Danielle Strachman is a prominent figure in the venture capital world, known for her unique focus on backing young, often dropout, founders and "sci-fi scientists." As a co-founder and General Partner at 1517 Fund, and a founding team member of the Thiel Fellowship, her philosophy is deeply rooted in alternative education, self-directed learning, and empowering individuals who forge non-traditional paths.
On Education and Challenging Traditional Paths
- On the Goal of Education: "An education should liberate you, it should offer up more opportunities and open doors that previously weren't there."[1]
- On the Flaws of a Single Path: 1517 Fund was founded because "the path geared towards higher education is not for all."[2]
- Learning from Homeschoolers: "Working with this family was eye opening. I think we've internalized the idea that learning should be an act of drudgery so when we see bright-eyed and bushy-tailed children with an endless appetite for learning... It really stands out!"[3]
- The Core Philosophy of Unschooling: At heart, Strachman considers herself an "unschooler," which involves a child-led approach to learning, recognizing that what works for one child won't necessarily work for another.[4]
- The Power of Conscious Choice: "The Fellowship was about making conscious choices about your education, and I think that the most (or, least) surprising lesson of all is that the people who thrive no matter where their path takes them are the people who can make conscious choices about their life."[3]
- "Homeschooling CEOs": "Sometimes we joke and we say we're homeschooling CEOs... the founders we're working with are gonna guide us as far as what sort of support they need and where they wanna go. And our role is to be a resource to them in that."[5][6]
- The Future of Work and Learning: "Work is going to be about life-long learning... You're going to see people going to more boot camps or take courses, it's not going to be 4 solid years of something and then you're done learning."[1]
- Seeing Motivation in "Boredom": Recounting a tweet about a bored brother playing guitar all day, she says, "that's not boredom that's motivation... when no one's watching... what are you doing just for fun. and where do those interests lead you in the future. and we need to encourage it."[4][6]
- Respecting Young People's Ideas: Her experience with homeschoolers formed the philosophical underpinning for her work: "treating young people with respect. and dignity. and taking their ideas seriously."[7]
On Supporting Young Founders
- Giving Resources for Future Potential: "I think young people are used to being given maybe an award or a prize for something they've done in the past, but they're not used to being given money to support their potential in their future."[8]
- The Magic of Being Believed In: For founders who constantly hear "no," the moment an investor believes in them can be jarring and validating, a moment of realizing "I'm not crazy."[4]
- The Role of an Early Believer: An early supporter's role is to be a resource and help founders navigate challenges, metaphorically "trying to get founders to not smash their head into the wall."[4]
- Providing More Than Just Capital: At 1517, the mission is to be a resource, making connections and providing learning opportunities, whether a project turns into a startup or not.[4]
- Caring for the Whole Person: "In the long run, what matters to us and our founders is that we care for the whole person. We give people the space that they need and tell them that we're open to discussing 'whatever you want to talk about' no matter what."[3][7]
- The Power of Community: "I think something magical happens when someone who has been ostracized for being different finds a room of people who accept them for who they are and are just as ambitious as they are."[3]
- A Mission of Freedom and Autonomy: "I have had a long-standing mission to bring freedom agency and autonomy to young people."[9][10]
Investment Philosophy and Strategy
- The "Anti-Pitch" Approach: 1517 Fund is known for its "Anti-Pitch Playbook," focusing on getting to know makers and hackers before they even become founders, valuing relationships over polished presentations.[2][11]
- Backing Renegades and Dropouts: The fund explicitly backs "dropouts working on hard problems and sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages of their startups."[12][13]
- Venture Capital as a Tool: "We saw Venture as a way to scale our work from the Thiel Foundation and take things forward... Moving this mission forward and using venture capital as that tool to do it."[10]
- Looking for "Weirdos with Conviction": 1517 looks for unique individuals on a mission, whether that mission is clear or still developing.[3]
- No Business Doing Business: "We back people in who have no business doing business, like ourselves! We back people who have either dropped out of college or even stepped foot in a university."[1]
On Founder Traits and Mindset
- The Importance of a "Wondrous Mindset": "This type of like wondrous mindset is something that we look for in the founders that we work with."[9]
- Hyperfluency and Audience Awareness: Great founders can talk about their space "backwards and forwards" but also know their audience, able to communicate with technical experts, operations people, and everyone in between.[7]
- The "Fire in the Belly": She emphasizes the need for deep, intrinsic motivation in founders to weather the inevitable challenges of building a company.[14]
- Execution is Key: The difference between a "crazy" idea and a "crazy awesome" one is execution. "Crazy awesome looks like hey they're actually able to execute. and keep making progress in this domain."[11]
- Entrepreneurship as a Mindset, Not a Position: "You can be entrepreneurial and work for someone else, it means you take initiative, you're inventive, it means you bring ideas to the table, it means you execute."[1]
- Resilience and Inner Conviction: "There's something about the most incredible founders that makes them step up to the plate."[3]
- The Journey Matters: "Just because someone's journey takes place in a different way at a different pace, doesn't mean that they're more (or less) than others."[3]
- Burning the Bridges: Dropping out creates a powerful motivation: "I had to make it work... you burned the bridges."[11]
On Life and Career
- Follow Your Personal Mission: When faced with career opportunities, she would evaluate them by asking, "Is this a yes or no for my own personal mission?" which for her was bringing freedom and autonomy to young people.[9][10]
- Embrace the Rollercoaster: "Nothing is going to be rosy forever. Nothing is going to suck forever."[3]
- The Power of Being an Outsider: Strachman identifies with "insider-outsiders who can see the paths not taken," a quality she also sees in the most successful founders.[3]
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