Unblocking young people with top 1% ambition.
+EV gives exceptional young people grants and connects them to the right people (VCs, scientists, operators, and more) so they can go after the world's most important problems. Most will build companies. Some will build research efforts or media brands.
Some of the world's most important problems aren't getting their fair share of the world's most ambitious people.
A 19-year-old engineering student passionate about climate change shouldn't have to choose between:
A stable job that pays the bills but restricts their potential.
Taking a big swing on an innovation that could change the world but has a low probability of success.
The world's most talented young people often optimize for safety and prestige (e.g. quant finance, consulting). +EV gives exceptional young people the money, network, status, and time to attack the world's most important problems instead.
You're exceptional → leave the conventional path → do something impactful.
"We find unusually talented, unconventional people and help them pursue an ambitious idea that improves the world."
Modeled on Emergent Ventures and the Thiel Fellowship.
Both exist to unblock young people with top 1% ambition. So do we.
Tyler Cowen's grant program at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. It backs people of any age, anywhere in the world, with unusual “zero to one” ideas, runs on a short application with very little bureaucracy, and has funded everyone from teenage programmers to podcasters.
Started by Peter Thiel's foundation in 2011 to back young people who want to build instead of following the standard path through college. It has supported 300+ fellows, including the founders of Ethereum and Figma, and pairs funding with a network of founders, investors, and scientists.
More on both on the Fellowship page.
Get connected to people who've built category-defining companies.
Here are a few. See the full Mentors page.
Alex Monahan
OddsJam Founder (acquired)Quant turned founder. Took OddsJam from zero to a $160M acquisition in 3.5 years without raising venture capital.
Tim Schumacher
Co-Founder, Ecosia.org & eyeo. Founding Partner, World FundSerial founder and climate investor, best known as co-founder of Ecosia.org, the world's largest search engine that plants trees, and co-founder of eyeo, the maker of Adblock Plus. Founding partner at World Fund, a leading European climate tech VC.
Anson Liang
Serial Entrepreneur, Investor, and Stanford EducatorHas co-founded, built, and led technology and renewable energy businesses from startup to IPO. Lectures at Nanyang Technological University, guest lectures at Stanford, and mentors founders through StartX and Stanford entrepreneurship programs.
Grants from $1K to $50K. 0% equity.
Sized to what you actually need. Some people need more money. Some need more connections and intros. Many need both.
Most grants will be lower than $50K, and you show results to unlock more. A small grant might cover equipment, travel, or a first prototype. A larger one can buy you real freedom: the ability to devote yourself fully to the work, without a day job, classes, or rent stress pulling at your attention. Use it for reasonable living expenses, travel, research, equipment, prototypes, and whatever else the work actually requires. Beyond the grant, fellows can also get up to $25,000 in compute/cloud credits and free lab or coworking space in certain cities.
This is a launching point, not a finish line. A grant buys you time, freedom, and capital, and the network gets you in front of the right people, to get a real idea moving. Follow-on grants are possible as you make progress, but the goal is that you graduate: raise capital, go through an accelerator, or pursue bigger grants for your research. You may well end up raising a $10M seed round after +EV. Who knows. That's the point: this is fuel to get going, not the whole tank.
Applications are open year-round. If you're talented and ambitious, we want you to start now. We also host in-person events from time to time, with more clustered at certain times of year, since that's when college and high school let out and more exceptional people have the room to commit; if the right idea shows up in October, apply in October. Taking a semester or a quarter off school for the right idea is well worth it. More detail on the Fellowship page and in the FAQ.
Two questions decide everything.
Could this become something enormous: a $1B+ company, a field-defining body of research, or a media brand with real reach?
If it succeeds beyond anyone's expectations, does the world become materially better?
Most of what we back will be commercial companies, because that is how solutions scale. But a research effort or a media brand can clear the same bar. We want impact that scales with success: the bigger it gets, the more of the problem it solves.
Money, compute, space, and the right introductions.
No syllabus and no required curriculum. +EV unblocks you, then gets out of your way. Full details on the Fellowship page.
Talent, not credentials.
You don't need a finished project, and you don't need to be technical, but you should show unusual initiative: prototypes, research, writing, videos, audiences, experiments, code, sales, or prior accomplishments.
Not everything has to be a company. Most of what we back will be commercial, but we will also consider research and media brands. A TikTok account or YouTube channel about an important issue is fully in play, and a media company can be just as impactful as a biotech startup. You don't need to be technical.
Huge problem × neglected × you can move the needle × it can scale.
Fellows can apply with any idea they believe is meaningfully impactful. That formula is the real test. These are a few areas we find ourselves drawn to. See 66 specific starting points on the Requests page.
And other neglected problems where technology can meaningfully improve the world. That last sentence matters. We don't let seven categories become a prison. Someone could show up with an incredible company, research program, or media project for wildfire prevention, antibiotic resistance, affordable housing construction, fertility, clean water, novel materials, disability technology, or something we haven't thought of. We want the ability to say yes.
+EV takes no equity. We don't invest in people.
+EV is a private foundation, not a fund. We exist to unlock young people and get them on the right path: grants where money is the blocker, and introductions to the right people (VCs, scientists, operators, policymakers) where connections are. If investors are the right fit, we'll introduce you. Whether to raise capital, when, and from whom is entirely your call.
Your job is to build.
We're betting you can do something important. Now go prove us right.
Want to fund the next generation of builders?
Get in touch to learn how your support turns into grants and introductions for exceptional young people.