Peter Thiel, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent VCs, just opened his wallet again. This time he's giving 20 teenage kids $100,000 a piece (chump change for a man who's estimated net worth is $1.5 billion). Thiel, often called "the university hater," is a huge supporter of kids choosing to focus on genius startup ideas rather than wasting time in college.
"Thiel's '20 Under 20' grant is sort of an anti-scholarship, promising young winners with a startup idea $100k paid out over two years, and a chance to stop going to silly classes and work on that idea instead," writes Sam Biddle at Valleywag. "It's not really a chance—you must stop going to college in order to get the money. The no school part is serious business: certain exceptions can be made for audited classes not for credit, but actual, formalized learning is verboten—unless you want to give up that cash."
Even still, the money was well deserved. The proposed ideas are as diverse as the winners: from changing the way that we discover apps for things around us to collaborative learning platforms, Thiel's class has its sights set high.
[via Valleywag]
