Thiel Fellowship
The Thiel Fellowship is a fellowship founded by billionaire Peter Thiel in 2011 through the Thiel Foundation. The fellowship offers $200,000 over two years to individuals aged 22 or younger who drop out of college to pursue entrepreneurship, scientific research, or building a startup. 1
The fellowship is intended for individuals who want to build new things rather than pursue traditional education. Selection is through a competitive annual process, with around 15 fellows selected annually. In addition to the grant, fellows gain mentorship and access to a community of founders and resources offered by the Thiel Foundation. 2
History
Peter Thiel announced the Thiel Fellowship (originally named "20 Under 20") at TechCrunch Disrupt in September 2010. The first class of fellows was announced in May 2011. 2
Thiel had initially intended to found a university but realized such an institution would not align with his vision of education. The idea came to him while reading the script of the movie The The Social Network on a plane, which portrayed him as a ruthless capitalist. He disliked the portrayal and conceived an "anti-Rhodes scholarship" that would reward young people for bypassing college. 1
In 2015, Thiel changed the rules to allow young people up to age 22. Also in 2015, program leaders Danielle Strachman and Michael Gibson left and started their own venture fund named 1517 Fund to support dropouts and people who skip traditional higher education.
The grant amount was increased from $100,000 to $200,000 starting with the 2025 class. 3 1
Controversy
The fellowship attracted significant criticism. Former Harvard President Larry Summers called it "the single most misdirected bit of philanthropy in this decade" at the 2013 Nantucket Project conference. Academic Vivek Wadhwa criticized the premise that dropping out of college leads to entrepreneurial success. 3
In 2021, Business Insider reported that in the early years, Thiel mismanaged the fellows, showing favoritism and giving them unqualified staff with zero structure. Some fellows later described feeling like failures, and several experienced mental health issues and drug abuse. 1
Defenders noted the program was designed for exceptional individuals who would thrive outside traditional education, not a model for everyone. 1
Notable Recipients
The fellowship has produced several notable entrepreneurs who built billion-dollar companies:
- Dylan Field (2012): Co-founder and CEO of Figma, acquired by Adobe for $20 billion in 2023.
- Vitalik Buterin (2014): Co-creator of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
- Chris Olah (2012): Co-founder of Anthropic, maker of Claude AI.
- Ritesh Agarwal (2013): Founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, an Indian hotel startup.
- Austin Russell (2013): Founder and CEO of Luminar Technologies, a lidar company for self-driving cars.
- Lucy Guo (2014): Co-founder of Scale AI, a data labeling startup valued at over $7 billion.
According to a Washington Post analysis, 11 of the 271 Thiel Fellowship recipients have founded unicorn companies as of 2023. The fellowship's website counts 26 unicorns, with the discrepancy likely due to differences in timing and valuation thresholds. 3
Related Programs
The Thiel Foundation and associated entities have launched other alternative education programs:
- 1517 Fund: Created by former Thiel Fellowship program leaders to back college dropouts.
- Palantir Meritocracy Fellowship: A program from Thiel-founded Palantir that gives high school graduates a four-month internship in exchange for skipping college.
- Campus: A startup backed by Founders Fund offering an alternative to traditional community colleges. 1