British teenager wins $100,000 US technology fellowship

[Jazzy]

Eighteen-year-old Andrew Brackin has just been given the offer of a life time.

He's been handed $100,000 (£67,000) to go and live in San Francisco and work on his own tech idea.

The teenager from London is one of 20 young business people now being sponsored by Peter Thiel, the co-creator of PayPal and one of the first people to put money into Facebook.

But the offer comes with a catch.

Andrew must agree to skip university and avoid any formal studying for at least two years.

He is only the second British winner of the Thiel Fellowship, set up by Peter Thiel to pay for 20 teenagers each year to stop studying and try to set up a business instead.

Andrew plans to use the cash to develop Bunchy, an online platform that lets charities and other organisations raise money from their audience on social networks and websites.

The billionaire has been famously critical of university education in the past dismissing it as a waste of time and money for some students.

His foundation's 20-under-20 programme pays each winner $100,000 over two years, which can be used for living expenses and business costs.

Full article

Good deal or not? What do you think?

 

[Evil Eye]

He's getting the chance to get some RL experience using someone else's money. Very good deal.
It's not like he can't go to university when he's 20...

 

[Nebulous's iconNebulous]

Sounds like a pretty good deal! Congrats to him.

 

[Crusader]

He's getting the chance to get some RL experience using someone else's money. Very good deal.
It's not like he can't go to university when he's 20...

Not like he can't go to uni when he is 70!

It is a brilliant deal. Work on something you're passionate about and get paid for it. Also living in America... extremely envious!

 

[Evil Eye]

Not like he can't go to uni when he is 70!

Exactly!

 

[Crusader]

I do actually remember seeing an article about a man of older years going to uni.

 

[Jazzy]

It's the chance of a lifetime that many never get. I think this is wonderful and I wish him the very best of luck!