Sharing some big news today:

- We’ve launched a $100M community-backed accelerator to fund people as early as pre-company

- We provide $25K advances for people to quit their job and explore whether they want to start a company

- Now Co-CEO at On Deck

ODX is built off the learnings from Village Global (where I remain a GP)'s accelerator, which is now partnering with On Deck to build ODX

ODX is the culmination of the goal we’ve all been focused for the last 5 years: Helping founders get off the ground.
Some think there are too many founders, too much capital. We disagree

More founders is how we get better & cheaper education, healthcare, among other needs

There’s no natural limit on the amount of successful startups, which is why we want more founders
We will commit to people before anyone else, before they even have their companies (or leave their jobs). We’ll be their first believer.

That’s what’s most exciting to me: Putting people in business. Net new entrepreneurship.

We'll have a heavy global focus. When we started ODF two years ago, we were 100% SF. Now we're only about 30% SF.

We're now 30% *outside the U.S.*, in 90 countries and 800 cities, and that number will only go up.

Silicon Valley in the cloud: eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/silicon-vall…
The last 5 years we’ve launched dozens of products & networks. This all started from a dinner series:

If you're considering starting a company, explore w/ On Deck. Everyone else, let's co-invest & put more people in business

The world needs more founders.

• • •

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More from @eriktorenberg

21 May
Twitter is a social network where people often post when they're angry, snarky, curious, or self-promoting, among other triggers

Imagine a social network where people listened to music that made them feel relaxed or connected—and that was somehow native to the posting experience
or other iterations of social networks that would bring about better versions of ourselves by altering the environment or incentives
Yes also think campfires, listening sessions, late night philosophical conversations (clubhouse gets at some of this, but there could be text version too)

Read 4 tweets
7 Apr
Some of the big challenges in higher ed👇

- Price is too high & rising
- Too much student debt
- Too many students dropping out
- Too many students underemployed
- Credential inflation
- Misaligned incentives on multiple levels
- Oligopolistic market dynamics prevent competition
TOO EXPENSIVE:

- Education costs have increased by 300% since 1980.

- Gov't spends 3% of GDP ($600B) subsidizing higher education.

- Incentives are misaligned such that the more gov't dispenses subsidies, the more expensive college gets.
TOO MUCH DEBT:

College debt is now ~$1.7 trillion (was $300B in 2000). Avg student is $40K in debt

Debt is now non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you don’t pay off loans by 65, gov't garners social security

Excessive debt leads ppl to delay having families and buying a house
Read 21 tweets
28 Feb
Hiring a Head of Special Projects to work w/ me at @beondeck

You’ll incubate:

- @Cosign
- “People Hunt” for ppl looking to do their next thing
- Wiki for start up-ideas & decks
- @beondeckdaily 2.0

and other ideas we conceive

Submit your plans for these to erik@beondeck.com
Read 7 tweets
1 Jan
Here are some of the most interesting books that changed my mind in 2020:

Thread👇
Peter Turchin tries to quantify history in "secular cycles" using demographic data.

TLDR: As population expands, wages go down, which increases inequality (& too many elites), which increases social unrest.

The idea is his theory can predict violence:

Heinrich's book on WIERD cultures is the best account of the industrial revolution I've read.

Once WEIRD-ness gets going, it eats everything in sight, and completely reorders power, norms, and social structures.

amazon.com/WEIRDest-Peopl…
Read 26 tweets
2 Oct 20
Found a new favorite philosophy podcast, went to look up where the host did his PhD, & instead found this.

I'm endlessly inspired by the idea that people can gain world-class expertise w/o needing approval from traditional gatekeepers, & by the sheer force of will to get there.
I'm also inspired knowing that there are so many people out there doing jobs that don't fully harness their unique skillsets, and that with just a bit of community or capital or mentorship they could, like Steven, instead be doing what they're best suited to do.
The podcast is "Philosophize this" by @iamstephenwest.

I've listened to 140 episodes straight through and love it.

philosophizethis.org

You can support him here: patreon.com/philosophizeth…
Read 4 tweets
27 Sep 20
Some takeaways from conversations w/ @jasoncrawford, @ArtirKel, and @Ben_Reinhardt on progress, particularly on how 1) funding models, 2) regulation, and 3) culture influence progress 👇
1- Funding Models:

There are a lot of different funding models (NIH grants, DARPA...)

A lot of research is done in universities, yet it's a relatively new phenomenon.

There was a golden era for corporate research w/ Bell Labs & Xerox, but then & gov't stepped in.
The US famously doesn't have a national coordinated innovation policy.

In some ways this is a good thing, since means there is more diversity of thought and funding, more opportunities for someone to say "yes" to scientists and fund their projects.
Read 30 tweets

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