Alumni Case Studies

“On Deck helped me raise $750k for my startup, 1v1Me, but then we raised an additional $1.25M a month or two later. Now, my foot is on the gas scaling 1v1Me 24/7. However, what I will say is I always make time for On Deck.”

“At On Deck, the resounding thought in everyone's minds is 'you get what you put in.' And the reason why that's a resounding thought is that it's true. “

“It was great to be dropped into this community of people that thought like me, and wanted to do the same things as me, and nerded out over the same things as I did.”

“I was blown away by the quality of the members, the other founders in my cohort and overall in the community, all the events, how everyone worked hard to pay it forward, and to the whole On Deck team for making it happen. They literally redefined the meaning of community for me.”

“What’s most impressive to us is how On Deck has grown without diluting the brand at all. They’ve kept the bar extremely high, and people love the program (including us). They’ve also fully democratized the network, which is extremely important for tech access.”

“We were able to get quick feedback on what we needed to change, or what was going well—some of our initial customers were from the On Deck community who were running into problems that Secureframe could solve. That was super helpful for our progress.”

I would describe ODNC as the consistent exchange of belief capital. Even the week before the program starts and you first enter the Slack channel, you see a mountain of introductions and enter a buzzing community with the friendliest, most supportive and engaged people.

"The level of helpfulness from founders who are further along than you and lived through the challenges you’re facing was above and beyond 99% of what I’ve found in other places."

“But where I get the most value is the community sessions or following someone’s thread on Slack and then reaching out to them directly. Everyone is so willing to share their time and expertise. That’s huge.”

“It is a total understatement to say that it changed my life. I've made very, very close and hopefully lifelong friends through this, which is amazing.”

"It’s a great place to feel like you’re not alone on what can be the very lonely journey of starting a company."

"The size of the network and the curation of the people in it is so active and dedicated to helping each other. It’s like a living thing."

“For me, On Deck has been really great for networking in the sense that there's very little friction when it comes to meeting new people. You can schedule a call with almost anyone inside the On Deck community and start talking to them super quickly. It's pretty surprising.”

"I can use On Deck as a resource to navigate any challenge that comes up for the rest of my career."

After being an ODS1 fellow, I sent my team through other On Deck programs: our Chief Experience Officer will be a fellow at ODD1 and our Community Manager will do ODCB1.

“On Deck was literally the catalyst that allowed me to leave my job. I felt supported, and I met people who were already on the same journey. It’s really allowed me to take that first step and feel comfortable about it.”

"There is a general expectation that writing fellowships are very tactical. Those things are valuable, but the humanity of On Deck is what has supported me in my writing life moving forward."

"They understand that organic and iterative connection is where the magic happens."

“I feel San Francisco or tech culture in general is very transactional and transient. On Deck has made the pitch startup culture a little more permanent and a little more genuine in my experience.” 

"There is nothing like this forum to reinvigorate and expand your perspective."

"By just putting yourself in an environment with a lot of other interesting people, good things tend to happen."

“I actually feel like the On Deck community is one giant co-founder.”

I viewed ODNC as an opportunity to upskill myself so that when I went looking for my next opportunity I would be more competitive with a larger set of skills and experiences.

On Deck is how I met Sam, who is now my co-founder at Levels.