After 10,000+ Thiel Fellowship apps, 1517 Fund's unusual criteria for great founders
_AustinCalvert_ · x · 2026-11-08
After reviewing 10,000+ Thiel Fellowship applications, 1517 Fund's Michael and Danielled developed unconventional founder signals: not personality tests, but looking for "tricky bastards who always find a way."
Key ideas: edge control (operating between too-cautious and too-reckless), hyperfluency, the "toilet plunger test" (great founders never think any job is beneath them—they go where the problem is), and Danielle's "Friday Night Dyson sphere."
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