The Problems List
The Problems List

The Core Problem

Young adults have no simple way to work on the world’s pressing problems that they care about.

Problems with College

It is expensive, 65% of graduates are in debt, and debt can indirectly effect an individuals ability to start a company [

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21% of current students depressed (over 5x the national average) [

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41% of graduates are in jobs that do not require their major [

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A college degree does not signal relevant job skills for employers.

College’s rigid learning path limits creativity and distracts students from pursuing new opportunities for ~4 years.

Students are pigeonholed into picking a major and sticking with it which limits many from figuring out their dream profession.

Teachers are forced to teach when many would prefer to do just research. This results in students receiving a below optimal educational experience.

College lectures to individuals. It is not conducive to critical, independent thinking which is essential for individuals to not be mislead by inaccurate information. individuals to be an employee (ex: think inside the box, ignore creativity, do not question the status quo, follow instructions and conventional wisdom).

Opportunity cost: 16 million individuals a year in the US pay to learn theory that may never be useful when they could learn by working on real world problems that provide useful value to society.

Problems with Accelerators

Accelerators are short, 16 weeks on average [

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On average it takes 2-3 years for startups to reach product market fit [

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]. Without financial support throughout the full 2-3 years, startups are more likely to dissolve.

A talented individual who wants a secure 5 year plan is less likely to apply.

Accelerators attract a certain type of individual which excludes potentially talented founders who meet at least one of the following criteria:

The individual who is social and really wants to enjoy the social experience of college.

The individual who got accepted into a top tier university on a full ride.

The individual who has some doubt that their idea will be successful, 90% of them are correct [

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The individual who has parents that are involved in their life and think that college is the best path to a successful life.

They accept a specific type of individual which there is no data to show that these individuals will be the best founder. Accelerators often accept:

The best “pitcher”

The one who has already put the most time into their project.

We believe an applicants “potential” should be the number one criteria in selecting a candidate.

Problems with the Startup Life

The path to VC funding is not obvious for many high school graduates and 90% of unicorns were VC funded [

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Finding a cofounder you work well with takes time and the commitment for both individuals to drop what they are currently doing. To know you work well with one another you need to actually work with one another which takes time. During and after college, the chances that both of you can drop what you are doing to start a company is low, opportunity cost and risk are both increase the older one gets. It is important to have a cofounder for many reasons, including that over 80% of unicorns had a cofounder [

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In 2019, a third of all founders were living with depression [

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