Meet the
ODF18 Cohort

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On Deck’s 18th cohort (ODF18) kicked off in late June in a sunny San Francisco. Around one hundred fellows gathered to explore and build together. This is our second IRL kickoff since ODF returned from its virtual programming during the pandemic. The sense of optimism, energy and ambition was contagious. It reaffirmed our deepest conviction — nothing great is built alone.
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We’ve put together this guide to demonstrate the truly exceptional fellows in this cohort, and what they’ll be getting up to over the next few weeks.

The Figures

On Deck Founders fellows come from diverse geographies, professional backgrounds and entrepreneurial experiences. We extracted key insights of the cohort to give you a sense of who our fellows are, and where they are in their startup journey.

Where are our fellows in their founder journey?

38%

Have incorporated and/or fundraised on an idea

26%

Have conviction on one idea, but have not incorporated

16%

Are exploring multiple ideas

13%

Are testing one idea but may move onto others

Don’t have any specific ideas yet

How many fellows have already raised money?

Range

$10K - $6M

Median Amount

$813,000

Which country are our fellows based in?

85% United States
5% Canada
2% United Kingdom
2% United Arab Emirates
1% China, Germany, Spain, India, New Zealand

For fellows from the United States, which city are they from?

55%

San Francisco

17%

New York City

Chicago

Seattle

San Jose

17%

Other Cities

The Fellows

One of our core values at On Deck is confidentiality. Many in this community are searching for something deeper in their lives or making big transitions, and others may not yet have publicly shared that they are participating in On Deck. Below are some of the fellows who have given explicit permission to be featured, and demonstrate the caliber of fellows in ODF18.

Christy Chen

Founding team of a Lightspeed backed AI company. Now building AIGC × Blockchain.

Simarpreet Singh

Software engineer & serial entrepreneur backed by YC.

Marc Mengler

Serial AI founder. Beat a grandmaster in chess.

Jane Austin

Helped lead several healthtech teams from pre-seed through to $600M+ investments and IPO.

Daniel Ni

Founder of TLDR, a newsletter collective with 4.5 million readers.

Logan Ullyott

Helping founders with work visas and immigration at CompassVisas.com

Sanee Iqbal

Decade of engineering experience at Google and Meta building hyperscale computing infrastructure. Now accelerating AI workloads.

Keji Ajayi

Former CFO of a fintech startup that raised over $40m from global VCs. Debt finance specialist.

The Events

On Deck is about connection. We thrive at building the room for serendipity to happen and turn that serendipity into action – more than 1,000+ companies that have raised over $1B have been started at On Deck.
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In total ODF fellows have access to more than 300+ events per cohort, each useful in their own way, but here are a few highlights from the kickoff period:

ODF18 Kickoff

The kickoff is the first time most of the fellows meet in-person: a supercollider event of networking, connections and excitement. This is our second in-person kickoff since returning to IRL programming post-Covid, and the sense of ambition was contagious.

Co-founder Speed Dating

We understand that many fellows join our program without a co-founder, for some finding the right partner is extremely important. This event is designed to connect fellows within our community who are looking for co-founders.

Bay Sail

The sail trip in the Bay Area is an opportunity for fellows to unwind from the intensity of the kickoff weekend. As the boat navigates through the waters, fellows have the opportunity to engage in meaningful, yet relaxed, conversations with one another.

Female and Non-Binary Founder Brunch

Our Female and Non-Binary Founder Brunch is a powerful platform for female and non-binary fellows to celebrate their entrepreneurial spirit, share insights, and foster a strong sense of community.

Meet theODF18 Cohort