On Deck First 50 Fellowship
The best place for talented individuals to find their next role at a breakout early-stage company.
Apply NowFirst round application deadline: December 6, 2020
Second round application deadline: December 20, 2020
Kick-off: January 2021
Find your next role at a breakout startup in 10 weeks
The On Deck First 50 Fellowship (OD50) is a 10-week program for operators who want to find their next roles at world-changing companies, surrounded by a community of incredible peers.
The first 50 hires determine if a company succeeds, driving its growth while shaping the culture from the beginning. Their entrepreneurialism helps to build out an organization and make it successful.
OD50 will bring together groups of 150 exceptional individuals who want to find their next ventures, helping them to navigate the early-stage startup ecosystem and decide the right organizations with which to partner on the next phase of their journeys.
A commitment to privacy
Everything is off the record. On Deck First 50 Fellows are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and many have not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. We’ll honor that.
. . .
Participants in the first cohort
VP of Engineering at large AR/VR company looking to move earlier
Consultant turned first intl. hire for series D company
Machine learning PhD transitioning to tech
First designer at unicorn looking to go back to startups
Product exec from Big Tech looking to lead product at a startup
Fortune 500 salesperson pursuing passion for climate tech
Symphony musician transitioning to Bizops role in tech
Private banker transitioning to fintech
VC Principal at $200mm firm moving to the operating side
Stanford MBA with strategy and product experience
Engineering lead at large ecommerce company
Career management consultant pivoting to food tech
The Program
Navigate the startup ecosystem
- Small group sessions with the world's best early-stage operators, top executive search consultants, and expert compensation negotiators.
- Vetted community of exceptional operators who are passionate about joining early-stage ventures.
- Industry- and job function-specific learning circles to share knowledge, contacts, and best practices.
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Land your next breakout role
- Top early-stage companies pitch you on why they are the best places to work.
- Exclusive access to early-stage job opportunities and consulting projects sourced from the On Deck Founder and Angel Fellowship communities.
- Workshops on the mechanics of a successful job search from direction-setting to offer maximization. Figure out what you want to do next and then get help actually attaining it.
Apply for the On Deck First 50 Fellowship
The first OD50 cohort kicks off January 2021
Pricing: $1,990
First round application deadline: December 6, 2020
Second round application deadline: December 20, 2020
Access to the On Deck Founder Fellowship
The On Deck Founder Fellowship (ODF) is a 10-week program that creates an incredible community around a cohort of experienced founders & talented individuals in the formative stages of starting a company.
As an On Deck Writer Fellow, you’ll have complete access to the rest of the On Deck Fellowship, full of world-class startup experts who can help you with marketing, growth, and connecting with leaders in your subject matter.
Want to learn more about ODF? 👉Read the ODF5 Announcement Post
What to Expect
Understand the intersection between your unique skills, experiences, and interests that early-stage companies value the most.
Learn from world-class compensation experts how to negotiate an above-market salary and equity package.
Master the art of getting in front of and impressing the right people at an organization.
Get help vetting the world-changing startups that can 10x your career — there’s a huge opportunity cost to getting this wrong.
Exclusive access to early-stage job opportunities and consulting projects sourced from the On Deck Founder and Angel Fellowship communities.
Join a highly-vetted community of exceptional operators who are passionate about joining early-stage ventures and making an impact.
What people are saying...
Apply for the On Deck First 50 Fellowship
The first OD50 cohort kicks off January 2021
Pricing: $1,990
First round application deadline: December 6, 2020
Second round application deadline: December 20, 2020
FAQ
To be a good fit for OD50, you are probably:
- An outstanding performer in your respective industry / job function
- Mentally ready for your next role, whether or not you currently have a job!
- Entrepreneurial, with a desire to help build an early-stage startup.
- Eager to be an active participant in a growing community, as much of the value of On Deck comes from the network and peer-to-peer connections.
All sessions, content, and interactions are completely off the record, including any acknowledgement of a Fellow’s participation. Some OD50 Fellows will choose to be public about their involvement, while many more will not, especially those who are currently employed full time.
Everyone in the program is searching for something deeper in their next career chapter and making a big transition. Many will not yet have publicly shared this journey with friends, family, or employers. We and all Fellows will honor that.
Also note that speaker sessions are recorded, which is beneficial from a scheduling perspective, but also important for a Fellow who happens to know a presenter.
Yes! OD50 is for people joining early-stage startups, regardless of role. There will be engineers, data scientists, and product managers alongside growth, sales, marketing, HR, and operations folks since all of these roles are essential to turning a startup’s idea into reality.
Fellows targeting similar roles will be paired so that they can share insights, suggestions, and potential connections to help each other through their respective journeys.
No problem! OD50 is broadly designed for two groups of people, with content specifically created for each:
- Fellows trying to pivot their career into startups.
- Fellows already working in tech who want to be intentional about the next steps on their career path.
The opportunity cost of choosing the wrong startup is huge. Surround yourself with a community of experts and peers to help you make an informed decision on what’s next, and get access to roles sourced from the On Deck community.
Joining the On Deck First 50 Fellowship is $1,990.
For this first inaugural cohort, we’re offering the program at an early-bird rate of $1,990, with the cost rising for subsequent cohorts.
Yes! Our goal is to make the Fellowship accessible to the absolute best talent, no matter what their situation.
While many eligible applicants do have the means to support themselves, many others don’t. We’re excited to be able to offer scholarships to join the Fellowship through the On Deck Access Fund.
There are no fees to apply so please submit an application to be considered for the fellowship — you’ll have the option to request financial assistance if you receive an offer to join OD50.
The power of this program is in the community, and like any community you get back what you put in. OD50 is designed for people committing to spend at least several hours per week on their job search, some of which will be engagement with OD50.
Yes: OD50 will be run entirely remotely. This enables participation from all corners of the world. We’ve spent the past few ODF cohorts mastering the playbook for building remote communities and relationship building online, and will apply the same approach here.
Post-COVID, we’ll return to organizing offline programming like dinners, small gatherings, and retreats, but the core Fellowship will remain a remote-first experience.
We are accepting Fellows from around the world.
For this first cohort, the majority of sessions will be in North American time zones, but recordings will available to Fellows at any time. There will be additional content specifically designed for Fellows based in Europe.
Fellows from Asia are welcome to join, but we expect to have fewer sessions in local time zones for the first cohort of OD50.
We’re aiming to build a cohort that is diverse across race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, national origin, professional background, age, viewpoint, and subject matter—you name it!
Since this is the first cohort of OD50, we don’t yet have specific demographics for this program, but we released a demographic breakdown for ODF5 that can serve as a useful comparison.
On Deck lives by four core guiding values, crucial to the culture we strive to foster in the community:
- Service: On Deck is bigger than any one person. For this community to thrive, it must be driven by a spirit of service to others. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and support. Karma has a way of finding its way back.
- Sacredness: By default, everything is off the record. Many in this group are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. Please honor that, and avoid sharing anything you learn about each other without explicit permission.
- Respect: You are all now part of the On Deck family. You’re all embarking on what will surely be a rollercoaster of a journey — but you’re in this shared experience together. With that comes a sense of responsibility: be inclusive, stick together, and respect one another.
- Gratitude: have a spirit of curiosity and gratitude. We’re bringing together a group of fascinating people, most of whom likely have never met each other…how amazing is that? Get to know each other, and make the cohort what you want it to be for yourself.
But helping founders is just half of the equation. If a startup chooses to raise capital, who they raise from can have an incredible impact on its trajectory in the early days.
Founders love raising from other founders and experienced operators. They’ve been there before, have great advice, networks, and know their markets better than anyone else. If we’re trying to 10x the number of world-class founders, it stands to reason we should help grow the number of top investors who will back them early, as well.
- Sacredness: By default, everything is off the record. Many in this group are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. Please honor that, and avoid sharing anything you learn about each other without explicit permission.
- Respect: You are all now part of the On Deck family. You’re all embarking on what will surely be a rollercoaster of a journey — but you’re in this shared experience together. With that comes a sense of responsibility: be inclusive, stick together, and respect one another.
- Gratitude: have a spirit of curiosity and gratitude. We’re bringing together 200 fascinating people, most of whom likely have never met each other…how amazing is that? Get to know each other, and make the cohort what you want it to be for yourself.
On Deck lives by four core guiding values, crucial to the culture we strive to foster in the community:
- Service: On Deck is bigger than any one person. For this community to thrive, it must be driven by a spirit of service to others. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and support. Karma has a way of finding its way back.
- Sacredness: By default, everything is off the record. Many in this group are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. Please honor that, and avoid sharing anything you learn about each other without explicit permission.
- Respect: You are all now part of the On Deck family. You’re all embarking on what will surely be a rollercoaster of a journey — but you’re in this shared experience together. With that comes a sense of responsibility: be inclusive, stick together, and respect one another.
- Gratitude: have a spirit of curiosity and gratitude. We’re bringing together 200 fascinating people, most of whom likely have never met each other…how amazing is that? Get to know each other, and make the cohort what you want it to be for yourself.
On Deck lives by four core guiding values, crucial to the culture we strive to foster in the community:
- Service: On Deck is bigger than any one person. For this community to thrive, it must be driven by a spirit of service to others. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and support. Karma has a way of finding its way back.
- Sacredness: By default, everything is off the record. Many in this group are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. Please honor that, and avoid sharing anything you learn about each other without explicit permission.
- Respect: You are all now part of the On Deck family. You’re all embarking on what will surely be a rollercoaster of a journey — but you’re in this shared experience together. With that comes a sense of responsibility: be inclusive, stick together, and respect one another.
- Gratitude: have a spirit of curiosity and gratitude. We’re bringing together 200 fascinating people, most of whom likely have never met each other…how amazing is that? Get to know each other, and make the cohort what you want it to be for yourself.
On Deck lives by four core guiding values, crucial to the culture we strive to foster in the community:
- Service: On Deck is bigger than any one person. For this community to thrive, it must be driven by a spirit of service to others. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and support. Karma has a way of finding its way back.
- Sacredness: By default, everything is off the record. Many in this group are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared this with friends, family, or employers. Please honor that, and avoid sharing anything you learn about each other without explicit permission.
- Respect: You are all now part of the On Deck family. You’re all embarking on what will surely be a rollercoaster of a journey — but you’re in this shared experience together. With that comes a sense of responsibility: be inclusive, stick together, and respect one another.
- Gratitude: have a spirit of curiosity and gratitude. We’re bringing together 200 fascinating people, most of whom likely have never met each other…how amazing is that? Get to know each other, and make the cohort what you want it to be for yourself.
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