Draper University students describe how the program pushed them out of their comfort zones through mentorship from Tim Draper and exposure to entrepreneurial thinking. They credit the school's hero's-journey framework and diverse community for building confidence in their ability to pursue bold, world-changing ideas.
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Well, this can be kind of described in what I said to Tim 2 days ago on the beach. Well, after we ran 6 miles, I went up to him, I said, Tim, this has been one of the better months of my life.
So I think a lot of people here are very special. I think they've done a great job of getting the students they did from different backgrounds with different ideas.
Draper University has been awesome in terms of taking, you know, people who have achieved in a huge One of the things I was expecting was to meet a very inspiring group of people, and I— when I first thought that, you know, I thought Tim Draper, of course, and many of the speakers he's going to line up. But another thing I found is just the people here.
They're so innovative, and they so visibly care so much about what they do, and that's infectious.
One of the things I think is really interesting and compelling about Draper University is this whole Superhero narrative kind of underlying a lot of the experiences, and this emphasis on the hero's journey. Tim is definitely that, that kind of teacher guardian. He's the one who kind of gets us started and then, you know, shares that wisdom.
Draper really fosters that thought process. It fosters that creativity. It fosters pushing you to be better.
Being your own person, being a hero, going out and fixing the world.
Collaborating with other and figuring out what those answers are and bringing them out in ourselves.
Not only be a good entrepreneur, but also at the same time to be a better person, to understand humans, to understand business, and to understand the environment around us.
Everyone here at Draper University wants to be here. They're absorbing everything.
Have them exposed to a million different things, even if you think it's the most random thing that will never apply to you. Just be crazy, because the further you are from thinking what reality should be, the closer you are to, you know, new things, to, I guess, entrepreneurship, innovation, ventures, any buzzword you want to put next to it, but it's basically just doing new things.
He's encouraging the crazy thoughts and crazy ideas, and that's really cool. That's what I think is really what makes this school better and different than most schools. Because that's what you need as an entrepreneur, to think outside the box. That's how you get up, come up with new and innovative ideas.
If you do want to see the changes in the world that we all want, you can't be working with old models. You do literally have to create ways of thinking that you've never done before and no one's ever done before and are completely strange.
I think what it does for a lot of people here Is it validates what we're going on in our heads. It makes it real. It says, hey, it's okay to be like that, or it's okay to think that you can change that much. Your ideas are important in that.
Every day I feel more certain of my path and my success. I'd really encourage students who are interested in entrepreneurship to really take advantage of this opportunity because it's something that really takes them outside their comfort zone, you know, in terms of what they want to do in the future or, you know, the, I guess, boundaries of the knowledge that they think they've mastered.
We are exposed to a wealth of information and knowledge and experiences that no one else in the world has the opportunity to experience.
I've, you know, learned something new every single day. I've encountered some different that has sort of shaped and defined my overall experience here.
When you walk in, there's a feeling where all the rules are out the window, where you can, you can really explore anything. You can just purely dream.
