The Thiel Fellowship staff, in those first five years, picked people who went on to start Ethereum, Figma, Anthropic and more. But in the early days, nobody knew yet what a Thiel Fellow was supposed to look like.

So how’d they choose who would receive the $100,000 grant? 

We spent time with Danielle Strachman — the former homeschool educator and school founder — who was a founding member of the fellowship and its first program director. Some of the most surprising things we learned were:

• How she imbued the philosophies of alternative education with the fellowship
• When selecting fellows, the one question on mentors’ feedback cards that was more important than any pitch
• Why the most nerve-wracking part of finalist weekend didn’t count, and why nobody told the finalists
• The finalist everyone loved who got rejected for giving the “right” answer 
• What happened when a program built to fight against credentials became one of the most sought-after credentials in Silicon Valley

This in-depth look at the fellowship explores the process behind its creation, philosophies and programming — full of stories from both staff who were there and the fellows experiencing it.