top talent looking to *join* a startup.

#3: Distribution 📈🎙📝

On Deck Writers, Podcasters can tap ODF, OD50, ODA for inspiration: host discussions about interesting trends or markets.

And for our founders? that means... distribution.

Collectively, a new, distributed media org:

But hold up: writers don't see themselves as "distribution".

**Very important:**

➡️ Each program is also the center of its own universe 🪐☀️🌎

Podcasters, Authors, essayists, bloggers, and newsletter writers are entrepreneurs.

Creators join On Deck for many reasons:
Here's what the view looks like for an angel joining ODA:

📈 dealflow from ODF, ODNC
👩‍💻 recruit OD50 talent for your portfolio
🎙 build your profile, craft your thesis with ODW, ODP
😎 scout, jobs, share deals with ODVC
💵 build relationships with LPs (coming soon 👀)
And we aren't stopping there:

Building/investing/creating in specific industries requires input from across the spectrum, including people not otherwise involved in standard technology circles.

Enter:

➡️ ODCT: Climate
➡️ ODH: Healthcare, coming soon 👀
When you’ve hit product-market fit and raised some capital, what comes next is even harder: scaling up.

➡️ On Deck Scale (“ODS”) is for founders and CEOs who want to scale themselves as leaders.

Plus, proximity to:
— OD50 for talent
— ODVC for capital

To sum: the common thread in everything we do is an obsession with building the strongest ecosystem for talented, ambitious people to change the world.

To this end, you guessed it: there's more to come👀

For now, if you're inspired to join a community: beondeck.com/apply
Want to join the team, or build and lead a community? We're hiring!

➡️ Learn more about working at On Deck, check out open roles, and apply here:

beondeck.com/careers
➡️ Read about the wild ride that was 2020 here
➡️ Learn more about the On Deck vision, and “making productive citizens of the internet” here:

• • •

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29 Dec 20
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This year, we launched 11 new programs, ~10x'd both our team and revenue, and scaled our community into the thousands.

Today, we paused to reflect:

👇👇 Image
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On our small team, @btaleisnik was a one-man band running ODF.

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24 Sep 20
Announcing: On Deck Labs — a call to arms to help build the future of education.

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The earliest education institutions looked nothing like today’s corporate forms of higher education.

Coffeehouses and salons filled with curious individuals, learning together, gave way to bloated administration and a disconnect from the realities of the job market.
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Massive open online courses (“MOOCs”) unbundled the education component, accelerators and fellowships unbundled the network, and folks like Github and Behance unbundled credentials for specific expertise areas.
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On Deck Profile picture
23 Sep 20
1/ We’re thrilled to announce that On Deck is now officially supporting European founders 🚀

It’s the same global network plus:

• Europe-specific programming
• Local meetups & VC dinners
• More EU-based potential co-founders

Read on & apply to ODF7 beondeck.com/europe
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For the last decade, we have witnessed the rise of the European tech scene.

Thanks to @atomico's amazing research, we know that $30B was poured into the region last year — a record. US & Asian investments doubled. Mega rounds abound.

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15 Sep 20
Announcing: the On Deck Podcast Fellowship (ODP)

ODP is a space for talented people to kickstart, and cultivate their podcasting careers among a highly curated community of peers.

First cohort launches early Jan ‘21. Learn more and apply:

producthunt.com/posts/on-deck-…

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Why a Podcast Fellowship?

Podcasters, as with creators of all stripes, are entrepreneurs.

Beyond just producing great content, they have to understand their niche, develop a voice and pipeline of guests, build an audience, and in many cases — a business. Image
ODP is an eight-week program inspired by the success of the On Deck Founder Fellowship, and by the incredible response to the inaugural On Deck Writer Fellowship.

We are removing bottlenecks that prevent talented people from getting started with podcasting. Image
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On Deck Profile picture
9 Sep 20
1/ Next up joining the On Deck team...🥁

Excited to introduce:
@cammori - Operations Team! ⚡️ Image
2/ Candice joins us with an incredible background spanning data science, international business, public policy, and climate tech.

The common thread that ties her career together is "business for good" 🌍 🤲 🌱
3/ At On Deck, she'll start by working across the Operations org as a utility-player, doing a rotation between: our Candidates team, ODF team, and new programs (ODW/ODA).

She'll then transition to helping us launch and lead a exciting new program in 2021 🤫 more on that soon...
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On Deck Profile picture
27 Aug 20
We’re thrilled to announce: On Deck has raised $3M to build a modern education institution — a platform serving the many strands of identity of ambitious people who want to change the world.

Here's a thread + short deck about where we're going next 👇👇
But first, a thank you. We are backed by a community, for the community. Nearly 80 investors have shown their support for our mission over the past two years, including @villageglobal, @DCVC, @rabois, @pmarca, @cdixon, @balajis, @SignalFire @BloombergBeta, @henrysward, @FEhrsam,
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