Telora is the fellowship that helps hackers start startups.
Universities used to be where the ambitious learned to solve problems. But startups are a new way to solve problems that universities don't yet know how to teach. Too many are being taught to work for someone else doing something trivial.

Here, you'll learn to work for yourself doing something meaningful. You'll be surrounded by the kind of peers you've always wanted. You'll learn from founders who've done it. And you'll have the freedom to do your best work.

Goal
The goal of the fellowship is to maximize your chances of starting a successful startup.

Telora is more intense than most selective schools. You can't do well by answering predefined questions to known problems. You have to take personal responsibility for creating value in the world. It's more like being an Olympic athlete in the sport of problem solving than an excellent student in any academic discipline. You are here not only to explore, but also to conquer.

There are no grades or degrees at Telora. You either go all-in on your startup, or you give up and fail out.

What happens if you give up? Well, that's up to you. You can go back to school or get a job. But even if you give up, you'll be better off than if you'd been sitting in a class or working for someone else. You'll definitely learn way more and you'll probably meet more interesting people.

If you're absolutely terrified of starting a startup, you probably shouldn't do it. But if you're merely unsure whether you're up to the challenge, the only way to find out is to try.

Why not now.

People
We have historically funded less than 1% of applicants.

Above all, we are looking for ambitious people determined to succeed. The kind who stalk problems with predatory intensity. They listen and adapt. In the right environment, they become James Bond. You can parachute them into an island full of cannibals and a few months later they're the king.

We want people who don't need school to learn or a boss to make money. They act with a sense of urgency. Underdogs with something to prove. We care more about your walk (what you've done) than your talk (what you plan to do).

Being smart isn't enough. There are lots of people as smart as Elon who achieve nothing.

We want obsessively curious builders. We want to know what questions intrigue you and what you've done to answer them. We don't care too much about your startup idea, but it's best if you've been actively exploring problems or technologies you find interesting.

We like good pirates, not obedient sheep. Nice people who aren't afraid to break the rules. When someone says no, you ask why not. Think: Galileo, Washington, MLK.

While the ideal team probably has at least one person with strong technical skills, anyone under 24 can apply. We'd even bet on people as young as 16 if they seemed determined enough. We review each person individually, but it's best if you apply as a team with one or two smart friends you genuinely enjoy working with and have known long enough to be sure. Character and commitment are more important than ability. Pick cofounders you know won't flake.

We don't sponsor visas. You should already be in the U.S. or Canada and be legally authorized to work here for at least 18 months from the start of the fellowship.

Community
Out there, being a founder is lonely. Most people want a small job at a big company. No matter how much you want to start a startup, it's hard to stay motivated when everyone around you thinks what you are doing is lame.

In here, you'll be surrounded by friends from all over the world who have taken it upon themselves to solve valuable problems at the edge of knowledge. Everyone around you is not just ambitious, they're committed. We are a community of founders who go out of our way to help each other succeed. Being in this environment stretches you to do more than you ever thought possible.

Every week, we host a dinner for all of the founders in the fellowship at our office so you can see what everyone's been up to. We also invite more experienced founders to talk about the early days of their startups. Hearing their stories will prompt that little voice in your head to whisper what you've always suspected: 'If they did it, so can I.'

Here are some of the speakers who've joined us for dinner:

  • Andrew Parker is the founder of Papa (YC S18), which provides grandkids on demand for seniors.
  • Caine Ardayfio is the cofounder of Halo, the glasses that give you perfect memory.
  • Ethan Hilton is the cofounder and CEO of Caseflood (YC W25), the AI receptionist for law firms.
  • Guillaume Luccisano is the founder of Yuma (YC W23), the best AI customer service agent for e-commerce.
  • Karim Atiyeh is the cofounder and CTO of Ramp, the credit card that saves businesses time and money.
  • Kevin Cohen is the cofounder and CEO of VetRec (YC S23), the AI scribe for veterinarians.
  • Robyn Exton is the founder of HER (YC S15), the dating app that helps LGBTQ people find love, lust, or anything in between.
  • Devin Finzer is the cofounder of OpenSea (YC W18), the world's most trusted marketplace for digital art.
  • Selene Casabal is a scout at Sequoia Capital. Previously, she was the founder and CEO of Showcast, which let creators sell products using live streaming video.
  • Zak Stone founded Google's cloud TPU business and was in the first YC batch with Sam Altman. He was also the cofounder of Perceptio, a deep learning startup acquired by Apple.

Advice
Startups are a new way to solve problems.

Nine of the top 10 people on the Forbes 400 earned their wealth starting startups. These people are just the tip of the problem solving iceberg. Below the water line of fame are many more you've never heard of.

Most of what they know about startups is unknown and counterintuitive to young founders. Trusting your instincts, or worse, advice from someone who has never done it, will probably do more harm than good.

Once a week, we'll get together as a group to share honest feedback on your progress and keep you focused on the most important priorities for your company. In the interim, we can meet one-on-one whenever you want.

As founders ourselves, we've personally experienced problems like the ones you're likely to face. We can help identify which must be addressed immediately and which can be safely ignored. But just because we've experienced similar problems, doesn't mean the solution to yours will be the same. We'll work together to cook up better ideas than either of us would have come up with on our own. We may also have connections to founders you can learn from, or people better suited to help your specific situation.

You are unlikely to find this kind of honest, personalized advice anywhere else. How much you want to take advantage of it is up to you. It's your life and your startup.

Focus
Distractions are the enemy of achievement. Almost everyone here will be relocating from a school where the default path is a job with a boss.

We expect starting a startup to be your primary responsibility during the fellowship. No school, no other jobs. If you don't think you can commit to this, please tell us why in your application and we will consider it.

We suggest you work out of whatever apartment you can find to live in. It is probably no coincidence that so many successful startups started in apartments. It's the ideal setup because you can work long hours with no commute.

Fellowship
We give each team just enough to cover six months of living expenses. Something very special happens when you have to do so much with so little in such a short period of time.

If accepted, your team will receive $40,000. $10,000 will be paid upon acceptance to help cover your legal and relocation expenses. The rest will be paid in monthly installments during the fellowship. This is not a loan, we don't take board seats, we don't charge any fees, and there are no restrictions on how you use this money as long as you treat it with respect to legitimately develop your startup.

In order to fund those who follow in your footsteps, you'll grant Telora 10% of whatever you make from the sale of your stake in the company over $4M. If you and your cofounders collectively make $4M or more, you'll each pay 10% of whatever you make. Otherwise, you'll pay nothing.

As far as we know, this investment structure is unique to Telora. Other investors typically structure their deals so they get paid first when you sell your company. Then, if there is any money left over, you get paid last. This incentivizes investors to maximize the value of their stake at the expense of yours. Telora improves upon this by only earning a return if we maximize the value of each founder's stake above the 40-year NPV of a degree from the most selective universities.

We believe this structure is more consistent with the spirit of benevolence in the startup community. It gives you the freedom to bet on yourself while enabling Telora to become self-sustaining and fund more people over time.

Funding
After six months, you'll have to decide: go all-in or give up. We'll support you either way.

If you give up, you can hit pause on your startup or dissolve it and no harm done. But even if your company fails or you realize that startups aren’t for you, you should still be net ahead. At least you had the guts to try.

If you want to keep going and decide to raise more money, we'll help you get it from quality investors on the best possible terms. We suspect an increasing number of you will be growing so quickly you won’t need to raise. Either way, the real work has only just begun. Like lions freed from a zoo, your life will be more difficult, but you'll feel ten times more alive because you'll finally be doing what you were meant to do.

And when that happens, you'll be glad that Telora never really ends - not even the dinners. For the life of your startup, you can be surrounded by ambitious builders who want to help you succeed.