VCs for Young Entrepreneurs With Michael Gibson, Danielle Strachman, Nick Arnett, and Zak Slayback

​Getting investment as an early-stage startup is a tricky game. 

​It can be especially challenging when you’re not connected to some kind of network or institution. 

​Michael Gibson and Danielle Strachman wanted to change that. So, they founded 1517 Fund. 

​1517 Fund is a venture capital fund that supports early-stage startups, specifically those outside of formal institutions. They believe that you don’t need any kind of fancy degree or qualification to launch a great idea, and often these people without such credentials get overlooked.  

​Michael was vice president for grants at the Thiel Foundation and a principal at Thiel Capital. For nearly five years working for Peter Thiel, he has contributed research to Peter’s global macro hedge fund, assisted in teaching a course at Stanford Law School on sovereignty and technological change, and helped run the Thiel Fellowship. He serves on the board of the Seasteading Institute. 

​Before his academic apostasy, he was working towards a doctorate in philosophy at the University of Oxford. He has written on innovation and technology for MIT’s Technology Review, the Atlantic, and Forbes.

Danielle has worked with young entrepreneurs for about a decade. In 2010, during the founding of the Thiel Fellowship, Danielle joined to lead the design and operations. She's worked with some of the most prestigious founders like Vitalik Buterin and Ritesh Agarwal. 

​Prior to her work with Peter Thiel, Danielle founded and directed Innovations Academy in San Diego, a K-8 charter school serving 400 students, with a focus on student-led project-based learning and other alternative programs.

​Alongside colleagues Nick Arnett and Zak Slayback, Danielle and Michael will be discussing the work that 1517 Fund does as well as the opportunities and challenges that young entrepreneurs are facing. 

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